South African Fugitive and Cryptocurrency Developer Arrested in the US
- South African fugitive Riccardo Spagni has been arrested in the United States after he fled the country
- Spagni, who is popularly known as "Fluffypony", has been accused of defrauding a former employer of R1.4 million
- US authorities have denied Spagni bail, stating that he is a flight risk as he awaits his extradition trial to South Africa
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NEW YORK - Authorities in the United States have apprehended Riccardo Spagni, a well-known South African cryptocurrency developer, after he allegedly fled to the country to avoid fraud accusations.
According to Fin24, charges against Spangni could land him in prison for up to 20 years. The charges he faces in South Africa are unrelated to cryptocurrency.
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Spagni, also known as "Fluffypony" in the tech community, was detained on his way to Mexico from New York on July 20 and is currently in the custody of the US Marshals Service.
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According to Big News Network, Spagni is currently the lead maintainer of Monero, a cryptocurrency operation that is focused on privacy.
Spagni is being accused of fraud in South Africa
Spagni is accused of defrauding his former company Cape Cookies of R1.4 million between October 2009 and June 2011 while he was the IT manager, according to US court records.
The complaint against Spagni was also brought against him in 2012, according to court documents. Spangi initially pleaded not guilty and then failed to appear in court at a later date.
The documents stated that South African authorities found through investigations that Spagni had fled to the US after they failed to locate him at his home. Upon confirmation of his whereabouts, US authorities were asked by South African authorities to detain Spagni ahead of his extradition trial.
Spagni has been denied bail by US authorities who stated that he is a flight risk.
Missing bitcoin heist brothers say only R71 miIlion is missing
In other cryptocurrency-related news, Briefly News reported that Raees Cajee and his brother Ameer Cajee have finally spoken out about the missing Bitcoin funds, stating that only R71 million worth of bitcoin is missing and not the previously reported R51 billion.
In a report by Fin24, the brothers explained that they have very dangerous people among their clientele and they were threatened.
The Cajee brothers, through their lawyer John Oosthuizen, stated on 25 June that they have been receiving countless death threats. The brothers allege that they didn't contact the police when the breach on the platform happened because they wanted to protect themselves and their family first, according to IOL.
The Cajee brothers were accused of disappearing with R51 billion worth of bitcoin through their cryptocurrency platform Africrypt. The brothers told investors that a breach on their platform had taken place and had seen not gotten back to investors with regard to their investments.
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Source: Briefly News
