Four Crypto 888 Club Ponzi fraudsters have been charged by Norwegian police after an investigation that started in 2016.
According to DN’s February 7th report, the defendants are:
Crypto 888 Club was led by Aleksander Romanov, who was also Hvidsten’s alias.
Romanov was portrayed as a gambling magnate who controlled “three casinos and over 1000 betting shops, mostly in eastern Europe.”
Terje Hvidsten, a resident of Ski, Norway, has served nine prison sentences in both Norway and Germany.
He received a five-year jail sentence last year for abusing children and engaging in a Freud/business fraud. Later this year, he will begin his new sentence.
He uses criminal lawyer [sic] Petter Forsberg to launder and transport the money all over the globe, together with Dag Verner Eriksen (who has also served many prison sentences in the same fraud case/freud as Jarle Thorsen).
The unidentified former lawyer who was detained is most likely Petter Forsberg, albeit this has not been verified as of the time of writing.
According to company documents, in 2023 Berntsen registered himself as an Ullensaker tradesman. Romerike includes Ullensaker.
Berntsen was born in 1972 as well, therefore if he hasn’t celebrated his birthday this year, he is 52.
Notable other Scandinavian scammers who advertised Crypto 888 Club include Rocco DiBenedetto (far right) and Frode Jorgensen (far left):
After their Bidify Ponzi scheme failed, DiBenedetto joined Crypto 888 Club, and Orgensen, who is presently operating the Daxio Ponzi scam from the Philippines, joined as well.
Crypto 888 Club has twice failed before the end of 2016. Following Nano Club’s demise in late 2017, Nano Crowd was the subject of a fourth revival.
Before the arrests by the Norwegian Crypto 888 Club;
Joseph Tran, the promoter of Nano Club, was arrested in Sweden in 2019 and given a one-year, nine-month jail term.
Stijn Vanstraelen, the promoter of the Belgian Nano Club, was detained in Spain in 2024; there have been no updates since.
According to Norwegian police, the majority of the “several thousand” recorded victims of Crypto 888 Club come from China, Belgium, Sweden, and the Netherlands.
The estimated total losses incurred by Crypto 888 Club victims amount to 968 million kroner ($87 million USD), with a significant portion being unreported.
According to the accusation, Hvidsten had 72 million kroner. About 11 million of the 57 million kroner that Økokrim thinks he has taken out was transferred to prepaid Mastercards for himself and other people.
A portion of the money was also used to purchase a Range Rover and a number of other vehicles, as well as a residence in Spain.
Hvidsten is also alleged to have used a portion of the funds to settle personal debts and family obligations.
The 52-year-old from Romerike earned 12 million kroner, which he is suspected of transferring in so-called self-laundering, while the former lawyer received 8.6 million kroner for his services, according to the indictment.
The case is “scheduled for Oslo District Court in September,” and the Crypto 888 fraudsters have entered a not guilty plea.
