The Gloves Come Off: CFTC Takes Swing at Largest Bitcoin Fraud Scheme

MTI was founded in 2019 under the laws of the Republic of South Africa. Steynberg, however, globally marketed MTI’s commodity pool and allegedly engaged with individuals who were not eligible contract participants (ECPs) The CFTC claims “at least 23,000 [MTI] participants from the U.S. and throughout the world” were conned into contributing to the pool. MTI participants were led to believe their bitcoin would be deposited into the pool and that trades facilitated by a “bot” would net up to 10% in profits per month. The defendants sought to further their deception through the falsification of account statements and by effectively running a Ponzi scheme where principal deposits of later Source