South Africa's "Mirror Trading International" Pool Charged by CFTC for $1.7 Billion in Fraud

The CFTC has accused South Africa's Mirror Trading of claiming opportunities to "grow your bitcoin" that were false with over $1.7 Billion of BTC under their control. 

The CFTC said this is the regulator's "largest-ever fraud scheme case involving bitcoin." The case alleged MTI accepted 29,421 BTC from 23,000 Americans "and even more throughout the world" for a commodity pool scheme he wasn't licensed to run. 

This pool promised users returns with the opportunity to "grow your Bitcoin," claiming up to 10% returns on your BTC monthly. Unsurprisingly, these returns were far from factual. According to the report, the head of MTI, Cornelius Johannes Steynberg, failed to make disclosures, lied to investors about the existence of a "trading bot," and even sent clients forged account statements claiming an increase in their account value.  

The CFTC is referring to the "fund" as an "international fraudulent multilevel marketing scheme," and now the regulator is seeking "full restitution to defrauded investors, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, civil monetary penalties, permanent registration and trading bans, and a permanent injunction against future violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC Regulations," from the fund.

Sadly, the CFTC warns investors that they may not see their money again. The article states, "victims that restitution orders may not result in the recovery of money lost, because the wrongdoers may not have sufficient funds or assets."

According to the report, Sternberg is" a fugitive from South African law enforcement" but was detained in Brazil by an INTERPOL agent a few days ago. 

Author: Garrett Meifert

Related Articles