Ozempic? Bad prison food? The Bitcoin Pharaoh’s weight loss in jail draws attention as Brazil’s “GAS Consultoria” case nears its end

Glaidson Acácio dos Santos, known as the “Bitcoin Pharaoh,” appeared thinner in images aired by TV Globo’s Fantástico on Sunday, June 6, as he testified in court in the case that will decide whether he and his wife, Mirelis Yoseline Diaz Zerpa, committed crimes against Brazil’s financial system. For PSPs and other risk teams, the part that matters is not the prison gossip: authorities say the scheme moved more than R$ 38 billion and may have left 77,000 victims.

1. Glaidson and Mirelis are accused of running, through GAS Consultoria, a financial pyramid disguised as a cryptocurrency investment business. They have both been jailed, and authorities say the operation moved more than R$ 38 billion.
2. The case is heading into its final stretch, but one question remains unresolved: how much crypto is in Glaidson’s wallet. He said he is a “whale” in crypto, meaning an investor with enough assets to move market prices, and described a tactic of coordinating with other whales to bet on a price drop with 10x leverage.
3. Glaidson also said his employees used helicopters to go to São Paulo, carry clients’ cash in person, and have it transferred there into his wallet. That detail matters because it shows the operation was not just a digital story; it mixed cash handling, off-platform transfers, and crypto custody.
4. The creditors in court are claiming almost R$ 3 billion. Glaidson said the wallet stored in a safe at the Federal Police has enough money to pay the 77,000 creditors, but he also said he does not know the password from memory.
5. Mirelis was not arrested with him in 2021; she left Brazil, lived in the United States, was later detained by U.S. immigration three years later, and deported. She told the court she did not manage the client wallet and said her role was to study the market to increase returns.

For high-risk processors, this is the familiar mess in a more theatrical costume: large cash volumes, promised returns above market, client funds routed through nonstandard paths, and a crypto wallet sitting in police custody while creditors and prosecutors argue over what is actually there.