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.