Investigations into the South African company Mirror Trading International (MTI) — widely seen as last year's most ruinous Bitcoin (BTC) Ponzi scheme — are now engaging the Usa Federal Agency of Investigation.

MTI, which went into provisional liquidation in Dec 2022, claimed to have over 260,000 members across 170 countries at its height. Information technology had first caught regulators' attention in Texas dorsum in July of terminal yr, where its operations were quickly close downwards. South Africa'due south Financial Services Acquit Authority (FSCA) issued its own argument in Baronial 2022, warning that the visitor lacked a mandatory license and was offering investors implausible, fantastical returns on their investment. The FSCA had advised MTI's existing clients to request firsthand refunds.

Since the scheme's collapse, the liquidation team in South Africa has been attempting to trace MTI'southward avails, with the company believed to have held around 23,000 BTC worth around $874 million at today's toll. The team has been seeking to expand powers to aid their efforts since January.

In an email to Bloomberg, five MTI trustees said they had now "had meetings with international law enforcement agencies similar the Federal Bureau of Investigation, after being approached by them," revealing that "the FBI is joining forces with the liquidators of Mirror Trading International in the interest of several U.S. and local investors."

Every bit previously reported, South African media outlets take leaked declared internal MTI communication that suggests that the company's senior executives were in the night about the scheme'due south operations, with MTI CEO Johann Steynberg the sole person to accept had full control.

Related: Southward Africa learns a hard crypto lesson among fast growing need

In their correspondence with Bloomberg, the liquidators said that "although at that place is a paper trail (airplane ticket) regarding [Steynberg's] possible flight attempt to Brazil, no video or photo confirmation could be obtained that he did leave the country." Steynberg has remained AWOL since Dec 2022.

An executive at the South African crypto exchange Luno has this week revealed to reporters that some of the victims of a major alleged crypto theft in the state this bound, tied to the Africrypt investment scheme, had also previously sent their funds to MTI.