Spanish investigators say wallets tied to the collapsed Arbistar crypto scheme moved more than 20,000 BTC in the months after the platform unraveled, according to fresh findings from the Guardia Civil. At the time of those transactions, the bitcoin flow was worth more than $1.1 billion.
The reported transfers add a new layer to the long-running Arbistar case, which authorities in Spain have described as a pyramid scheme with tens of thousands of alleged victims. Prosecutors say the wallet activity points to efforts to shift funds to people close to the scheme’s administrators and obscure the trail of assets.
New findings from the Guardia Civil
The latest report from Spain’s Guardia Civil focuses on bitcoin movements linked to Arbistar after the platform’s collapse. Investigators said that from January through March 2021, wallets connected to the defendants recorded inflows and outflows totaling more than 20,000 BTC.
Authorities said that amount was worth over $1.1 billion at the time. The source report also noted that, at current prices, the same volume would be roughly $1.6 billion, though the investigation centers on the value and movement of funds during the period under review.
Prosecutors cited the transactions as evidence that digital assets were moved in ways that made the money trail harder to follow. According to the report, the transfers sent funds to individuals within the administrators’ inner circle, a pattern investigators say suggests possible asset concealment.
What investigators say happened as Arbistar fell apart
The Arbistar case began to unravel in September 2020, when Arbicorp froze investor accounts. The company attributed the freeze to failures involving its trading bots, but the shutdown triggered broader scrutiny of the business and its handling of customer funds.
Investigators now say that as the platform was collapsing, about 881 BTC were siphoned into external wallets. That finding is separate from the later 2021 flows and is presented as part of a broader effort to reconstruct what happened to investor-linked assets once access to the platform was cut off.
Arbistar had promoted returns of around 28% per week, according to the investigation. Spanish authorities say the scheme drew in tens of thousands of victims in Spain and abroad before it broke down.
Scale of the alleged fraud and the people involved
Authorities have classified Arbistar as a pyramid scheme affecting as many as 32,000 investors. Estimated damages in the case range from $111 million to more than $220 million, underscoring the gap between the losses attributed to the scheme and the much larger volumes later seen moving through related wallets.
The criminal case has already produced penalties against core figures. Founder Santiago Fuentes Jover and partner Diego Fernández Nojarova are facing prison terms, according to the source report.
At the same time, the case is not closed. Spanish prosecutors are continuing money-laundering inquiries aimed at tracing the wider cryptocurrency network linked to Arbistar and identifying where the assets may have gone after the collapse.
What comes next in the case
The next confirmed step is the continuation of the money-laundering investigation, which remains focused on mapping the broader web of wallets and transfers connected to Arbistar. The latest Guardia Civil findings appear to strengthen that effort by identifying post-collapse flows and recipients allegedly tied to the administrators’ circle.
For now, the central facts established in the report are the timing and scale of the transfers, the earlier removal of 881 BTC to external wallets, and the prosecutors’ claim that some of the movements were designed to conceal assets. Further conclusions about the full destination and recovery of funds depend on the ongoing criminal probe.
Source: news.bitcoin.com