Berry van M., who lived in Lelystad, reportedly attracted substantial investments from dozens of people in the Netherlands and Belgium in 2017 by presenting plans for what he called the country’s largest bitcoin factory. The factory did not exist. In January this year, an appeals court sentenced him to 38 months in prison and ordered him to pay more than €1.5 million in damages to 48 victims.

Van M. had previously been convicted in a money-laundering case dating back to an investigation begun in 2015. After the Supreme Court ordered a closer assessment of his financial benefit, a court reduced the amount he must repay to the state from the prosecution’s requested €982,000 to €810,000. The court cited, among other things, the age of the case. It found it plausible that he had sufficient financial means to pay. The repayment is separate from the compensation awarded in the bitcoin-factory case.