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- Two South African brothers prime suspects in one of the biggest cryptocurrency heists
- Investors lured by lucrative returns as per Africrypt investment presentation
- 105 investors lost their deposits
Africrypt founders are absconding, and investors are left high and dry. Investors seek legal action in a desperate attempt to recover their valuable assets, which they have lost in the latest cryptocurrency theft scandal.
Two South African brothers Raees and Ameer Cajee, are the prime suspects in one of the biggest cryptocurrency heists in the country. The two brothers face mounting pressure to come out clean after investigators delve into one of the biggest cryptocurrency thefts in the country.
The now-famous Africcrypt cryptocurrency fraud has left the local investors numbed as they saw their life earnings conned by the company run by the brothers.
Lucrative returns lured investors.
Lucrative returns lured investors as per Africcrypt investment presentation. Consumers could either make South African rand or Bitcoin (BTC) deposits to Africrypt, which then managed those investments. However, in April 2021the Cajee brothers informed investors through a letter that hackers had allegedly stolen an unconfirmed amount of its holdings. The brothers later pleaded with clients not to opt for legal proceedings. Shortly afterward, the Africrypt website went offline.
It is not clear how much cryptocurrency was managed by Africrypt. However, a Wall Street Journal report in June 2021 quoting the elder Cajee sibling said that Africrypt was managing around $200 million worth of cryptocurrency at the height of the market’s 2021 boom.
Investors are following the legal route to salvage their life savings which they had put in the project. But, unfortunately, the local regulators cannot do anything since the current regulations of South Africa do not permit their jurisdiction over cryptocurrencies.
The Cajee brothers have been in controversy earlier also. In 2019, RaeCreate Wealth was incorporated in Hong Kong and was run by the Cajee brothers. They informed their investors that some of their cryptocurrency was stolen during a Binance hack. It is unclear if the investors who had invested in RaeCreate Wealth were reimbursed for their losses. However, in the same year, Cajees registered Africrypt.
The Cajee brothers absconding
The whereabouts of the Cajee brothers are not known. However, the pair was reported claiming that their flight from South Africa was inevitable because several dissatisfied consumers had banded together to seek legal recourse.
The legal effort to recoup funds invested in Africrypt is led by Local company Badaspex (Pty) Ltd. The company had earlier sought Africrypt to be liquidated following its claim that it had lost investors’ holdings.
A significant cryptocurrency daily contacted the Johannesburg-based attorney Gerhard Botha, representing Badaspex and other investors that lost funds to Africrypt. Botha confirmed that Badaspex is looking to recover$2.4 million (35 million rands) invested in Africrypt. The figure does not include the appreciation in the value of the BTC entrusted to the Cajee brothers’ firm.
A total of 105 investors lost their deposits, and Botha said that it amounted to $8 million (115 million rands). The attorney also negated the Cajee’s claim that Badaspex’s director Juan Meyer, a figure once linked to locally convicted Czech gangster Radovan Krejcir, had threatened them after Africrypt collapsed.
Steve Anderson is an Australian crypto enthusiast. He is a specialist in management and trading for over 5 years. Steve has worked as a crypto trader, he loves learning about decentralisation, understanding the true potential of the blockchain.
