A South African company head has been ordered by a US court to pay $3.4 billion for bitcoin fraud. The news agency Reuters reports that this is the highest penalty ever awarded. Half of the sum comprises payment to victims and a civil penalty. The indictment accuses the man of raising crypto money from thousands of people and promising to use it for a commodity futures fund. However, all bitcoins were misappropriated, either directly or indirectly. In May 2018 to March 2021, the man received 29,421 Bitcoins from around 23,000 people, which were worth $1.7 billion at the end of the period. The court ruled that he must repay the entire sum to victims and the same amount as a penalty.
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed the lawsuit, and the man is banned from any financial activity under its jurisdiction. However, Bloomberg reports that the court accepts that the conviction may not result in a refund of the money. Steynberg was arrested in Brazil in 2021 after being on the run. The fraud is similar to other cases in other states, with two men convicted in Austria at the start of 2021 for falsely claiming to invest money in crypto markets and causing 13 million euros in damage.
