Glaidson Acácio dos Santos, also known as “Bitcoin Pharaoh” is a Brazilian Bitcoin guru who claims he has made a fortune out of his investments in cryptocurrency throughout the years.
Santos is a former waiter and former priest in Brazil – who later took on the role of “cryptocurrency specialist”. Throughout the years, Glaidson gathered thousands of followers on social media while also promoting his crypto-related content to his audience.
However, Santos’ schemes eventually caught up to him.
In August of 2021, the “Bitcoin Pharaoh” was accused of running a pyramid scheme – he was eventually arrested by the Brazilian police department in Rio de Janeiro.
The process became known as the “Kryptos operation” – saught the apprehension of the leaders of a scheme that was based on a public offer of investment contracts without prior registration with Brazilian regulatory bodies.
According to the Federal Police, the company speculated on the cryptocurrency market, with an unrealistic financial return on investment.
Glaidson Acácio dos Santos was sentenced to pay R$19 billion Brazilian Reais (US$3.65 billion), for the payment of investors and creditors in his cryptocurrency business.
Congress Run
Despite being in jail, the “Bitcoin Pharaoh” thought of using his fame as a chance of running for congress.
Santos stated in his asset declaration to the Brazilian Electoral Court that he had a capital of R$ 60 million reais (US$11.54 million) and a R$450,000 (US$86,000 ) apartment.
However, weeks before the election, the Brazilian electoral government body rejected Santos’ application, citing the crimes that he was involved in as a reason to nullify his candidacy.
But due to the short time span between his candidature being rejected and the upcoming Brazilian election – voters could still vote for the “Bitcoin Pharaoh” on election day(even though the votes would not count).
What ensued was nothing short of a bizarre story.
Even though he was accused of many crimes, the Bitcoin Pharaoh received a significant number of votes.
The Pharaoh Bitcoin received 37,935 votes in the Brazilian election. If his candidature were to be deemed legitimate, Gladson Santos would have been elected as an “alternate” congressman.
This means that – in case any of the candidates who received more votes were to leave congress, the “Bitcoin Pharaoh” accused of running several schemes would serve as a congressman for the world’s 10th largest economy.
