CFTC charges Mirror Trading International with alleged fraud of $1.7 billion worth of Bitcoin
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has charged Cornelius Johannes Steynberg and his company, Mirror Trading International (MTI), for fraud and registration breaches.
A South African trading company was the subject of a complaint filed by the CFTC on June 30, 2022, claiming that Steynberg used it to launch MTI and operate a global pool of foreign currency commodities in excess of $ 1.7 billion. I am.
To join the pool, the user had to buy Bitcoin and no other currency was accepted to join the pool. Complaints claim that this project is the largest fraud scheme involving Bitcoin (BTC) For CFTC.
The same complaint also highlights alleged fraud when Steynberg operated Mirror Trading International as a MLM between May 18, 2018 and March 30, 2021. Steynberg used social media and multiple websites to solicit Bitcoin from public members through its global pool of foreign currency commodities.
Commodity pools are alleged to have traded off-exchange retail foreign currencies on a leveraged basis with users who were not eligible Contract Participants (ECPs). Defendants allegedly alleged that the transaction was made through a proprietary “bot” or software program.
During this period, Steynberg allegedly accepted at least 29,421 Bitcoins ($ 1.7 billion worth) from approximately 23,000 non-ECPs in the United States to participate in commodity pools found in other parts of the world. increase. This was done even if the defendant was not registered as a Commodity Pool Operator as needed.
Steynberg allegedly did this individually and on behalf of Mirror Trading International. All Bitcoins that the defendant obtained from pool members were misappropriated in some way, either directly or indirectly.
