The verdict in the fraud trial surrounding the alleged crypto investment company EXW was handed down at the Klagenfurt regional court on Wednesday. The indictment speaks of around 40,000 victims around the world. The amount of damage is estimated at around 20 million euros, but could be much higher. In any case, there is no trace of the money.
In addition to fraud, the men are accused of money laundering, pyramid schemes and criminal organization. It all started five years ago when the now 26-year-old main defendant and others designed the EXW concept. The highly touted currency, the EXW token, never saw the light of day in the announced form. Nevertheless, the main defendant and his team managed to collect money – millions of dollars from investors all over the world – through winning appearances and major events.
The spokesman in the trial was often the 26-year-old main defendant. Over the course of the more than 60 days of negotiations, he eloquently, but not always clearly, regularly gave lengthy monologues about cryptocurrencies or argued with the chairwoman of the jury senate, Judge Claudia Bandion-Ortner.
The glitz and glamor of the scene
The trial days revealed a lot of the crypto flair: for example, the lives of some of the defendants with parties in luxury clubs in Dubai, luxury cars and watches, flights in private jets, a villa with a shark tank and shoeboxes full of banknotes. Some of the “investment money” was transported across half of Austria in plastic bags. This was switched back and forth on crypto exchanges so often that no trace was lost.
An EXW mastermind, who is himself wanted under an international arrest warrant, was nevertheless willing to give a witness statement via video call from Dubai. But Dubai does not deliver to Austria. The process was also extremely international for Klagenfurt standards. One of the defendants was extradited from Brazil during the trial. Another stayed in Bali until he voluntarily surrendered to justice.
