Man accused of stealing $ 3.6 billion in bitcoin claims far fewer missing

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The South African cryptocurrency entrepreneur who was accused along with his brother of stealing $ 3.6 billion worth of bitcoin has claimed in a new interview that it is far less missing from investors’ wallets than that.

Raees Cajee, 21, and her brother Ameer, 18, are now in hiding because they have received death threats, Elder Cajee told The Wall Street Journal.

The older brother also said that at the height of the bitcoin rally earlier this year, his company, Africrypt, managed just over $ 200 million, a far cry from the $ 3.6 billion a law firm does. hired by disgruntled investors said to be lacking.

We have dealt with many high profile South Africans, many politicians, many high profile businessmen in South Africa, as well as celebrities, Cajee told the Journal. Some particularly very, very dangerous people that we hadn’t known were customers started to slip out of the cracks.

The two Cajee brothers founded their cryptocurrency investment platform in 2019. But in April, as the price of bitcoin hit an all-time high, Africrypt told investors the company had been hacked.

Frustrated investors hired lawyers, who investigated and said about $ 3.6 billion worth of bitcoin had disappeared from Africrypt’s South African accounts.

But Raees Cajee told The Journal Monday from a location he would not disclose that the company’s portfolio had never reached this size.

Raees and Ameer Cajee told investors in April that Africrypt had been hacked and asked them not to report the incident to authorities or lawyers AFP via Getty Images

He added that he is currently no more than $ 5 million missing, according to the Journal.

Raees Cajee also said he and his brother are planning to return to South Africa for a July 19 court date related to the liquidation proceedings against Africrypt.

Africrpyt investors began to be suspicious of the team of brothers in April, after young Cajee, who served as COO, announced that the company had been hacked and unusually asked customers not to report the incident to authorities or lawyers.

But a group of skeptical investors have reached out to Cape Town-based Hanekom Attorneys, who focuses on all aspects of the cryptocurrency industry and advises high-volume traders, exchanges and arbitrage firms.

We were immediately suspicious as the announcement implored investors not to take legal action, the law firm said in a statement last week. Africrypt employees lost access to the back-end platforms seven days before the alleged hack.

Hanekom representatives did not immediately return the Post’s request for comment on Tuesday.

Ameer Cajee declined to comment.

“Unfortunately, I cannot make any statement regarding Africrypt as I was just an employee of the company,” he told The Post by email. “My employment ended on April 25, 2021.”

His attorney, John Oosthuizen, did not respond to the Post’s request for comment.

South Africa’s financial sector conduct authority is also reviewing the company, Hanekom Attorneys said last week, but the agency said it could not launch a formal investigation because bitcoin and other cryptos are not legally considered financial products.

Hanekom also said he reported the incident to the Hawks, an elite unit of the South African National Police.

Darren Hanekom is one of the lawyers approached by a group of Africrypt investors who were wary of the request not to report the hack.

The alleged heist comes after another South African bitcoin trader, Mirror Trading International, collapsed last year. The losses included around $ 1.2 billion worth of crypto, with some calling it the biggest cryptocurrency scam of 2020.

The two Cajee brothers were featured in a cover story published in December by local outlet The Umhlanga Magazine. The story, which described the Cajees’ success in starting their own business, appears to have since been taken offline.

Africrypt’s vision has always been to develop Africa’s premier cryptocurrency-focused bank, providing decentralized finance to people who need it most, providing easy access to capital for young entrepreneurs and boosting the growth and prosperity, the brothers said in a joint interview.

Our goal is to bridge the gap between cryptocurrency and fiat money, making it a seamless transition between the two.

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