Simón and Silvia: from promising x10 returns to asking for 20 euros
They promised x10 returns from marijuana and raised a million euros. Later they sold their courses for 20 euros and asked for donations to cover bills.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
From promising x10 returns to flogging courses for 20 euros
According to the opening post of the thread, in 2023 they raised one million euros by promising to multiply investments in marijuana plantations tenfold. By late 2024, according to the testimony gathered, they were asking for donations to pay bills and offering their own training material for 20 euros after having charged 150 for it. The downfall of streamers Simón and Silvia, investigated and dissected for more than two years, is the chronicle of a headlong flight in which the product never existed and marketing was everything.
The pattern repeats with an almost bureaucratic monotony: a promise of impossible returns, capital raised in cryptocurrencies, silence when it's time for an audit, and a community left holding the bill. What began as entertainment and finance ended up as a case involving alleged fraud, doxxing and threats against former moderators, according to the testimonies collected.
Neotecalia, the token and the marijuana million
The story begins in 2017, when Simón and his partners allegedly falsified a company's accounts to fake profits and raise **450,000 euros** by offering investment services without authorisation. In 2022 came **Neotecalia**, a scheme in which participants paid up to **10,000 euros** to set up branches offering insurance in exchange for commissions. Those in charge vanished. One victim describes investing **more than 5,000 euros** in a company that was supposedly going to broker mortgages for individuals and never fulfilled its purpose.
In 2023 came the leap in scale: **1,000,000 euros** raised with the promise of returns of **x3 to x10** through marijuana cultivation, with agreements with pharmaceutical companies that were never backed by a single audit. In September 2024, a token was sold with exclusive training and meetings; when buyers asked about pogre, the answer was insults, expulsion and threats. At a later meeting it was announced that the token's liquidity had been used to pay salaries and that more money or new investors were needed for it to have any value.
Cryptocurrencies, tumblers and an unregulated casino
The financial architecture of the scheme is no accident. Donations are channelled through cryptocurrencies that pass through mixers — the so-called *tumblers* — which make tracking difficult. It has also been pointed out that they received payments from an unregulated casino whose terms prohibit playing from Spain. The result is an opaque flow of money, hard to audit and, by design, difficult to reverse.
The response to criticism has its own protocol: doxxing. Names, phone numbers and addresses of subscribers exposed publicly, along with messages and photos of victims' homes. Several former moderators who complained received audio messages promising to ruin their lives and careers. The company **Panoramia**, from which Simón tried to distance himself, has his mother as a partner, which undermines that version.
The course business: 150 euros that later sold for 20
The most sordid part of the model is also the most revealing. Courses and exclusive content at **150 euros** that the protagonists themselves later admitted were worthless. In moments of need, the same material for **20 euros**, to the outrage of those who had paid full price. In the final stretch of the case, the pack of diplomat status, Telegram group and concert on the balcony was offered for 20 euros. The strategy of waiting for the seller to hit rock bottom in order to buy cheap became, in itself, a form of speculation.
The channel shut down and the free fall
The closure of the Twitch channel marked a turning point. The casino that sponsored it exclusively lost its shop window. The streams migrated to other platforms, with episodes of evident physical deterioration, donations explicitly for consuming substances, and an audience cheering on the spectacle. The death of a trinc in a challenge involving the game Aviator, investigated by the Mossos (Catalan police) according to the linked reports, added a legal dimension to the affair. The question of who bears incivil responsibility for a stream that ends in tragedy remains unanswered.
Who pays for the party
The most uncomfortable consensus points to the investors. The minimum 10,000-euro investment in the plantation, the 5,000 for Neotecalia, the 150 for a worthless course: the list of victims is built on good faith and a lack of due diligence. Some argue that anyone who hands money to a figure who makes no secret of his addiction gets what they deserve; against that stands the argument that the money was raised under the appearance of a business venture and with a community organised around the creator.
The detail that doesn't add up is the asymmetry between the scale of what was promised and the actual size of the operation. A million euros in marijuana with phantom pharmaceutical agreements coexists with microloans of 100 euros at 40% interest. The household accounting doesn't match the investor epic. And there, right in that gap, the analysis stalls: there is no way to know whether the money was lost in failed projects or whether there was never a project at all.
