South African Police Issue Arrest Warrant for Fraudulent Crypto Trader – Regulation

According to reports from South Africa, the country's police have now issued an arrest warrant for Sandile Shezi, a 29-year-old cryptocurrency trader. The arrest warrant was issued after Allan Ledwaba, an investor at Shezis Global Forex Institute, accused the cryptocurrency trader of defrauding him of more than $33,000 (R500,000).

Using supercars to woo victims

According to a Test report by City Press, Ledwaba's interactions with Shezi began shortly after he attended one of the latter's seminars where participants were taught foreign exchange trading. Ledwaba claims he was shown a “trading account” belonging to Shezi containing over $5.9 million. The report adds that Shezi's Ferraris and Lamborghinis were also used to lure Ledwaba.

Convinced by Shezi's pitch, Ledwaba secured a $33,000 loan from his father, which he invested in the crypto trader's company. But shortly after the investment, Ledwaba says, he became suspicious. The report quotes Ledwaba as stating:

The agreement was that he would trade the money for me, and then every year he would give us [a] profit and then the full amount we had invested thereafter. But I became suspicious when I researched the name of the law firm we used to create our contracts. I went to the law firm and spoke to the director who said they had no relationship with Sandile.

To support his fraud claims, Ledwaba claims that Shezi has only paid him just over $2,600 in profits since he invested with the Global Forex Institute in 2016. Ledwaba added that he has since sold the motor vehicle that Shezi bought for him to pursue “corporate branding.”

Monthly dividend payout

The report also said another investor - identified only as a former Limpopo school principal - was convinced by Shezi to "quit his job and invest his pension payout to make even more money". However, a few months after investing nearly $67,000 in 2019, the former principal claimed that Shezi's company had defaulted on monthly dividend distributions. After asking for a refund, the former chief executive claimed he received just over $6,700.

Meanwhile, City Press' report also quotes Shezi's lawyer, Lloyd Moonean, accusing Ledwaba of defaming his client "on social media to the extent that our client received numerous concerns and complaints about it." The lawyer also accuses Ledwaba of breach of contract after he sold the vehicle intended for branding purposes.

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