According to a report from Spanish news outlet elDiario.es, lawyer Carlos Aránguez stated that the response from authorities in regards to Arbistar CEO Santi Fuentes, who reportedly scammed users out of millions, does not match the severity of his crime. Fuentes has been out on probation since his arrest in October for his role in the alleged billion-dollar crypto Ponzi scheme Arbistar ran during the current year. He was charged with fraud and money laundering.
“We want preventive detention for Santiago Fuentes and for our clients to recover the savings that have been so unjustly plundered,” Aránguez said in Spanish. “It is unacceptable that in the face of a scam like this there hasn’t been a strong reaction on the part of the judicial authorities.”
The lawyer currently represents 130 people out of the reported 32,000 who suffered losses at Arbistar after the firm claimed in September there was an error in the calculations for profits generated by the bot. Aránguez’s clients reportedly lost $4.8 million from the alleged error, and there are at least three other class-action lawsuits against the crypto firm. He stated:
“If 130 people have lost four million euros, the overall volume is impressive. We are facing the largest computer scam in our country.”
Aránguez explained the scam as “extraordinarily complex and sophisticated,” involving users depositing Bitcoin (BTC) that should have been deposited and sold at a higher price for a profit — hence the name Arbistar, after arbitrage. Nevertheless, the lawyer noted that users never reaped any profits because the bot failed to perform.
This was reported by cointelegraph.com on Dec 16,2020.
