Nine Roraima influencers and one businessman charged over illegal gambling promotion and money laundering

Nine digital influencers and one businessman have been charged in Roraima, Brazil, over a scheme promoting clandestine gambling platforms. According to the state prosecutor’s office, the group received R$ 67.5 million in roughly two years, which is the kind of number PSPs and acquirers watch closely when consumer traffic is being pushed into unlicensed betting flows.

1. The indictment was filed on Friday (4/9) by the Ministério Público do state of Roraima, through its Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for Criminal Organizations and Money Laundering. The office also requested compensation for three identified victims in the same case.
2. The defendants were charged with illegal gambling, false or misleading statements about products or services, consumer deception, crimes against the popular economy, criminal association, and money laundering. Three of them were also charged with estelionato, the Brazilian offense commonly translated as fraud.
3. The people named in the case are Adrielly Vivianny Araújo de Jesus, her husband Dione dos Santos da Silva, Raniely Silva Carvalho, Patrik Adhan dos Santos Ribeiro, Amanda Lourenço Faria, Laís Ramos Gomes da Silva, Victoria Paixão Barros, Vitória Reis da Silva, Juliana Lima do Nascimento, and Gildázio Sobrinho Santos Cardoso.
4. According to the prosecutor’s account, the influencers posted stories, reels, and videos on social media with personalized links to the clandestine platforms. They showed alleged winnings, cars, properties, and trips to attract followers with the promise of easy profit, then earned commissions for bringing in new bettors.
5. The scheme also used demo accounts supplied by the platforms to simulate large and fake gains. Victims would deposit funds, see supposed profits, and be encouraged to keep betting; when they tried to withdraw larger amounts, they encountered blocks or refusals. The prosecutor described the group as operating through three interconnected nuclei: an operational and business wing, a promotion-and-acquisition wing, and a third wing tasked with hiding and disguising the source of the funds.