Mirror Trading International, the now-defunct fraudulent bitcoin investment platform, is said to be owed more than $129 million by debtors that had not been declared previously.
Unaccounted for Debtors
Liquidators of the collapsed South African bitcoin Ponzi scheme, Mirror Trading International (MTI), recently released a statement that suggested the scheme is owed as much as $129.6 million (2.07 billion rands) by previously unaccounted for debtors.
According to a report by Moneyweb, preliminary investigations by liquidators also show that MTI had assets valued at over $190 million. However, the report said liquidators conceded they still needed to carry out more investigations.
These reports of fresh claims against MTI follow the confirmation by liquidators that they had successfully applied for the liquidation of JNX Online, a firm that is allegedly controlled by Johann Steynberg, the scheme’s former CEO.
As explained in the report, Steynberg and his wife, Nerina, had allegedly used JNX Online to buy and sell bitcoins. The same company was also used to make payments to MTI’s creditors and to Nerina.
Legal Action Option
The liquidators, according to the report, believe that legal action — which enables them to investigate fraudulent claims against MTI — might be required. Besides the mooted legal action, the report said “crypto specialists” have since been appointed to assist in quantifying and identifying claims that were obtained from MTI’s back-office platform.
Before running into legal and regulatory troubles, MTI projected itself as a legitimate bitcoin investment platform with some 300,000+ investors. Yet as the findings of an investigation by liquidators show, the number of investors is in fact well below that.
Meanwhile, the Moneyweb report said liquidators will continue to investigate the circumstances leading to the collapse of MTI “by way of Section 417 and 418 enquiries in terms of the Companies Act.”
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