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A provisional liquidation order has been granted against a South African Bitcoin trading company said to have received around 9.45 billion rand ($ 644 million) from up to 280,000 investors, Business Day reported.
A Cape Town court handed down the ruling after disgruntled customers submitted two urgent requests that could not withdraw funds, the Johannesburg-based newspaper reported on Tuesday. South African Financial Sector Conduct Authority earlier this month It said in a statement that it believes that “Mirror Trading International and its senior management are conducting an illegal operation, misleading clients and have violated various laws.”
The firm is not licensed to provide financial services and has not applied for such a license, the FSCA said in the same statement regarding its MTI investigation. The investigation is ongoing and the regulator has opened a criminal case against the company, he said.
MTI CEO Cornelius Johannes Steynberg is believed to have left South Africa and is likely in Brazil, according to a letter to clients posted on a Telegram channel on December 22 by MTI management. The company’s bank account has been suspended, the letter says.
