US Court Denies South African Fugitive and Cryptocurrency Developer Riccardo Spagni Bail

• Riccado Spagni, also known as "Fluffypony" has been denied bail by a US court as he awaits his extradition hearing
• The court stated that Spagni would stay in jail because he failed to prove to the court that he is not a flight risk
• It has been reported that Spagni's assets such as a R12 million watch and his cryptocurrency earnings give the resources to skip the country

TENNESSEE - South African fugitive Riccado Spangni has been denied bail by US Court as he awaits his extradition court hearing.

According to a report by Fin24, Spagni is expected to be extradited to South Africa face allegations of fraud levelled against him. Spagni is accused of stealing R1.4 million from his previous employer Cape Cookies during his time there between 2009 and 2011.

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Spagni left South Africa for the United States of America without informing South African law enforcement authorities as well as his lawyer when he was expected to appear in a Cape Town court to answer for the charges brought against him.

According to Business Insider, some of the reasons for Spagni's denial of bail is that he has a watch that is valued at over R12 million and the other reason is that he has access to funds that could help escape in his cryptocurrency holdings.

At his bail hearing, the judge stated that Spagni had been unable to prove to the court that he was not a flight risk. The judge also stated that given Spagni's track recorded he also failed to show that court that he would appear at future proceedings such as his extraction hearing.

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It has been reported that Spagni has hired top lawyers in the US to act as his legal representation.

South African fugitive and cryptocurrency developer arrested in the US

Briefly News previously reported that 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.

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.

According to Big News Network, Spagni is currently the lead maintainer of Monero, a cryptocurrency operation that is focused on privacy.

Source: Briefly News