HotNews No. 123: GetEasy’s Tiago Fontoura Sentenced to 10.5 Years in Prison – Another Major MLM Ponzi Scheme Dismantled in Europe
Another major MLM scam has reached its legal conclusion – a Spanish court has sentenced Tiago Fontoura Miranda, former CEO of GetEasy, to ten and a half years in prison.
GetEasy was a classic 2014 MLM Ponzi scheme based on a fake story about a “GPS tracker.” The company claimed to operate out of Macau but was actually run from Europe.
Fontoura was the CEO of GetEasy. According to a January 2022 report by El Dario, five years after the initial arrests, the National Court sentenced three group leaders, five “front men” they used, and two Spanish businessmen who created the corporate structure to launder money.
The harshest sentence, 10.5 years in prison, was given to Tiago Fontoura as the public figure and face of the company.
Alongside him, Antonio Joaquim Reis Dos Loios received 3.5 years in prison after admitting guilt and cooperating, while Pedro Manuel Duarte was sentenced to a staggering 47 years for the same crimes.
The two Spanish businessmen also admitted guilt and were sentenced to 3 years and 9 months each, along with a fine of 1.9 million euros.
Five “front men” were sentenced to prison terms ranging from three months to two years.
Mario Manuel Lopes Ribeiro, leader of the Orthodox Catholic Church of Portugal, known as ‘Don João’, was sentenced to two years in prison.
The first reports of GetEasy arrests in Spain appeared back in February 2016. Antonio Loios was one of the leaders of the short-lived VIConcept GetEasy Ponzi reboot in 2015.
The most recent arrest happened on May 29, 2025, in Portugal, where a 44-year-old man was detained under a European Arrest Warrant issued by Belgian authorities on suspicion of qualified fraud.
The suspect, as CEO of a company selling geolocators to disguise the pyramid scheme, defrauded thousands of people worldwide, including in Belgium.
Interestingly, the name Michael Herzog, suspected of laundering millions of euros for GetEasy through his company IFC Group, has not been connected with these arrests.
GetEasy collapsed by mid-2015, and Herzog disappeared. How much he personally stole remains unknown.
Tracking criminal cases in Europe is often difficult due to laws protecting scammers’ privacy, so years can pass without public updates between arrests and sentencing.
Why this matters
This case shows that, although MLM Ponzi schemes are often complex and drawn out over many years, justice can still prevail and those responsible can be punished. Following such cases sends a clear message to potential fraudsters that they are not untouchable, and gives victims hope and confirmation that their harm is not forgotten. Furthermore, such verdicts encourage authorities across Europe to increase oversight and enforcement against financial scams, helping to prevent similar cases in the future.
Your DefendMe team