Clausi was arrested and subsequently imprisoned after a woman who sold him a Ferrari for $440,000 in April 2021 lodged a complaint against him when the price of a cryptocurrency asset had dropped to approximately $30,000.

A Crypto Trader Is Ordered to Pay a $3.7 Million Fine

Thomas Clausi, a 21-year-old French crypto merchant, is currently serving a prison sentence in Morocco for allegedly purchasing a $400,000 supercar with bitcoin, according to a report. In addition to his 18-month prison sentence, the Moroccan court also ordered Clausi to pay a fine of more than $3.7 million (€3.4 million).

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According to Gararin News, the Frenchman's troubles began when the woman who sold him a Ferrari for nearly $400,000 filed a fraud case against him. Although Clausi is said to have paid the full amount in BTC in April 2021, the unidentified woman did not submit her complaint until July, when the price had fallen. According to the crypto asset's data, the price of one BTC dropped from more than $60,000 in mid-April to roughly $31,500 on July 17, 2021.

Authorities in Morocco, where crypto trading is illegal, are said to have launched an investigation in response to the complaint. In October of that same year, Clausi was found guilty of fraud and "payment with foreign currency on Moroccan territory." Although the price of Bitcoin rose to more than $40,000 in December, Moroccan authorities were unmoved and still incarcerated the Frenchman.

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Clausi has only a few months remaining on his sentence, but his attorneys are reportedly still attempting to secure his early release. During one hearing where they sought to have his sentence reduced, Clausi's attorneys told the court that he had previously purchased costly Swiss watches with crypto and that the price of Bitcoin had subsequently risen in a similar fashion.

However, instead of reducing Clausi's sentence, the Moroccan court ordered him to pay the merchant local currency equivalent to $4,200.