Italian authorities concluded their investigation into Daniele Marinelli's Ushare Ponzi scheme, naming 25 suspects. Charges include fraud, financial misconduct, money laundering, and embezzlement. The probe found Marinelli's combined ventures, Diamond Temple Coin and Ushare, defrauded approximately 30,000 victims of at least 36 million euros.
Marinelli first launched Diamond Temple Coin, which later collapsed. He rebooted the operation as Ushare in early 2020, actively promoting it during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both schemes operated as fraudulent investment opportunities, promising high returns on supposed products, investments, and corporate deals.
Prosecutors from Perugia, Italy, allege Marinelli acted as the ringleader. He worked with ten others to orchestrate the deceptions, using multiple websites and Telegram channels to advertise the capital increase tools. The original Dtcoin cryptocurrency, central to the scheme, launched on February 8, 2017.
Funds collected from investors did not go into legitimate ventures. Instead, they flowed into bank accounts controlled by network members, managers, and promoters. Companies registered in Italy, England, and Malta served as conduits for these illicit transfers. Il Sole 24 Ore reported on November 15 that stolen funds were laundered through various financial instruments, including postal savings bonds, mutual funds, and local bank bonds. This method allowed the co-conspirators to obscure the origin of the money.
The proceeds were then reinvested into luxury assets. Prosecutors identified purchases of high-end cars, motorcycles, boats, and real estate. The scheme also saw funds placed into life insurance policies, additional cryptocurrencies, and other financial funds, all consistent with a classic pyramid structure.
Ushare began showing signs of trouble in mid-2022, with investors reporting difficulties withdrawing their money. Marinelli attempted a marketing push around a purported London Stock Exchange IPO, but the entire operation collapsed by March 2023. This did not deter Marinelli from further activities.
He continued to operate through DT Socialize, a platform with a privately registered domain "dtsh.io" established on May 17, 2022. DT Socialize maintained an active Instagram presence as recently as November 2023, though comments were disabled on its posts. This marked Marinelli's apparent pivot from multi-level marketing crypto fraud to ventures in artificial intelligence.
Connected to DT Socialize are Maia AI and Synapsia, an Italian company Marinelli set up. Marinelli's Synapsia operates from "synapsia.ai", registered on April 23, 2022, through an address in Perugia, Italy. In a significant announcement in March 2025, Marinelli claimed Synapsia had secured a $2.5 billion contract with the UAE's Bold Technologies.
The alleged deal involved providing AI-powered city management services for Abu Dhabi. Bold Technologies, a part of Bold Holding, lists Shiekh Mohammed bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan as Chairman and Hamad Alshamsi as Managing Director and CEO. The contract focused on developing an AI-powered "cognitive city."
Just a month after the Synapsia announcement, in May 2025, Marinelli re-announced the identical deal under a different company name: My Aion Inc. A press release dated May 20, 2025, stated that Bold Technologies and My Aion Inc. had formed a strategic partnership. The goal was to develop AION SENTIA Cognitive City, an AI platform designed to manage urban systems, operating under a $2.5 billion Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model. The project would use MAIA, My Aion Inc.'s proprietary AI core engine. Notably, Synapsia received no mention in this second announcement.
Marinelli's statements in the My Aion Inc. press release suggested a move from Italy. "Relocating our global operations to Abu Dhabi marks a new chapter for our team," he said as CEO of My Aion Inc. "The UAE offers the infrastructure and institutional support needed to scale responsibly and strategically." This statement is interpreted by investigators as an attempt to evade Italian law enforcement.
Indictments against Marinelli and his co-conspirators are the next procedural step in Italy. Securing Marinelli's arrest while he operates under the announced protection of a UAE entity presents significant challenges for Italian authorities due to the complex nature of international extradition, particularly from the United Arab Emirates.