South African asset manager claims he lost 5M dollar in hack, denies stealing billions from users

AfriCrypt’s founders deny running off with billions in customers’ funds, declaratively they went into concealment when receiving death threats from “dangerous folks.”

Raees Cajee, the co-founder of South African crypto investment platform AfriCrypt, has denied claims that he and his brother ran off with billions in capitalist funds, declaratively the platform lost $5 million in an exceedingly hack.

Last week, Cointelegraph informed that AfriCrypt — an asset manager purporting to supply daily returns of up to 10% that launched in 2019 — had been charged for running with 69,000 BTC of capitalist funds in an exceedingly mysterious exploit.

While AfriCrypt had notified users about the incident of the hack on April 13, suspicions were at once raised because the message urged investors to not take any legal action because it can result in slowing down the recovery of the funds. Shortly thereafter, the brothers reportedly halted AfriCrypt’s operations and disappeared.

Speaking with The Wall Street Journal on June 28, Raees wanted to counter the accusations arranged against AfriCrypt and its co-founders, declaratively the try went into concealment when receiving death threats from some “very, terribly dangerous folks.”

Raees additionally rejected claims that $3.6 billion in funds is missing, declaratively the firm solely managed $200 million throughout its peak in April, which solely $5 million in capitalist funds ar unaccounted for when the hack.

“At the height of the market, we were managing simply over $200 million.”

Hanekom Attorneys, the law firm representing AfriCrypt’s customers, alleges the brothers transferred $3.6 value of BTC from AfriCrypt’s accounts and consumer wallets, before moving the funds through “various dark net tumblers and mixers” to stop the funds from being traced more.

If the allegations against AfriCrypt are true, the incident would surpass the losses from South African-based Ponzi-scheme Mirror commerce International, that forced in 23,000 BTC from unsuspecting investors within the country’s largest confirmed crypto fraud up to now. At today’s costs, the purloined BTC would fetch $800 million.

Lawyer John Oosthuizen, who is representing the Cajee brothers, told the BBC on June 26 that two of them have “categorically denied” the allegations that they stole their investors’ funds.

“They maintain that it absolutely was a hack, and that they were fleeced of those assets,” he added.

South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) said in an announcement concerning the case on June 24, noting the project looked as if it would have Ponzi-like characteristics:

“This entity was providing exceptionally high and unrealistic returns akin to those offered by unlawful investment schemes normally called Ponzi’s.”

However, the FSCA declared it cannot take any action against AfriCrypt as crypto assets are presently unregulated in South Africa.

According to WSJ, a separate cluster of investors is seeking AfriCrypt’s liquidation. The brothers will surface for a July 19 court hearing concerning their claims.