Fugitive CEO Fined Record $3.4 Billion for Bitcoin Investment Fraud

Fugitive CEO Fined Record $3.4 Billion for Bitcoin Investment Fraud
Massive Bitcoin scam MTI generated returns for early investors with money gleaned from those who joined later. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Naveen Athrappully
Updated:
0:00

A United States court has ordered a South African citizen to pay over $3 billion in fines for duping American investors through a fraudulent Bitcoin investment scheme.

Cornelius Johannes Steynberg was ordered by a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas to pay $1.73 billion in restitution to defrauded victims as well as $1.73 billion in civil monetary penalties, with the total fines coming to over $3.4 billion, according to an April 27 press release by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Related Topics