Of the nearly R1.1 billion that was available in the Mirror Trading International estate to repay victims of the scam, only R637 million remains.
Even using the much lower price of R500,000 per bitcoin at the time of the scheme’s collapse, MTI would be an almost R19.6 billion scam. Globally, financial regulators had also begun issuing warnings against MTI, including South Africa’s own Financial Sector Conduct Authority, which orchestrated a dawn raid of its offices.to a roughly R595,000 fine. He was also remanded into custody and eventually transferred to house arrest pending his extradition hearing.Shortly after Steynberg’s initial disappearance, liquidation proceedings were instituted against MTI.
The first official warning about MTI, issued by the Texas Securities Commission, only came out about a month later. Just over R637 million remains in the estate’s accounts, including interest earned from Absa and Standard Bank on the deposits.The liquidators have also pocketed their first fees to the tune of R139 million.