One of the common misconceptions with MLM receiverships in the US is that they work to keep funds for themselves.
In reality, where recovery is possible, the vast majority of recovered assets are paid out to victims of the scheme.
This process typically ties into a regulatory lawsuit and is broadly overseen by the courts.
Over in South Africa and pertaining to the $1.7 billion Mirror Trading International Ponzi, regulators and local authorities continue to do nothing.
This prompted civil court proceedings, which saw liquidators put in charged of Mirror Trading International post-collapse.
This was back in mid 2021. While we know the majority of funds invested into MTI went to the Marks crime family and top promoters, recovery efforts are and continue to be bleak.
Of the $1.7 billion MTI took in, only around $60 million has been recovered.
To date nothing has been returned to MTI’s victims. Meanwhile liquidators have already set aside $7.3 million to pay themselves with. Another $6.1 million has been paid out in fees.
That $6.1 million in fees was spent to recover an additional $759,907.
These figures are from a “Provision Liquidators Account”, cited by Jan Vermeulen at MyBroadband.
When queried on what appears to be financial mismanagement, MTI’s liquidators “declined to answer further questions about the accuracy of the figures on the record.”
As it stands, almost two years into the MTI liquidator process there’s still no end in sight. Outside of Johannes Steynberg, who was only arrested because he fled South Africa, the Marks crime family and their associates remain at large.
South African authorities, namely the FSCA and Hawks, have made no efforts to hold anyone in South Africa accountable for what US regulators claim was a $1.7 billion Ponzi scheme.
BehindMLM maintains MTI’s liquidation process should never have happened. The FSCA and Hawks should have taken action, overseeing any MTI Receivership equivalent in the process.
Presently there is no end in sight to MTI’s mostly ineffective liquidator proceedings.
The largest amount recovered was from FX Choice. The broker voluntarily froze 1281 BTC laundered through MTI in 2020. This happened long before liquidators were appointed.
MTI’s liquidator’s fees and bills grow larger each month. Absent intervention by authorities, the recovered pot, already a fraction of the funds stolen, continues to dwindle.