Sandile Shezi

Image: Facebook

Sandile Shezi R500 000 fraud case: SA’s youngest millionaire granted bail

SA’s youngest millionaire and Bitcoin trader, Sandile Shezi, has been released on bail following a R500 000 fraud case in Johannesburg.

Sandile Shezi

Image: Facebook

Police have confirmed a R5 000 bail release for Bitcoin trader and South Africa’s youngest millionaire Sandile Shezi. The update follows after a high-profile arrest last week.

SANDILE SHEZI BAIL SUCCESS

As reported by The South African last week, Shezi handed himself to Sandton police after he was announced as a wanted suspect for a R500 000 fraud case.

The 30-year-old is accused of defrauding a former business partner. Allan Ledwaba. “Today is not the right time for me to lay bare my entire story and how I suffered at the hands of a man trusted as the matter has just gone to court,” Ledwaba said.

According to National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwana, the Durban-born Shezi has left police custody after a successful bail application and payment.

ADDED FRAUD CLAIMS AGAINST SHEZI

As with many alleged crimes against a public figure, it is not a surprise to find additional claims from victims that are yet to press formal charges against a given suspect.

For the millionaire Sandile Shezi, it is two alleged victims from Limpopo. A school principal claims Shezi owes him R1.2 million.

“His seminars were always packed. At some point, there were more than 1 000 people in one of his seminars … He showed me his trading accounts, which [showed that they] had more than $6 million [R89 million] in them,” Ledwaba said.

“He was driving Lamborghinis and Ferraris, which any youngster like me would be attracted to.”

The second allegation is from another former school headmaster who claims to have invested a total of R1.3 million in Shezi’s business ventures. The victim claims to have used his pension money to forward payments of R100 000, R200 000, and R1 million between 2018 and 2019.

“We gave him [Shezi] R100 000 in 2018 and then in 2019, he told us that the money had matured, and it was R200 000. We then had a conversation that if I resigned and invested my pension payout, I would make more money,” he claimed.

“I invested R1 million in 2019. He used to send us dividends every month, but, at the end of the year, he started saying business was hard and he was struggling to invest,” the principal said.