Of the 300,000 investor accounts Mirror Trading International boasted, around 90% were just email addresses.
That is to say, Mirror Trading International only had around 30,000 actual investors.
Owners and top recruiters having multiple positions in MLM companies is nothing new. 270,000 bogus accounts however is definitely up there on the dodgy scale.
Citing “forensic analysis” provided by MTI liquidators in South Africa, MoneyWeb reports;
Close to 90% of the accounts were so-called ‘slave accounts’ set up by investors to earn commissions for introducing new members to the scheme.
Some individuals had more than 20 ‘slave accounts’ – set up in the name of family members, fictitious identities, domestic servants and family pets, all for the purpose of earning commissions on funds deposited by ‘downline’ members.
Of the ~300,000 MTI investor accounts, bogus or otherwise, around 15,300 were net-winner accounts. The actual number of MTI net-winner investors remains unclear.
This suggests that losers were more inclined to build a large downline of ‘slave accounts’ – often funded with their own money – to earn a big payday at some point in the future.
MTI Liquidators report investor claims are “pouring in”. It’ll be interesting to see whether submitted claims exceed the actual ~30,000 investor count.
Other than SARS, who are trying to claw back stolen victim funds as unpaid taxes, South African authorities have failed to take action against MTI’s ringleaders.
CEO Johann Steynberg was arrested in Brazil in late 2021. Steynberg remains in extradition limbo.
Clynton and Cheri Marks, MTI’s top earners and suspected owners, remain at large and live openly in South Africa.
