Michael Weber, the individual behind the Vitae Ponzi scheme, has begun soliciting donations from his victims to fund a "legal defense." The request, made in recent weeks through Vitae's private Telegram channel, frames contributions as a path to regain access to frozen assets. Donations start at 10 euros.
Weber's message suggests a "small contribution" could lead to participants recovering their money. Vitae operated as a multi-level marketing (MLM) cryptocurrency scheme, urging investors to acquire Vitae tokens with promises of high returns. Weber, a former promoter for the BitConnect Ponzi, structured Vitae to rely on new investments to pay off earlier participants, a classic pyramid recruitment model.
In August 2020, Weber expanded the scheme by introducing "Vitae Rain," an adcredit Ponzi model. This addition further complicated the financial structure, drawing in more investors under false pretenses. The operation eventually caught the attention of regulators.
Belgian authorities intervened in June 2021, shutting down the Vitae Ponzi scheme. They arrested two executives associated with the operation. The legal proceedings related to these arrests and the scheme's collapse are still ongoing in Belgian courts.
Weber, now identifying himself as Michael Bradley, asserts that a specific website is solely responsible for Vitae's downfall. He claims this website "created an article that portrayed me as a fraud and the Vitae.co website as ponzi scheme." According to Weber, Belgian prosecutors used this article as their "JUST CAUSE to investigate Vitae AG and shut down the website."
He maintains that the prosecutors "now have no JUST CAUSE for their investigation and are losing ground rapidly, after basing their investigation on the report produced by this website." Weber explicitly stated that "Nearly all of their bases for investigation came from this one website and this is big news."
Weber also claims that "wearevitae.org" has "began a prosecution of the Belgium Government for violating INTERNATIONAL LAW." He cites "the theft of users 'funds' in the form of vitae token and no real evidence of fraud or that Vitae.co was actually a 'ponzi scheme' as reported by the website behindmlm.com."
The assertion that a civilian entity can "prosecute" a sovereign government for "violating INTERNATIONAL LAW" lacks legal basis. Such actions typically involve states, international bodies, or specific human rights mechanisms, not private individuals or organizations in this manner.
Regulatory bodies and law enforcement agencies do not initiate or conclude investigations based solely on a single website's report. But while information from public sources, including investigative journalism sites, can serve as valuable intelligence, authorities must independently verify all facts. They conduct their own extensive investigations, gather evidence, interview witnesses, and follow financial trails.
In the Vitae case, it is more probable that Belgian authorities received initial complaints from victims or other sources. This likely prompted an preliminary inquiry. Publicly available analyses of the Vitae scheme could then have informed the direction of their own official investigation. This process led to the arrests, asset seizures, and the ongoing court case. The credibility of the information often guides further official scrutiny, but it does not replace the formal legal process.
The notion that investigators used a website as "the source to show that vitae is a scam and used it for the justification of the investigation" misrepresents the legal framework. Courts require verified evidence, not simply published opinions. The accuracy of publicly available information can be a catalyst for official action, but the action itself rests on a foundation of independently collected and corroborated evidence.
Victims of schemes like Vitae face significant hurdles in recovering lost funds. Cryptocurrency Ponzi schemes frequently involve complex international money flows, making asset tracing and recovery challenging. Funds are often commingled, converted, or moved to jurisdictions with limited cooperation agreements. Legal defense funds solicited by operators of collapsed schemes rarely result in asset recovery for victims. Instead, they often divert more money from already defrauded individuals.
Individuals seeking to recover funds from a collapsed investment scheme should typically contact the relevant financial regulatory authority or law enforcement agency in their jurisdiction. In Belgium, this would involve reporting to the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) or the federal police. These bodies can provide guidance on official claim processes or inform victims about any appointed liquidators or receivers.
The court case against the arrested Vitae executives remains active in Belgium, with no public indication that the prosecution is "losing ground rapidly."