According to the opening post of the thread, in 2023 they raised one million euros by promising to multiply investments in marijuana plantations tenfold. By late 2024, according to the testimony gathered, they were asking for donations to pay bills and offering their own training material for 20 euros after having charged 150 for it. The downfall of streamers Simón and Silvia, investigated and dissected for more than two years, is the chronicle of a headlong flight in which the product never existed and marketing was everything.
The pattern repeats with an almost bureaucratic monotony: a promise of impossible returns, capital raised in cryptocurrencies, silence when it's time for an audit, and a community left holding the bill. What began as entertainment and finance ended up as a case involving alleged fraud, doxxing and threats against former moderators, according to the testimonies collected.
Neotecalia, the token and the marijuana million
The story begins in 2017, when Simón and his partners allegedly falsified a company's accounts to fake profits and raise **450,000 euros** by offering investment services without authorisation. In 2022 came **Neotecalia**, a scheme in which participants paid up to **10,000 euros** to set up branches offering insurance in exchange for commissions. Those in charge vanished. One victim describes investing **more than 5,000 euros** in a company that was supposedly going to broker mortgages for individuals and never fulfilled its purpose.
In 2023 came the leap in scale: **1,000,000 euros** raised with the promise of returns of **x3 to x10** through marijuana cultivation, with agreements with pharmaceutical companies that were never backed by a single audit. In September 2024, a token was sold with exclusive training and meetings; when buyers asked about pogre, the answer was insults, expulsion and threats. At a later meeting it was announced that the token's liquidity had been used to pay salaries and that more money or new investors were needed for it to have any value.
Cryptocurrencies, tumblers and an unregulated casino
The financial architecture of the scheme is no accident. Donations are channelled through cryptocurrencies that pass through mixers — the so-called *tumblers* — which make tracking difficult. It has also been pointed out that they received payments from an unregulated casino whose terms prohibit playing from Spain. The result is an opaque flow of money, hard to audit and, by design, difficult to reverse.
The response to criticism has its own protocol: doxxing. Names, phone numbers and addresses of subscribers exposed publicly, along with messages and photos of victims' homes. Several former moderators who complained received audio messages promising to ruin their lives and careers. The company **Panoramia**, from which Simón tried to distance himself, has his mother as a partner, which undermines that version.
The course business: 150 euros that later sold for 20
The most sordid part of the model is also the most revealing. Courses and exclusive content at **150 euros** that the protagonists themselves later admitted were worthless. In moments of need, the same material for **20 euros**, to the outrage of those who had paid full price. In the final stretch of the case, the pack of diplomat status, Telegram group and concert on the balcony was offered for 20 euros. The strategy of waiting for the seller to hit rock bottom in order to buy cheap became, in itself, a form of speculation.
The channel shut down and the free fall
The closure of the Twitch channel marked a turning point. The casino that sponsored it exclusively lost its shop window. The streams migrated to other platforms, with episodes of evident physical deterioration, donations explicitly for consuming substances, and an audience cheering on the spectacle. The death of a trinc in a challenge involving the game Aviator, investigated by the Mossos (Catalan police) according to the linked reports, added a legal dimension to the affair. The question of who bears incivil responsibility for a stream that ends in tragedy remains unanswered.
Who pays for the party
The most uncomfortable consensus points to the investors. The minimum 10,000-euro investment in the plantation, the 5,000 for Neotecalia, the 150 for a worthless course: the list of victims is built on good faith and a lack of due diligence. Some argue that anyone who hands money to a figure who makes no secret of his addiction gets what they deserve; against that stands the argument that the money was raised under the appearance of a business venture and with a community organised around the creator.
The detail that doesn't add up is the asymmetry between the scale of what was promised and the actual size of the operation. A million euros in marijuana with phantom pharmaceutical agreements coexists with microloans of 100 euros at 40% interest. The household accounting doesn't match the investor epic. And there, right in that gap, the analysis stalls: there is no way to know whether the money was lost in failed projects or whether there was never a project at all.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (6633 replies).
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