This article is from cointelegraph.com.br and the original article can be read here in Portuguese
In a publication this Monday (2), the Bitcoin Portal claimed to have obtained documents that prove the reopening, by the Federal Police (Federal Police) and the Federal Public Ministry (MPF), of the investigations against the company Atlas Services, the “Atlas Quantum”, initiated from a lawsuit opened in 2019 by the Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) for an alleged offer of investments without registration with the federal authority. Sought by Cointelegraph Brasil, the Federal Police said it did not comment on “investigation in progress.”
According to the publication, the MPF and the PF requested the list of all former customers affected by the alleged irregular operations of Atlas Quantum, amounts invested in the records and breach of bank secrecy of the companies. At the time, the loss to customers would have reached an amount equivalent to R$ 2.8 billion at current values, this because it involved the disappearance of 15 thousand Bitcoins (BTC). Atlas Quantum also filed a lawsuit against the CVM, blaming the federal authority for the company’s bankruptcy.
At the time, the process opened by the CVM triggered an investigative investigation by the Civil Police and the Public Ministry of the State of SĂŁo Paulo, in addition to a flood of almost 300 first-instance cases involving Atlas and/or its owner, Rodrigo Marques, mostly in the Court of Justice of the State of SĂŁo Paulo (TJSP), in addition to another 45 that were opened at the Regional Labor Court of the 2nd Region.
To get an idea of ​​the proportion that took the case, a September 2020 survey pointed out that one of the lawsuits against the company concentrated more than 500 former clients, each with values ​​ranging from 1 to 2 Bitcoins held in the company’s platform.
But the Atlas Quantum case ended up becoming an imbroglio because the alleged crimes committed were also of a federal nature, for allegedly attacking the economic system. Although the accusations of crimes of embezzlement and/or against the popular economy are within the competence of the State Justice.
In July last year, the PF Superintendence in SĂŁo Paulo, through a message from the Communications Office, came to inform that the PF had expressed to the Federal Court that it would decline to the SĂŁo Paulo Court a request for an investigation related to Atlas based on report No. 88/2020-CVM/SRE/GER-3. In the order, the PF relied on CVM diligences that would not have indicated trading in securities, as reported by the Cointelegraph Brazil.
According to the Bitcoin Portal, the MPF would have asked the 10th Criminal Court of the Judiciary Subsection of SĂŁo Paulo, where the criminal case is being processed, for a copy of police inquiry No. 5006513-57.2020.4.03.6181. In addition, the institution would also have asked the TJSP to officiate to the CVM a request for a position on administrative procedures Nos. 19957.006966/2019-06 and 19957.0011409/2019-07.
On the other hand, Atlas Quantum, which was once one of the largest cryptocurrency companies in the country, also filed a lawsuit against the CVM in 2021 asking for compensation of more than BRL 3 million, arguing that the ban on its activities triggered the company’s bankruptcy, as reported by the Cointelegraph Brazil.