Overview
- Santiago Fuentes Jover was sentenced to 8 years for continued fraud and falsification of private documents, while Diego Felipe Fernández Nojarova received 6 years for continued fraud.
- Four other defendants were acquitted, and the court declined to convict for criminal organization or to apply the aggravated form of fraud.
- The ruling orders compensation to 9,494 certified victims, with bitcoin restitution to be determined during the execution of the sentence.
- The court mandated the permanent closure of the platform’s website used for the scheme at www.arbistar.com/es.
- Losses assessed above €200 million left about 32,000 people unable to recover bitcoins after withdrawals stopped in August 2020, with the invitation-only product drawing deposits from more than 90,000 users.