Paraiba World was a vast MLM scheme founded by the Austrian Erich Ely. The (potential) members were promised quick riches through crypto investments. Regulators in various jurisdictions have issued warnings. Public prosecutors are investigating. The scheme has consequently renamed itself Trillant and launched its own Trillant Coin. A total of between €150 and €200 million is said to have been collected by Paraiba World and Trilliant.
The Big Crypto MLM Scams
For some reason, the European crypto scammer scene has settled in Austria. This is where the big crypto MLM scams were recently launched from. These include the Paraiba World, Trillant, L7 DEX, REAL-TOK, and DegenWin.
Most recently, as reported by FinTelegram, the REAL-TOK scheme attempted to raise €1.3 billion from investors worldwide with its real estate token. Since early December 2023, the REAL-TOK has been trading and oscillating around the issue price of $0.95. An analysis of the trades shows that they are very likely manipulated. The price is artificially held at this level with the micro-trading volumes.
Read more about the REAL-TOK crypto scheme here.
Since 2020, regulators from various regimes have warned against Paraiba World and Trilliant (website) to no avail.
- The German regulator BaFin announced investigations into the Trillant scheme and its alleged operator, EUPAC Digital Services Ltd, in November 2022.
- The Swiss FINMA included Paraiba World in its warning list;
- The Austrian FMA has also issued warnings against Paraiba World.
Public prosecutors in Austria and Germany are investigating. The crypto exchange Unique Exchange, which is allegedly operated by UNIQUE Crypto LLC in Georgia, is also closely linked to the Paraiba World and Trillant scheme. The websites of the Paraiba World system have since disappeared into the darkness of the web. Only scant information was found about the legally responsible operators of the website.
According to CoinMarketCap, Trillant Coin currently has a market capitalization of around $38 million at a price of $0.00076. In December 2022, the price was still at $0.011 and thus had a market capitalization of around $570 million. According to information from whistleblowers, the operators of Paraiba World are currently based in Dubai with many millions.
Prosecutors Actions In Austria
In mid-December, the Austrian police carried out house searches at an Austrian football club, DSV Leoben. They searched not only for electronic data carriers, i.e., laptops and cell phones, but also for cash. The authorities were expecting large quantities of bundled bills. It is suspected that the football club was also financed via Paraiba World.
According to the public prosecutor’s office documents, the football club’s chairman Mario Bichler, as number five and six in the investor base, received “amounts in the millions” via Paraiba. Apparently, the later victims in the Paraiba World/Trillant scheme also regularly handed over cash to those responsible in the hope of making a quick profit. The chairman of DSV Leoben, Mario Bichler, is also said to have personally accepted up to five-figure sums from “investors.”
The Involved Individuals
Alongside the founder, Erich Ely, Mario Bichler is one of the main suspects for the public prosecutor’s office. The German Dirk Griesdorn also played a central role as head of the Paraiba World Academy. The L7 DEX scheme we recently reported on is also likely linked to the Paraiba World and Trillant scheme. The same people are also said to be active there.
In particular, members of the L7 DEX report that Dirk Griesdorn plays a significant role in this scheme. He is currently in Dubai, as is allegedly Erich Ely. We would like to know more. If you have any information about Paraiba World, Trillant, Unique Exchange, L7 DEX, or the persons involved, such as Erich Ely, Mario Bichler, or Dirk Griesdorn, please let us know via our whistleblower system, Whistle42.
Report Scammers
If you have any information about scammers and their activities, please let us know via our whistleblowing system, Whistle42.
