Business
South African brothers explain role in missing cryptos $2.4bn
Two South African brothers, Raees and Ameer Cajee who were accused of stealing about $2.4bn worth of Bitcoin last week have denied the allegation, saying their platform only lost $5 million in a hack.
Raees Cajee, who is the co-founder and CEO of South African cryptocurrency investment platform, AfriCrypt, while is his brother, Ameer is the COO, countered the accusations laid against AfriCrypt, stating that he and his brother went into hiding after receiving death threats from some “very, very dangerous people.”
He also rejected claims that $3.6 billion in funds is missing, stating that the firm only managed $200 million during its peak in April and that only $5 million in investor funds are unaccounted for after the hack. He stated, “At the height of the market, we were managing just over $200 million.”
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It would be recalled that reports had alleged that AfriCrypt, a cryptocurrency investment company that offers daily returns of up to 10%, vanished with 69,000 BTC of investors’ funds.
AfriCrypt had notified its investors of the hack on April 13 and suspicions were immediately raised when a message from the COO urged investors to avoid taking legal action as it would slow down the recovery of the funds.
After this, the brothers halted AfriCrypt’s operations and went missing as attempts to reach the brothers all came back without a positive result.
Hanekom Attorneys, one of the law firms representing AfriCrypt’s customers, stated that the brothers transferred $3.6 billion worth of BTC from AfriCrypt’s accounts and client wallets through “various dark web tumblers and mixers” to make the funds untraceable.
Lawyer John Oosthuizen, who is representing the Cajee brothers, told the BBC that the pair has denied the allegations they stole their investors’ funds. He stated, “They maintain that it was a hack and they were fleeced of these assets”.
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South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) released a statement regarding the case stating that the project appeared to have Ponzi-like characteristics. They said, “This entity was offering exceptionally high and unrealistic returns akin to those offered by unlawful investment schemes commonly known as Ponzi’s.”
However, the FSCA made it clear that it cannot take any action against AfriCrypt as crypto assets are currently unregulated in South Africa.
According to WSJ, the brothers plan to surface for a July 19 court hearing regarding their claims.