At the moment no answer, no clarification. New Financial Technology, a Silea company and in recent days at the center of an alleged scam linked to the world of cryptocurrencies, at least in the eyes of its investors, seems to have dissolved. Two of the three founders are unreachable, while a third, a lawyer from Rome, still has the phone on.
One of the co-founders: “Ponzi scheme? I don’t think so”
Yesterday we tried to contact him and he told our newspaper: “I don’t think we can talk about a scam or a Ponzi scheme”. The reference is to the fraudulent economic sales model devised by Charles Ponzi which promises earnings to the first investors, to the detriment of the new ones, who are themselves victims of the scam.
Now many accuse the company of never having made any investments, but of having paid the first investors the coupon guaranteed by contract using the money of other investors, in the meantime ended up in the hands of the company attracted by the promised hefty earnings: 10% on the capital invested every month with a minimum investment of 10 thousand euros. So, from a thousand euros a month, to go up. The scheme would have involved in four years or so six thousand people for a figure that some associations calculate about 100 million euros. But there are no reliable data at the moment.
Savings betrayed
They hoped to make money with Bitcoin. Now thousands are shouting at the first crypto scam of an Italian company
by Arcangelo Rociola
All accusations, all fears, nothing certain. Because at least to date there is no trace of complaints. Nor of class action. Although we are aware that several law firms in Italy are preparing to assist their clients in court. The only certain thing is that since July the company has stopped paying and blocked the accounts. No more access even to the investment platform, which is currently offline. Thousands of people drawn to the sudden oasis of wealth promised by Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies now fear that they have been duped by their own greed.
A meeting on Zoom and the hope of getting the money back
Some will denounce. But it will not be like this for everyone. This is confirmed by the meeting held last night on Zoom organized by those who, after having signed contracts with New Financial Technology, fear that they have lost all their savings.
We could hear the conversations. The organizers’ idea, for now, is to wait. Don’t irritate society. He could reach out to them, they hope. He could at least give them back the paid-up capital. The gloomy, worried faces of dozens of men and women, many in their sixties, gave that hope the bitter taste of evanescence.
According to Italian Tech the founders of the company, Maurizio Rizzato55 years old, e Christian Visentin, 46, in recent months have raised the antennas in the Italian world of cryptocurrencies. They would have been seen in Lugano, where, according to a source who prefers to remain anonymous, they would have tried to enter the cryptocurrency circle of the Swiss city, but somehow ‘contained’ by the Swiss Blockchain Consortium, the Swiss consortium of companies working in crypto scope.
Many of them seem aware that they will never see their money again. There are those who invested 100 thousand euros. A Tuscan lady sent a letter to the Citizen’s Defense, Treviso section, where the NFT was based, saying she had signed contracts with the company for 235,000 euros. E-mails also continue to arrive at our editorial staff of people who say they have been scammed, double-zero contracts signed, money that many fear never to see again.
Factsheet: how the alleged Ponzi scheme worked
New Financial Technology promised earnings from the mechanism of arbitrage between cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin for example can be worth a few dollars more or less at a given moment on one platform rather than another. By playing on these differences in value, the NFT guaranteed earnings and distributed percentages. The whole thing lasted for about four years.
The magic of arbitrage returns would have been guaranteed by a sophisticated system of proprietary algorithms from New Financial Technology capable of trading by identifying the best prices. Guaranteed results. Then the crash, of which not much is known yet. The company is not currently bankrupt or put into liquidation. It is there, in London, with its thousand pounds of share capital.