According to reports in South Africa, Johann Steynberg, formerly Mirror Trading International (MTI) CEO, has been found guilty in Brazil of using a forged identity document with the judge handing down an aggravated sentence.
Apart from shedding light on Steynberg’s criminal trial, court documents have disclosed information about his lifestyle during his time in hiding in Brazil. Allegedly, he had two girlfriends under whose names he acquired properties.
Although the circumstances of Steynberg’s crime were considered serious, his prison sentence of three years and six months has been converted into an additional fine that he is required to pay to a charity designated by the court. According to the Brazilian penal code, prison terms less than four years for non-violent offenses can be commuted into fines.
While not officially confirmed, it seems that the founder of South Africa’s largest pyramid scheme is currently held in preventative detention as extradition proceedings are ongoing.
In April 2023, a U.S. judge ordered Steynberg to pay over $3.4 billion in fines and restitution for his Bitcoin fraud scheme, described as the highest civil monetary penalty ever in any case brought by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
As reported by BitKE, the scheme, now widely known from the company name MTI (Mirror Trading International), was a network marketing scam centered around Bitcoin that took in $589 million worth of cryptocurrency form investors. Originating in South Africa, the scheme had managed to attract participants from across the globe.
MTI offered the enticing proposition of increasing ‘investors’ Bitcoin through monthly returns that averaged around 10%. Additionally, it provided a means for participants to earn significant bonuses by enlisting more individuals into the scheme.
In 2021, the scam was declared by Chainalysis as ‘by far biggest cryptocurrency scam in 2020 globally,’ The firm received over half of its traffic from South Africa, in addition to the United States, United Kingdom Mexico and Canada.
In April 2023, MTI was declared an illicit operation by a court in South Africa, with the judge characterizing it as a pyramid and Ponzi-type scheme.
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