What is "wincapita"

WinCapita, previously WinClub and GiiClub, was a Finnish Internet-based Ponzi scheme that advertised itself as a private investment club engaged in currency trading. In reality, it was a bucket shop like many other foreign exchange fraud schemes. It operated mainly in Finland, with a smaller number of members also in Sweden. The operation collected about 100 million euros from more than 10,000 investors, probably the largest fraud in the Finnish history.

In March 2008, the National Bureau of Investigation started investigations on the club. In December 2011, the District Court of Vantaa found the chief suspect Hannu Kailajärvi guilty of aggravated fraud, and sentenced him to four years in prison. In February 2013, the Court of Appeal of Helsinki found him guilty of aggravated fraud and a money collection offence, and increased his prison sentence to five years. The verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court.