The American financial regulator, the CFTC, has taken a South African speculative platform to court to demand the restitution of US$1.7 billion deposited by its clients in cryptocurrencies.
In the July 2021 liquidation, Mirror Trading International (MTI) claimed to have guaranteed investors more than 100% annual potential returns thanks to an algorithm that turned out to be fictitious.
According to the CFTC, MTI and its CEO, Cornelius Steynberg, accepted $1.7 billion worth of bitcoin. A portion of this amount belongs to approximately 23,000 US residents.
“The largest bitcoin scam ever followed by the CFTC,” the organ said in a statement. According to South African media, MTI had around 300,000 users when it was suspended in December 2020.
MTI is under investigation and Interpol has issued an international arrest warrant for Cornelius Steynberg, who was arrested in Brazil last December and is pending an extradition to South Africa, seeking prosecution.
The CFTC warned that clients will never get their money back because “the people involved may not have enough funds”.
source: Noticias
[author_name]
