Six former Sevilla footballers are accused of taking part in the Shirtum project that allegedly sold non-existent NFTs to investors. Authorities say the scheme raised about €3 million for an application that was never launched, while buyers paid roughly €450 per NFT.

Allegations

Prosecutors allege the project issued a token called SHI, allocating 78% of the emission to insiders and manipulating its market price. After inflating the token price, defendants reportedly withdrew liquidity, leaving external investors unable to trade at comparable values.

• Developers collected about €3 million to build a mobile application that was not deployed.
• Non-fungible tokens were sold at approximately €450 each, which investigators claim did not exist on the blockchain.
• Approximately 78% of the token supply was reserved for insiders, and subsequent liquidity withdrawals followed price appreciation.

Financial impact

Victims estimate total losses may exceed €24 million, based on depleted token liquidity and unrecoverable funds from NFT purchases. Investigators note approximately €3 million was collected specifically for the undeployed application, while NFT prices averaged about €450 per unit.

Status and next steps

Authorities have opened a criminal investigation and named several former players as suspects, with inquiries ongoing to trace asset flows and identify beneficiaries. No convictions have been reported, and the legal process may involve asset freezes and cooperation with cryptocurrency platforms to recover funds.

Investors characterize the conduct as a classic pump and dump, citing coordinated price increases followed by sudden liquidity withdrawals that prevented orderly exits.