ONE of the ringleaders of a Ponzi scheme that netted over 650 million US dollars has been arrested in Tenerife.
The unidentified man was detained by the Guardia Civil on an international warrant issued by the FBI in the United States.
He was a director of the OmegaPro company that operated worldwide and was staying at a hotel on the island.
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The arrested man was brought before a local judge who remanded him into custody before being transferred to the National Court in Madrid which will process the American extradition request.
Investors were lured into OmegaPro via a high-profile advertising campaign featuring well-known international footballers.
They included Vinicius, Ronaldhino, Iker Casillas and Carles Puyol.
Clients were promised very high returns of up to 300% via bogus investment packages linked allegedly to foreign exchange trades and cryptocurrency trading.
Set up in 2018, the con reeled in over two million investors around the world and ended up being the biggest-ever international pyramid scam.
The scheme collapsed in 2023 when the platform falsely claimed that it had suffered a ‘network’ hack.
OmegaPro then offered clients the option to reinvest their funds in a new venture called Go Global.
In July 2025, U.S. federal prosecutors charged two men in connection with the Ponzi scheme.
They were named as Michael Shannon Sims, 48, and Juan Carlos Reynoso, 57.
The two face charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, each carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
“This case exposes the ruthless reality of modern financial crime,” said the US Internal Revenue Service’s Chief of Criminal Investigations Guy Ficco.
“OmegaPro promised financial freedom but delivered financial ruin,” he added.
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