a A Texas court has ordered the head of South African Mirror Trading to pay a record $3.4 billion for his candidacy. Bitcoin scam scheme Stemming from a lawsuit brought by the CFTC.

The commodities regulator brought the charges last year, calling it the largest fraud case in history.

Judgment details

The Federal Court has Command Cornelius Johannes Steinberg pays defrauded victims $1.7 billion in compensation. Another $1.7 billion was imposed in civil penalties. The CFTC noted that it is the highest civil financial penalty imposed in any commodity situation.

In June 2022, the CFTC foot Civil action against Steynberg and his company, Mirror Trading International. The allegations included operating a fraudulent Bitcoin commodity group worth more than $1.7 billion.

On request, the CFTC He said In a statement that the executive and the company:

Responsible for fraud in connection with retail foreign exchange (forex) transactions, fraud by a person associated with a commodity aggregator operator (CPO), registration violations, and non-compliance with CPO regulations.

Steinberg was named a fugitive from South Africa, but was arrested in Brazil under an Interpol arrest warrant that year. Meanwhile, Mirror Trading International is said to be in liquidation.

According to the case brought by the regulator, Steinberg, who led Mirror Trading International (MTI), allegedly participated in a fraudulent multi-level international marketing scheme.

The case details activities between May 2018 and March 202. The scheme is said to have invited members of the public to take part in an unregistered commodity rally. The request states that Steynberg has accepted at least 29,421 Bitcoins from at least 23,000 individuals in the United States and worldwide. The CFTC further notes that the defendants, either directly or indirectly, misappropriated all the bitcoins they obtained from the pool participants. In addition, the commodity pool is not registered as a CPO, as requested.

Steynberg claimed that MTI traded retail forex over-the-counter through proprietary software or a “bot”, but the matter alleges that this was a false claim.

CFTC Goes For Crypto Compliance

The CFTC has taken several compliance measures in the crypto space. Earlier in March, the regulator filed a complaint against the largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance and its top executives. Case has named co-founder Changpeng Zhao and former chief compliance officer Samuel Lim. It alleges that Binance has actively solicited US users with allegations of insider trading and lax know-your-customer (KYC) rules.

In a recent conversation, the former CFTC Chairman Chris Giancarlo He said that authorities can successfully interact with cryptocurrencies if they are motivated to do so.

“We are still very much the guardians of an old system,” said the former commodity manager.