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Below is a statement released by the management of the so-called bitcoin trading group Mirror Trading International (MTI) about the disappearance of its founder and CEO, Johann Steynberg, who has not been heard from since December 3.
Steynberg’s disappearance follows the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) incursion and the issuance of a warning to the public to prevent the MTI from becoming involved in the group.
The FSCA opened a criminal case against MTI and on Thursday.
Read:
MTI CEO is AWOL, Lawyers leave
FSCA investigating Mirror Trading International (August 19)
Joining MTI May End in Tears (Aug 20)
Get Rich Quick Scheme Draws a Crowd, Despite Regulators Calling for Time Out (Aug 28)
Anonymous Data Dump ‘Spill the Beans’ at Mirror Trading International (Sep 21)
MTI Plans Counterclaim After FSCA Raid on Executive Homes and Offices (Oct 28)
The declaration:
Critical statement of MTI 12/22/2020
Apologies to all members for the lack of communication. Management and MTI leaders have not responded to this dire situation before, as we had to wait for the facts to be verified before any information could be released.
The main points:
Johann is alive.
Johann is in Brazil as far as we know.
Johann has not been honest with management, leaders or members.
We, as managers and leaders, do not know if our bitcoin is safe.
Management has contacted the server team; they are fully cooperating.
Management has been in contact with the broker, trade300, but now believes that this company is potentially owned and operated by Johann Steynberg. Communication with the runner has been scarce and not very communicative.
The entire management team is cooperating with law enforcement and will continue to do so until this matter is resolved.
Nerina Steynberg (Johann’s wife) has yet to file a missing persons report.
“The last time we heard from Johann was on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 at 01:51 AM.”
Detailed report of the Management Team and Leaders:
Following the search and seizure warrants executed by the FSCA on the 26thth October 2020, things started to quickly unravel at MTI, [and] it was getting too hard to handle [the] amount of work created for each department. Each department was expanded and more training personnel were added. Support was hired We had more support staff and we insisted that Johann seek help from the technical department as it was clear that he and Nerina weren’t doing it. The system kept crashing and Johann told us that we had had numerous hacking attempts by a Russian union. He sent us the details of these, some demanding extremely high ransoms.
On the day of the raid, an independent MTI contractor, a crypto expert, was contacted and asked to contact Camila (the senior account manager) at trade300 (MTI’s unregulated broker) and tell him that our accounts may be compromised as a result of the raid and you should wait to hear from Johann before allowing any access to the MTI broker account, which the contractor did immediately.
The contractor had trade300’s contact details as we had asked him to help Johann cryptographically demonstrate MTI’s bitcoin balance to the FSCA and the public. However, Johann did not provide him with the details necessary to complete this process.
Johann told us that when the FSCA took all electronic devices, a security protocol was in place with the broker to prevent all of our bitcoin members from being stolen, this included a withdrawal limitation. This was communicated to all members at the insistence of the management.
A week after the raid, Johann requested that Clynton Marks give him BTC to pay members who had made withdrawals, as the limitation of withdrawals with the broker was still an obstacle. Johann agreed to put at 400btc as well. Clynton then agreed and paid over 400 btc outside of MTI to Johann on the 1S t, eleventh and 12th November 2020. Management has no proof that Johann contributed the amount he declared. Clynton Marks was fully confident that he would get his Bitcoin back.
Johann said that Nerina Steynerg also allegedly gave 200btc for this process.
Johann frantically processed the withdrawals and management insisted that this was the top priority knowing full well that Cheri Marks had promised it to members following Johann’s instructions.
The 30thth In November, Johann received an email from an anonymous source. (email)
