A 66-year-old alleged fraudster is expected to appear in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court on Thursday, 28 October 2021 after he was served with court summons by the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team this morning.

The suspect is facing about 34 counts of fraud, one of money laundering and one count of contravening the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services (FIAS) Act. It is alleged that between the period of 17 September 2015 to 30 May 2018 on a regular basis the accused solicited funds from members of the public of just over R3.1 million that would be used to trade in crypto currency on the forex platforms.

It was stated that the invested funds would yield guaranteed monthly returns of approximately 4%. This was never the case as the funds were instead laundered into other various bank accounts where it was used for personal gain.

Meanwhile in a separate and unrelated matter, Wharren Jacobus Fortuin (41) was sentenced to cumulative nine years imprisonment for theft of just over R1 million from a trust account.

Fortuin in the course and scope of his practice as an attorney received funds which he was obliged to hold in trust. During the period January 2012 to January 2014 the monies received from the claimants were not kept in trust nor used for the intended purposes but were instead misappropriated. The court has further ordered that Fortuin be declared unfit to possess a firearm.

Source: South African Police Service