A press release dated June 24, 2021 from the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (D1/010/21) states that the Vitae platform was taken offline two days earlier due to "suspected large-scale fraud" in "a Ponzi and pyramid fraud type file" and constitute “a suspected criminal organization”.

Two days before the official announcement by the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office and even during the first interrogations of the suspects on June 22, a number of newspapers already reported the closure of the Vitae platform on their websites. How and by whom was this information leaked to the press?

This is doubtful, since if the financial regulator - in Belgium this is FSMA - has questions or suspicions of "Ponzi and pyramid fraud", possibly linked to an MLM (multi-level marketing) and/or cryptocurrency, a procedure is provided for this based on the law of 2 August 2002: the FSMA gives the company concerned one month to provide an explanation. The company may be placed on a list of “warnings” and “possible sanctions”.

However, Belgian legal authorities closed Vitae without warning. Even more so, after a secret investigation had been ongoing for one year. Vitae was a 'start-up' company, still in the testing and construction phase.

Unless the Justice Department proves otherwise, not one of the 230,000 users in more than 100 countries.

The judicial machinery appears to have been set in motion in March 2020 as a result of an official report drawn up by a police officer of the Federal Judicial Police (FJP) in the city of Ghent. The same FJP officer, who initiated and initially led the investigation, asked 'suspects' - whom he had arrested through the investigating judge for membership of a “criminal organization” - to report to his brother's law firm . A few days after June 22, 2021, the same law firm started recruiting “victims of the Vitae fraud” via its website and against payment of 220 euros +20% on recovered funds. Isn't this a conflict of interest between a civil servant and private affairs of a relative?

Go for this to the ‘Vitae’ section on this website.

After four years of judicial investigation, Vitae's 230,000 users are still waiting for evidence to support the "Ponzi and pyramid fraud" allegations. However, according to technicians, it seems quite easy to demonstrate this, since all (financial) transactions on the platform are registered in the source code of the platform and in the blockchain of the 'Vitae token'. After years of investigation, the results of the analysis of the source code and blockchain analysis are still not made public.

The social media platform Vitae is the core product of Vitae AG that is offered without payment to users and where it is possible to become an 'upgraded' user for a monthly payment and get access to additional 'features' and 'tools' on the platform (such as gaming , translation services, videoconferencing, educational information, and so on). Free users can also become upgraded users of extra services on the platform without payment, but through 'credits' earned thanks to their creative 'posts' and activities on the platform.

Vitae functions without manipulative or addictive algorithms because it is not a business model based on selling advertisements and personal data of users with profit maximization for a small group of shareholders. At Vitae, the wealth created on the platform largely flows back to the users. This makes ‘Vitae’ unique as social media.

Vitae was not an investment platform. Upgraded users paid a monthly fee in exchange for using more features and tools on the platform than members who would join for free after the public launch.

It is the Belgian judicial authorities that know how much each user owned in 'Vitae tokens' and 'credits' which could be exchanged for tokens (and then via independent crypto exchanges for fiat money). The Belgian investigators can indeed read all this from the source code and the blockchain. They can also check if money would have been siphoned off and removed from the system.

That is why wearevitae.org has been asking the Belgian justice system for years: “Show us to whom our tokens went to? Where are the luxury villas or bank accounts where this could possibly have flowed to?” But we did not get answers for these questions.

However, it is simple: either the Belgian justice department substantiates its accusations, or it immediately returns our Vitae tokens!

Users of the Vitae platform are rewarded for their creative messages and 'posts' when they receive appreciation from other users and each time they are further shared. Rewards are paid out in the form of 'credits' that can be converted into Vitae tokens. Vitae tokens can then be exchanged for fiat money (US dollars, euros, rupees or any currency in the world) via the quoted price of the Vitae token on independent crypto exchanges.

At the time the platform was taken offline in June 2021, Vitae was still in the construction or testing phase, but would open publicly to ‘free members’ in the fall of 2021. In this so-called beta phase, management sought legal advice and more than one million euros was spent on audits at reputed consultancy firms to get everything legally arranged. Due to the unclear regulations for crypto in Belgium, the company was transferred to the Swiss Crypto Valley in the canton of Zug in the course of 2019, precisely because of the clear legislation from the Swiss financial regulator FINMA. A new professional management team was appointed and Vitae AG was about to receive the Swiss VQF label and a non-action letter from FINMA when the platform was unexpectedly taken offline by the Belgian authorities. The US Securities and Exchanges Commission found no objections to the Vitae token.

On June 22, 2021, 230,000 members in more than 100 countries were stunned to find that their platform had been taken offline, without any warning or word of explanation from the Belgian authorities. Thousands of users protested against this (see 'Testimonials' section); almost 50,000 users demanded the reopening of the platform with a petition on the independent platform Change.org. In August, 20,000 users united in wearevitae.org to take legal action against the Belgian state. Wearevitae is completely separate from Vitae AG, also financially. Moreover, if the Belgian justice department comes up with hard evidence that 'Vitae' was a scam, weraevitae.org will turn against Vitae AG. But as far as we know, not one user has filed a complaint against Vitae AG and, after years of judicial investigation, we have not yet seen the beginning of evidence for “Ponzi and pyramid fraud”.

The wearevitae.org association was spontaneously founded by 20,000 of the 230,000 users of the Vitae platform. Wearevitae.org is funded by voluntary contributions from the 20,000 members who have joined the class action by master Hans Van de Wal of the law firm 'elegis'.

With a view to crowdfunding, the non-profit association 'JuViMe' ('Justice for the Vitae Members') with company number 0802770020) was founded; the articles of association were published in the Belgian Official Gazette on June 15, 2023. The management of wearevitae.org and JuViMe is in the hands of an unpaid team of volunteers. According to the articles of association, the proceeds from crowdfunding go entirely to the conduct of legal actions by the law firm 'elegis'.

Unless the Belgian justice department shows hard evidence of fraud, the 20,000 members of wearevitae.org see no reason to turn against Vitae AG and its founders. After all, to this day the so-called “victims” of the so-called “criminal organization” Vitae AG are not known, despite years of judicial investigations in Belgium and abroad. On the other hand, the victims of the ill-considered actions of the Belgian judicial authorities are known since they destroyed a European social media platform on June 22, 2021.

Is it not worrying that - possibly - overzealous senior officials in the judicial system make decisions, without the slightest request for explanation or warning to the company concerned, and carry out actions with disastrous consequences for startups in a development phase, causing damage with major financial consequences to thousands of people, destroying reputations and sowing confusion? That they ignore existing legal procedures, for example via FSMA, and then allow legal investigations to drag on for years? Who should be accountable for this and take responsibility?

Quote on the website of the Order of Flemish Bars: "In a constitutional state, citizens enjoy fundamental rights and freedoms that are laid down in legal rules, both at international level and in domestic law. Citizens can assume that the government also respects the rights and freedoms and applies the rules without arbitrariness, also to itself."

As members of wearevitae.org, we can only await the further course of the lawsuits against Vitae AG. We don't know how long this can continue. Due to the secrecy of the judicial investigation and because so many 'bizarre' things happen in this case, the founders of Vitae AG cannot make public statements (see section 'Vitae AG').

We can only refer to the statutes of the non-profit organization Justice for the Vitae Members published in the Belgian Official Gazette: “Wearevitae.org mandates the law firm 'elegis' to defend the complaints and interests of the members of Vitae through legal action against the individuals involved and authorities. By taking all necessary judicial initiatives before Belgian and foreign courts and tribunals to recover the damage suffered by the members of wearevitae.org.”