Mirror Trading International ($1.7 Billion)
In June, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed a civil enforcement action against Mirror Trading International and its CEO, Cornelius Johannes Steynberg, for allegedly running a $1.7 billion fraud scheme involving bitcoin. According to authorities, Steynberg created a global foreign currency commodity pool that could only be bought into using bitcoin. Steynberg brought in large amounts of money into the pool, despite not being registered as a commodity pool operator. According to federal officials, Steynberg misrepresented how the funds were being invested and “misappropriated” large amounts of the funds. When authorities went after him, Steynberg left South Africa, but he was arrested in Brazil in June on an Interpol warrant.
