South African businessman fined $3.4 billion for running cryptocurrency scam in the US, ordered to pay restitution for defrauded victims and civil monetary penalty, while being a fugitive from South African law enforcement. Image: Screenshot from video/MTI Team DCA.
Fugitive Stellenbosch CEO ordered to pay R62.5 billion fine by US Court
A South African fugitive who ran a cryptocurrency scam has been ordered to pay a massive fine by a US court.
South African businessman fined $3.4 billion for running cryptocurrency scam in the US, ordered to pay restitution for defrauded victims and civil monetary penalty, while being a fugitive from South African law enforcement. Image: Screenshot from video/MTI Team DCA.
After running a crypto scam, a South African businessman has been ordered to pay a $3.4 billion (about R62.5b) fine in the United States. The fine is split equally between restitution for defrauded victims and a civil monetary penalty.
Mirror Trading International and Cornelius Johannes Steynberg: The biggest fraud scheme involving Bitcoin
Cornelius Johannes Steynberg, who hails from Stellenbosch, Western Cape, was fined by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in the US District Court for the Western District of Texas on Thursday, 27 April.
The CFTC said the $1.7 million civil monetary penalty is the highest order in any case before the Commission. The matter is also the most significant fraud scheme involving Bitcoin.
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“The order finds that Steynberg, the founder and CEO of Mirror Trading International Proprietary Limited (MTI), a company currently in liquidation in the Republic of South Africa, is liable for fraud in connection with retail foreign currency (forex) transactions, fraud by an associated person of a commodity pool operator (CPO), registration violations, and failure to comply with CPO regulations,” read a statement.
Steynberg’s international scheme saw him solicit Bitcoin from members of the public individually and as the controlling person of MTI.
He received at least 29 421 Bitcoin (worth over $1.7b) from at least 23 000 individuals in the US and more in other parts of the world.
“Either directly or indirectly, the defendants misappropriated all of the Bitcoin they accepted from pool participants,” said the CFTC.
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This matter wraps up the CFTC case against Steynberg. However, litigation continues against MTI.
Arrested in Brazil
The Steynberg is a fugitive from South African law enforcement. He was nabbed in Brazil in December 2021 on an INTERPOL arrest warrant.
Last year, in June, News24 reported that the “MTI mastermind” lost out in his attempt to leave the Brazilian prison before an extradition hearing.
He fled South Africa in December 2020 and was arrested in Goiânia a year later after a tip-off.
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