Mirror Trading International @ BehindMLM

If you’re wondering what happened to Johannes Steynberg following his Brazilian arrest in January 2022, you’re a not alone. Turns out, rather than extradite Steynberg to the US or South Africa, that Brazilian authorities charged Steynberg with “assuming a false identity”. As reported by Jan Vermeulen of MyBroadband, Steynberg has been found guilty.

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.

Liquidators in South Africa have issued a summons against eighteen of Mirror Trading International’s top net-winners. Together, the scammers are being held liable for R4.66 billion (~$244 million USD).

While South African authorities haven’t done much on the criminal side of things, last year SARS, the country’s tax regulator, informed MTI’s Liquidators it intended to bill them $34.46 million. This amount, representing unpaid taxes by the $1.7 billion Ponzi scheme, was just shy of total recovery. As of March 2023, the dispute between MTI’s [Continue reading…]

As part of civil liquidation proceedings, the High Court of South Africa has ruled Mirror Trading International was a Ponzi scheme.

The CFTC has secured a $3.4 billion default judgment against Mirror Trading International CEO Johannes Steynberg. The judgment makes Mirror Trading Trading International the biggest CFTC fraud case ever involving bitcoin.

The Mirror Trading International tax issue in South Africa is expected to drag into 2024.

One of the common misconceptions with MLM receiverships in the US is that they work to keep funds for themselves. In reality, where recovery is possible, the vast majority of recovered assets are paid out to victims of the scheme. This process typically ties into a regulatory lawsuit and is broadly overseen by the courts. [Continue reading…]

At the request of the CFTC, an Entry of Default has been recorded against Mirror Trading International CEO Johannes Steynberg.

Of the 300,000 investor accounts Mirror Trading International boasted, around 90% were just email addresses. That is to say, Mirror Trading International only had around 30,000 actual investors.