The case makes a big spain in Spain and begins to agitate the world of European football: six former Liga players, including a figure spent by FC Barcelona, are currently in the sights of justice for their alleged involvement in a large traffic linked to cryptocurrencies and NFT. According to the revelations of the newspaper El Periodico, the scam relates to an amount of around 3 million euros, collected from a dozen investors blurred by promises of staggering gains.
Bad advertising for Barça
At the heart of the investigation, several prestigious names in Iberian football arise. Among them, Ivan Rakitic, ex-Milieu de terrain du Barça, but also Javier Saviola or Nico Pareja, Alejandro “Papu” Gomez, Lucas Ocampos and Alberto Moreno. According to the first elements of the survey, these players would have lent their image and their notoriety to promote the “Shirtum Europa” project, a platform promising to sell NFT with the image of footballers, at the price of 450 euros each, and to generate juicy profits via their own cryptocurrency. The complaints filed accuse the managers of the project of having disappeared with the prize pool, without ever keeping their promises.
Behind this alleged scam, several businessmen are pointed out, including Rozencwaig and the Torras brothers. They would have orchestrated the communication campaign based on the notoriety of players to attract investors, before drawing a line on the project, leaving a dozen complainants on the tile. According to lawyers, the players themselves did not know the fraudulent dimension of the project, contenting themselves with associating their image with an apparently serious and innovative operation.
Crypto-Arnaque: Rakitic and other stars in turmoil
If justice will have to decide on the share of responsibility of the various actors, this case relaunches the debate on the role of footballers in the promotion of financial products to the general public. Should we worry about the enthusiasm of certain athletes for cryptocurrencies and NFT? Are players informed enough about risks? Ivan Rakitic, like his colleagues, finds himself today to justify his participation in an operation that has shot financial fiasco for many investors.
For the time being, the investigation continues and the charges mentioned are heavy: fraud, breach of trust, money laundering and tax evasion could be retained against the organizers of the Shirtum Europa project. This case recalls once again that the universe of football is not spared by financial drifts and 2.0 scams, where the image of world stars can become, without their knowledge, the main lever of massive scams.
