Crypto Heist: 2 Durban Brothers Disappear with R51 Billion Worth of Bitcoin
- Founders of Africrypt, Ameer and Raees Cajee, have gone missing with billions of rands' worth of bitcoin
- Before disappearing, the brothers informed investors that the company had supposedly been hacked
- The Gauteng South High Court has granted a provisional liquidation order against Africrypt
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Founders of a cryptocurrency investment app, Ameer Cajee (17) and Raees Cajee (20), seemingly vanished with R51 billion ($3.6 billion) worth of investors' bitcoin.
According to Business Insider, the brothers founded a company called Africrypt in 2019. In April, however, the brothers reported to their clients that a breach in their system had compromised their accounts, wallets and nodes and as a result, the company had to halt operations.
The brothers then advised their clients not to seek legal counsel in regards to the breach as that would delay the recovery process and delay operations, according to IOL.
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Some clients did seek legal counsel and contacted Hanekom Attorneys. Hanekom Attorneys found that seven days before the alleged breach, employees of Africrypt lost access to the back-end platforms and were unable to view or access clients’ balances.
The law firm also found that clients had been asked to deposit funds via EFT directly into Africrypt's FNB banking account, which was managed by Ameer Cajee.
FNB has denied having a banking relationship with Africrypt.
"FNB once again confirms that it does not have a banking relationship with Africrypt. Due to client confidentiality, FNB cannot provide any information on specific bank accounts," Nadiah Maharaj, FNB risk spokesperson, told IOL.
Hanekom Attorneys were also investigating the transfer of funds and found that funds were channelled through several dark web tumblers and mixers, resulting in severe fragmentation.
The law firm found that although the Africrypt fallout was described as a breach, they discovered that the same delivery address that was used for the dissipation of funds in April when the breach happened was also used in January when it was business as usual.
According to ITWeb, the Gauteng South Court granted a liquidation order against the brothers in favour of a group of clients who took legal action against Africrypt. The brothers have until 19 July to appeal the liquidation.
John McAfee: Tragedy as creator of popular anti-virus programme found dead in prison cell
In more disturbing business news, Briefly News reported that John McAfee, the creator of the hugely popular anti-virus software of the same name, has been found dead in a prison cell in Barcelona, Spain.
BBC reported that the tragic incident happened hours after a Spanish court agreed to extradite McAfee to the United States to face tax evasion charges. Briefly News gathered that the Catalan Justice Department said prison medics tried to resuscitate him but were not successful.
The justice department concluded that McAfee took his own life. McAfee's lawyer also said the anti-virus software entrepreneur died by hanging as his nine months in prison brought him to despair, a report by Reuters stated.
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Source: Briefly News
