The CEO of the crypto firm VaulyAge, Willie Breedt, who is suspected of defrauding over 2,000 investors, has been handed a sequestration order by the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, on Friday. A sequestration order is an order delivered by a court which forces a debtor into bankruptcy. The CEO of VaultAge is currently on the run as investors opt legal way to get their funds back. The order of bankruptcy came after Willie Breedt went into hiding from upset investors seeking the return of around 277 million South African rands ($16.3 million) they had placed with the company for investment in cryptocurrencies, as reported by News24.
South African police conducted a raid at the CEO’s house.
According to news reports, after the court order was granted, a raid was conducted on the Silver Lakes premises by the sheriff of the court, South African police, an organized crime unit called the Hawks, and a team of forensic investigators specializing in crypto crime. During the raid, many electronic devices were seized, including a laptop and a Ledger Nano hardware wallet, a device for storing cryptocurrencies. The central bank of South Africa has now assigned PricewaterhouseCoopers to investigate VaultAge Solutions and agents involved in selling cryptocurrencies for the now-defunct company.
VaultAge lured in pensioners to invest in the alleged scam.
As reported earlier, the VaultAge Solutions crypto company was launched in 2018 by Willie Breedt, and in its two years of existence, the startup had raised millions of dollars. One investor revealed that he had invested 6 million rands worth $348,000 into the company. Most of the investors in the crypto company are pensioners as one investor contended that they are pensioners and invested R200 000 ($11,580). From December last year until April this year, investors received payments on the growth of their investment. Since then, they did not get any funds from the company.
