A clearer picture is emerging of Mirror Trading International (MTI), the bitcoin scheme that collapsed in December 2020 when founder and CEO Johann Steynberg fled to Brazil.
It was widely reported that the scheme, which promised members returns of 10% a month, had close to 300 000 members. The actual figure is close to one-tenth of this, according to a forensic analysis provided to Moneyweb by the liquidators.
In response to a Moneyweb request for more details on the breakdown of the member base, the analysis by the liquidators shows slightly fewer than 34 000 individual members, out of the 304 000 total number of accounts.
This means close to 90% of the accounts were so-called ‘slave accounts’ set up by investors to earn commissions for introducing new members to the scheme.
MTI was a multi-level marketing scheme paying commissions of 10% on earnings on new members introduced.
Some individuals had more than 20 ‘slave accounts’ – set up in the name of family members, fictitious identities, domestic servants and family pets, all for the purpose of earning commissions on funds deposited by ‘downline’ members.
Creditor claims
What is also clear from the forensic analysis is that creditor claims are starting to pour in ahead of the next creditors meeting on 23 November 2022.
This sudden burst of claims follows news that the liquidators are contesting the attempt by the South African Revenue Service (Sars) to grab R931 million of the R1.1 billion in bitcoin…
