Four years post the fall of Mirror Trading International, South African officials have verified that a criminal probe is underway.
The Financial Sector Conduct Authority labeled MTI a “unlawful venture” in December 2020. Nonetheless, substantive updates have been scarce since that proclamation.
As Jan Vermeulen of My Broadband disclosed on May 21st;
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is delving into the affiliations and cohorts of the deceased Johann Steynberg, the erstwhile CEO of Mirror Trading International.
It is purported that Steynberg met his demise in Brazil a month ago.
Conveying to MyBroadband, Isaac Dludlu, the media relations head for the NPA, confirmed that no charges have been filed as of yet.
Albeit the matter is under scrutiny, and a myriad of potential charges are being considered.
A plethora of charges such as embezzlement or thievery, falsification, contraventions of the Prevention of Organized Crime Act, and breaches of the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act are being evaluated.
Despite no accusations by authorities concerning South Africa’s most colossal Ponzi scheme, the civil actions concerning liquidators have accumulated hefty legal costs.
Although liquidators have achieved some headway, to the misfortune of Mirror Trading International’s victims, the advances have been agonizingly sluggish.
Till this day, Clynton Marks and Cheri Ward (pictured on the right), the alleged proprietors and chief benefactors of MTI, are at large within South Africa.
One can only hope that the NPA will not require another quartet of years to prosecute Marks, Ward, and their collaborators.