Broker accused of biggest crypto scam in Spanish history falls to his death from fifth floor balcony

A broker accused of the biggest crypto scam in Spanish history has died after falling from the fifth floor balcony of his Estepona villa on Tuesday.

Javier Biosca, who was only released on a €1million bail three weeks ago, stood accused of running a fraud that scammed over 750 investors out of cryptocurrencies worth €500million.

His body was found in the common area of a complex of apartments on a golf course at 11.15am by a hotel worker who had heard a heavy thud.

National Police are investigating the death but they do not at this point consider it to be suspicious.

Biosca had been staying at the villa with his friend and guarantor Luis Monge, his wife Paloma Gallardo, and his son, Sergio Biosca Gallardo at the time that he plunged to his death.

The broker was first arrested back in June 2021 in the Axárquica town of Torrox, during a routine Guardia Civil check.

Officers realised that the man they had stopped had a warrant out for his arrest for continued fraud, misappropriation and falsification of a public document. 

Biosca had set up the company Algorithmics Group in order to invest in cryptocurrencies, and enticed investors with unrealistic promises of returns of up to 25%, which he soon scaled back to 10%.

He claimed that he had hired a ‘quant’ algorithm mathematician from the Inditex Group, “who could achieve incredible returns” through crypto investments.

With such high returns and a potentially believable cover story as to how he could achieve them, the number of investors he lured in, including judges, notaries and Treasury inspectors, quickly ballooned from 30 to over 500.

However, the company he had set up lacked authorisation and failed to register with the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV).

Emilia Zaballo, a lawyer representing the Association of People Affected by Investments in Cryptocurrencies, called to attention the suspicious nature of Biosca’s death, citing the “threats from criminal organisations that would have invested with him.”

A short while after setting up Algorithmics Group, Biosca decided to move from Toledo to Marbella to search out clients with a greater purchasing power – a decision that may have brought him into contact with the wrong kind of person.

According to Zaballo, some investors had handed Biosca as much as €20million of their own funds for him to invest, while others had decided to wager their entire life savings.

The lawyer is demanding an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

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