By INFOMEDIANG SOLUTIONS 
Spanish authorities have revealed how fraudulent cryptocurrency platform Arbistar transferred at least $ 1.1 billion in Bitcoin after its ‘dubious’ collapse in 2020.
Santiago Fuentes Jover and Diego Fernández Nojarova were sentenced to more than 16 years and 11 years in prison respectively after the platform collapsed in September 2020.
Arbistar had frozen the wallets of its over 32,000 users while announcing the closing of its community service in September 14, 2020.
On the day of its collapse, Arbistar diverted 881 Bitcoins to external wallets in September 2020, followed by the transfer of 20,000 between January and March 2021
New investigation uncovered massive movement of funds
Santiago Fuentes, along with his co-founder Diego Felipe Fernendez, were sentenced in 2025 by Audiencia Nacional (National High Court), but less than a year after their sentencing, Guardia Civil investigation has revealed that tens of thousands of investors’ assets were moved to several digital wallets.
Background
In September 2020, Arbicorp, the parent company operating out of southern Tenerife, suddenly froze investor accounts, blaming a “failure” in its automated cryptocurrency trading bots.
The crypto ponzi scheme had promised weekly returns of around 28% to its over 32,000 investors spread across 30 Spanish provinces. It also had investors in foreign countries such as Mexico, Venezuela, France, and Andorra.
Monitoring how the platform exited the crypto market, Spanish authorities classified it as a pyramid scheme, which affected over 32, 000 investors. The initial damages were said to be worth $111 million to over $220 million.
How Arbistar continues to move funds
Meanwhile, the latest Guardia Civil report reveals how Arbistar moved digital assets to evade trails, especially how it transferred approximately 881 Bitcoins to external wallets in September 2020.
Between January and March 2021, wallets linked to key defendants registered massive inflows and outflows collectively exceeding 20,000 Bitcoins, valued at more than $1.1 billion or valued at $1.6 billion in today’s market value.
The ongoing financial tracing runs parallel to criminal proceedings that have already brought down the platform’s core leadership.
Santiago Fuentes and Diego Fernández faced prosecution for aggravated fraud, document falsification and membership in a criminal organisation. Following initial sentencings, the Appeals Chamber of the Audiencia Nacional levied heavy prison terms, increasing sentences to 16 years and 11 years, respectively.
Source: News.Bitcoin | Featured image: elespanol.com
Tosin Opeyemi