On July 7, 2020, the Texas State Securities Board issued an Order against Mirror Trading International (MTI) to cease operations immediately, alleging the South African bitcoin and forex trading network is a multilevel marketing scam.
According to the Order, Mirror Trading, controlled by Cornelius Johannes “Johan” Steynberg, is recruiting multilevel marketers to illegally sell fraudulent investments in a bitcoin and forex pool. Investors allegedly purchase the products by transferring bitcoin to Mirror Trading. Mirror Trading purportedly pools bitcoin received from investors and transfers the cryptocurrencies to various unidentified forex brokers. According to the Order, the bitcoin is then supposedly somehow traded on the forex market using artificial intelligence, generating ‘conservatively’ projected profits of 10 percent per month.
According to the Order, Mirror Trading is concealing material information from potential investors, including important information about Steynberg, its forex brokers, its handling of cryptocurrencies, the artificial intelligence used to place trades and the significant risks associated with the product. The Order also accuses Mirror Trading of perpetrating the fraud though an illegal international multilevel marketing program. According to the Order, in furtherance of the scheme, Mirror Trading is recruiting unregistered securities salespersons by promising to pay up to four streams of lucrative commissions. The actual value of the commissions depends on their success in recruiting new investors and multilevel marketers.
