On May 5th, a Texas District Court gave the CFTC a May 26th deadline to file for default judgment against Mirror Trading International (MTI).

This prompted the CFTC to file a motion requesting the deadline be stayed on May 15th.

In that filing, the CFTC revealed it had reached a settlement with MTI.

The Commission and MTI have engaged in substantive and good-faith negotiations for months and have reached an agreement on terms for the complete resolution of the Commission’s civil enforcement action against MTI by means of a negotiated
proposed Consent Order for Permanent Injunction, Restitution and Other Equitable Relief, subject to approval by the full Commission.

It is respectfully submitted that the filing of the proposed Consent Order, following approval by the full Commission, will render moot the necessity of filing a default judgment motion against MTI, avoid any potential uncertainty associated with the entry of a default judgment, and bring final relief to defrauded pool participants.

Mirror Trading International in the US is represented by US law firm Redmond Law Firm LLC and South African liquidators:

  • Kobus Schabort of Schabort Potgieter Attorneys
  • Christopher Roos of Sebenza Trust and
  • Riaan van Rooyen of Investrust

Unfortunately we don’t have a timeline for “full approval” of the CFTC’s MTI settlement.

Typically the SEC’s settlement approval process takes 6 to 8 weeks. The CFTC’s approval process is likely of a similar timeframe.

The Court approved the CFTC’s motion on May 16th. Since then there have been no further filings on the docket.

Details of the CFTC’s MTI settlement will be made public pending Commission approval and submission to the court.

The CFTC contends Mirror Trading International was a $1.7 billion dollar Ponzi scheme.

A $3.4 billion default judgment was secured against CEO Johannes Steynberg last month.

 

Update 15th August 2023 – Update from the CFTC in an August 14th filed Status Report;

CFTC staff has recently obtained authorization from the full Commission to submit the agreed proposed Consent Order to the Court.

The Parties anticipate filing a Joint Motion for Entry of the proposed Consent Order as soon as U.S. counsel for the MTI Joint Liquidators enters his appearance in this litigation via a motion for pro hac vice admission.

The CFTC understands that U.S. counsel for the MTI Joint Liquidators is in the process of obtaining his certificates of good standing and will be filing a motion for pro hac vice admission with the Court this week.

I’ll check back in on the docket towards the end of the week.

 

Update 8th September 2023 – The CFTC secured a $1.7 billion consent judgment against Mirror Trading International on September 5th.