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Get-Rich-Quick Ad Goes Viral in Brazil 

Viral Get-Rich-Quick Ad Divides Brazil Investment Community

(Bloomberg) -- It’s been a busy week in Brazil. Stocks reached a record, President Jair Bolsonaro made a splash in Washington, the government delivered the second part of its pension reform plan, and former President Michel Temer was arrested, sending markets tumbling and erasing most of this year’s rally.

And then there’s Bettina Rudolph.

The 22-year-old became an overnight meme after a viral video where she says she became a millionaire (in local currency) in just three years after starting with some 1,500 reais ($400) -- a return of about 66,000 percent. The claim that anyone could do the same created a buzz in Sao Paulo’s financial district and caught the eye of the market watchdog.

The controversy goes to show how prevalent retail investing is becoming in Brazil as the fund industry booms amid record low rates and a chase for yield among a general public who typically invested only in low-risk notes tied to the central bank rate.

In the video, part of an ad campaign for research firm Empiricus, known for its aggressive marketing strategies, she vows to show viewers how to “earn their first million reais” using research from the firm, where she works as a copywriter. Hashtags about the video quickly rose to top trending topics on Twitter in Brazil. The comments are a mix of jokes, mostly negative and often tied to her privilege and social status -- similar to the criticism of Kylie Jenner’s self-made billionaire status.

Brazil’s market watchdog, known as CVM, issued a statement Thursday saying investors should not make decisions based on opinions seen in social media, and posted an image of wolf in sheep’s clothing on one of its Facebook pages warning about financial advisers who try to sell products. The regulator has been scrutinizing Empiricus for sometime, and late last year got a favorable decision on an injunction that allowed the firm to operate outside of its jurisdiction. Empiricus has said it should fall under journalistic rules, not those for capital markets participants, and that it doesn’t recognize CVM as its regulator.

In a slew of interviews, including one to a founder of the firm, she has tried to detail how she got her outsized returns, which has included adding part of her salary, plus bonuses and money she got from her father to that initial tiny investment. In another video, she says she benefited from good momentum in the markets, losing money in just one of the over 30 companies she invested in.

Among the stocks that boosted her portfolio are Ser Educacional SA, Rumo SA, Itausa - Investimentos Itau SA and Petroleo Brasileiro SA, she said. The firm has doubled down on the campaign, posting new videos and focusing their countless emails -- so many daily messages that investors often see them as just spam -- on Bettina.

It’s not the first time the firm has been involved in debacles: a research piece titled “The end of Brazil” just before the 2014 elections earned it a lawsuit from then-President Dilma Rousseff. The firm was founded in 2009 and has around 325,000 subscribers, according to its website. In 2013, Baltimore-based Agora Inc. became a partner at the company. Empiricus declined to comment.

“I tell everyone: I bought stocks. It wasn’t luck. I didn’t inherit a big amount of money and didn’t win the lottery. I started when I was 19 years old and with 1,520 reais. Three years later I have more than a million,” says Rudolph. “Simple as that.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Aline Oyamada in Sao Paulo at aoyamada3@bloomberg.net;Vinícius Andrade in São Paulo at vandrade3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Cancel at dcancel@bloomberg.net, Julia Leite

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