A court in Barcelona is investigating a potential cryptocurrency fraud case involving professional footballers. Shirtum, a company accused of defrauding investors to the tune of at least $3.4 million through an NFT project endorsed by prominent athletes, is at the heart of this investigation. The six players implicated include World Cup champion Papu Gómez, Lucas Ocampos, former Barcelona players Ivan Rakitić and Javier Saviola, along with Nico Pareja and Alberto Moreno. Prosecutors allege that Shirtum concealed taxes using a complex corporate structure. The NFTs, purportedly designed to represent the players’ image rights, failed to function as intended. Following their participation in promoting the project, the companies deleted social media evidence, ultimately leading to the platform’s quiet shutdown in March 2022 after claiming it was hacked.