Glaidson Acácio dos Santos, the Brazilian businessman known as the "Pharaoh of Bitcoins", told a federal court that he alone knows the password to a device holding the digital keys to a fortune in cryptocurrencies, now locked in a safe at the Federal Police. The statement appears in testimony by him and by his wife and business partner, Venezuelan Mirelis Diaz Zerpa, to which Fantástico, Globo television's Sunday news program, gained exclusive access and aired on Sunday (Sept. 6). Both are defendants and have not been convicted: they answer for criminal organization and financial system crimes, including offering irregular investments, running a financial institution without authorization and fraudulent management. Asked by the judge how much the wallet held, Glaidson invoked his right to silence.
"Could you state the amount?" the judge asked. "No, Your Honor, because... My integrity... my physical integrity."
According to the report, the device is the size of a pen drive and stores the keys to an unknown share of the money. Glaidson argued that the fortune, if unlocked, could pay the scheme's creditors, and what will happen to the crypto assets remains the central question of the investigation, five years after his arrest.
How the scheme worked, in the defendant's words
In testimony, Glaidson described how G.A.S. Consultoria e Tecnologia, the company he founded in Cabo Frio, in Rio de Janeiro state, promised thousands of investors a 10% monthly return. He said the money raised turned him into a "whale", crypto market slang for a holder large enough to sway prices. "As a 'whale', I can manipulate other cryptocurrencies," he said, describing deals with other large holders to crash prices. At one point he stated: "It's not 10 million, or 50 million. It's 200, 300 million dollars in a...". Asked by federal prosecutors whether there was anything illegal in it, he replied: "No, it's not illegal, right? It's a lack of ethics."
The Federal Police calculates that the informal investment network moved R$ 38.2 billion. Glaidson said employees flew by helicopter to São Paulo carrying clients' cash, which was then converted into the company's digital wallet, and he confirmed his control of the firm: "Idealizer of the company, founder of the company, president of the company, manager of the company, responsible for the company."
From the 2021 arrest to the testimony
Glaidson was arrested in the Federal Police's Operation Kryptos in 2021 and his bank accounts were frozen. Even so, according to federal prosecutors, the G.A.S. business continued: in August of that year a computer was accessed in Kissimmee, Florida, where Mirelis was living, and 4,500 bitcoins, then worth more than R$ 1.06 billion, left the account. Considered a fugitive by Brazilian justice, she was arrested in Chicago in 2024 and deported to Brazil a year later. Prosecutors contend she was part of the scheme's command alongside her husband; she also answers for criminal organization and financial system crimes.
In her testimony the Venezuelan denied the charges and said she worked as if she were Glaidson's employee: "Exactly." On controlling client deposits, she said: "I never handled the administration of that." Asked about withdrawals after the police operation, she answered: "With my own money, yes. No, not from the company. I never took money out of the company." About the case, she said: "With all due respect, to me it was like reading a science fiction book." The criminal case is still running in federal court, neither defendant has been convicted, and the report disclosed no date for a next procedural step.