A top TVI Express scammer has had their assets frozen in South Africa.

Describing TVI Express as “South Africa’s biggest pyramid scheme”, the High Court in Johannesburg has ordered the estate of Adelaide Musa Duma “provisionally sequestrated”.

As reported by Roy Cokayne of MoneyWeb on August 27th, TVI Express was being investigated by South Africa’s Prudential Authority.

The Prudential Authority is a division of the South African Reserve Bank.

The Prudential Authority … applied to provisionally sequestrate the estate of businesswoman Adelaide Musa Duma of Seven Oaks, 2nd Avenue, Johannesburg.

In handing down judgment, Judge Phanuel Mudau said the TVI Schemes are said to be “South Africa’s biggest pyramid scheme”.

Mudau said the alliance partners purportedly linked to the schemes “are not in fact partners, and the marketed relationships are, in fact, fraudulent”.

TVI Express and its promoters, including Duma, have found to be in violation of South Africa’s Banks Act.

With respect to Duma specifically, Mudau’s order was handed down based on documents seized in 2013. The documents established Duma as a TVI Express promoter.

Duma processed funds for TVI Express through a First National Bank. Around $118,000 appears to have been handled.

This amount was claimed by the Prudential Authority in December 2016, upon finding Duma ha contravened the Banks Act.

Failure to settle the charge in 2016 led to Duma’s assets being frozen eight years later.

Mudau ordered that Duma’s estate be placed under provisional sequestration in the hands of the Master of the High Court in Johannesburg.

TVI Express was an MLM pyramid scheme built around travel. BehindMLM documented the spread of TVI Express across Africa in 2010.

This includes an investigation launched by South African authorities in December 2010. TVI Express South African promoters would later claim anyone who criticized the scam was racist.

South African authorities would go on to make two TVI Express arrests in 2011. Another kingpin, Nonhlanhla Hadebe (right), was arrested in 2013.

TVI Express itself was run by Indian national Tarun Trikha. Indian authorities arrested Trikha in 2013 and again in 2020.

Despite multiple arrests, Indian authorities have been unable to make criminal charges against Trikha (right) stick.

Personally I don’t think TVI Express is South Africa’s “biggest pyramid scheme”. Previously, South African authorities pegged local TVI Express losses at $254 million.

Coming in at over $1.7 billion stolen, Mirror Trading International easily takes the crown.

Mirror Trading International, or MTI, collapsed in November 2020.

MTI’s CEO Johannes Steynberg recently died in Brazil awaiting extradition to South Africa.

Local ringleaders Clynton Marks and Cheri Ward, who together are MTI’s primary beneficiaries, remain at large living and live openly in South Africa.

To date South African authorities have failed to file criminal charges in relation to MTI.