US Regulator Charges South African MTI and Its Operator With $1.7 Billion Fraud Involving Bitcoin – A South African pool operator and CEO has been accused by the CFTC with a $1.7 billion bitcoin fraud, according to a statement released on Thursday.
The regulator added:
“The largest bitcoin fraud scheme case brought by the CFTC is this one.”
With “fraud and registration violations,” the derivatives watchdog has filed a civil enforcement action against Cornelius Johannes Steynberg and Mirror Trading International Proprietary Ltd. (MTI).
The CFTC explained that “Steynberg, individually and as the controlling person of MTI, engaged in an international fraudulent multilevel marketing scheme to solicit bitcoin from members of the public for participation in a commodity pool operated by MTI” from approximately May 18, 2018, through March 20, last year.
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It added more detail by saying:
“Steynberg accepted at least 29,421 bitcoin throughout this time, which had a total value of more than $1,733,838,372 at the time.”
The CFTC also seeks “permanent registration and trading bans, civil monetary penalties, disgorgement of ill-gotten earnings, and a permanent injunction against future violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC Regulations,” according to the release.
US Regulator Charges South African MTI and Its Operator With $1.7 Billion Fraud Involving Bitcoin – According to the derivatives watchdog:
“All of the bitcoin the defendants received from the pool participants was wrongfully taken, either directly or indirectly.”
Sternberg is a wanted person by South African law enforcement, however he was recently arrested in the Federative Republic of Brazil according to an Interpol arrest request, according to the CFTC.
