CEO Behind Large BTC Scheme Ordered by US Court to Pay $3.4 Billion

• The CFTC recently won a record-breaking $3.4 billion lawsuit.
• MTI’s CEO was ordered by a Texas District Court Judge to pay out the sum.
• In related news, BTC printed a 24-hour gain according to CoinMarketCap.

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) recently won a record-breaking $3.4 billion penalty in a lawsuit involving a fraudulent Bitcoin scheme. Texas District Court Judge, Lee Yeakel, ordered the implicated Cornelius Johannes Steynberg to pay the sum for his role in the fraudulent commodity pool scheme involving Bitcoin.

Steynberg, a South African national and the CEO of Mirror Trading International Proprietary Limited (MTI), was ordered by Judge Yeakel to pay $1.73 billion in restitution to the victims of the scheme. Furthermore, Steynberg was ordered to pay an additional $1.73 billion civil monetary penalty.

The order by Judge Yeakel comes after Steynberg was found liable for fraud in connection with retail foreign currency transactions and fraud by an associated person of a commodity pool operator (CPO). Steynberg was also charged with registration violations and the failure to comply with CPO regulations.

The penalty imposed on Steynberg is significant given that it is the largest fraudulent scheme involving Bitcoin charged in any CFTC case. Furthermore, the $1.73 billion civil monetary penalty is the highest civil monetary penalty ordered in any CFTC case as well.

In related news, the price of BTC is currently trading at $29,450.15 following a 2.59% increase over the last 24 hours according to CoinMarketCap. This 24-hour increase has boosted the leading crypto’s already-positive weekly price performance – taking the total weekly gain for BTC up to +5.48% at press time.

BTC also strengthened against Ethereum (ETH) over the last 24 hours. As a result, BTC is up 0.49% against the leading altcoin given ETH was only able to print a 1.89% gain over the last 24 hours. As a result, ETH is currently trading at $1,915.89.

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