The South African boss of a cryptocurrency platform, accused of fraud involving bitcoin exchanges, was sentenced on Thursday to pay more than 3.4 billion dollars (about 3 billion euros), half in the form of fine, the rest representing the amount due to customers of the platform, announced an American regulatory agency.
Placed in compulsory liquidation in July 2021, the company Mirror Trading International (MTI) guaranteed investors potential returns of more than 100% per year, thanks to an algorithm which made it possible to carry out transactions on the foreign exchange market, which is revealed to be imaginary.
According to US financial regulator CFTC, MTI and its chief executive, South African national Cornelius Johannes Steynberg, accepted more than $1.7 billion in bitcoin deposits, some of which came from some 23,000 residents. Americans. A federal court judge in West Texas on Thursday ordered Mr. Steynberg to reimburse all depositors and sentenced him to a fine of an equivalent amount destined for the CFTC.
According to several South African media, MTI had nearly 300,000 users when it was suspended in December 2020. MTI is the subject of several investigations and an international arrest warrant has been issued by Interpol against Mr. Steynberg, who has been arrested in Brazil in December 2021.
He is currently in detention pending a decision on an extradition request from South African authorities. It is also targeted by civil proceedings in South Africa at the initiative of users of the platform.
2023-04-28 05:58:04
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