Mirror Trading International: thirty-one names, and then all of them

A Ponzi scheme has two sets of victims, and the second set is the one the law goes after: the people who got out in time.

What MTI was

Mirror Trading International (Pty) Ltd. was incorporated in South Africa in 2019 and held itself out as a fund manager trading cryptocurrency, mostly Bitcoin. It ran a website, solicited investors globally, and — in the receiver's words — "MTI represented to these investors that the Debtor could generate returns by engaging in Bitcoin-based currency trading through what MTI falsely claimed was a proprietary software program". It promised unusually high returns and paid referral bonuses for recruiting new participants, per First Report of the Receiver, June 29, 2026, paras. 7–8.

The scale is the part worth reading twice. Between April 30, 2019 and the commencement of its liquidation on December 23, 2020 — twenty months — MTI accepted at least 39,193.295 Bitcoin from approximately 304,040 investors in 234 countries, per First Report, June 29, 2026, para. 9.

There was no trading. Instead, in the receiver's words, "it operated as an illegal pyramid investment scheme" in which returns to earlier investors were funded by later ones, so that some investors received distributions exceeding what they put in while many others lost heavily. Johannes Steynberg, whom the receiver identifies as the lead architect of the scheme, died in April 2024, per First Report, June 29, 2026, paras. 10–11.

That death matters to the shape of everything that follows. With no legitimate business and little prospect of recovery from its principals, the receiver states the position bluntly: the only viable way to maximise recovery for the scheme's victims is through "clawback proceedings against MTI Investors who received distributions of Bitcoin from MTI", per First Report, June 29, 2026, para. 12.

Thirteen countries

A creditor applied to wind MTI up urgently in the High Court of South Africa, Western Cape Division, Cape Town, on December 23, 2020. A final liquidation order followed on June 30, 2021. Six joint liquidators were appointed on November 11, 2021, and two more on April 5, 2023 — eight in total. One of them, Chavonnes Badenhorst St Clair Cooper, was designated foreign representative; he is a lawyer admitted in South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland with 29 years in insolvency and a member of the South African Restructuring and Insolvency Practitioners Association, per First Report, June 29, 2026, paras. 13–15.

What the liquidators have built since is one of the larger cross-border recovery efforts on record. Proceedings in thirteen countries to date: the United States, with Chapter 15 recognition and adversarial proceedings in the Southern District of Florida against 152 defendants; the United Kingdom, with a single consolidated proceeding against 53 respondents; Namibia, with 244 summonses issued; plus Australia, Belgium, Botswana, Brazil, Germany, Japan, Mauritius, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland — and Canada. Alternative recovery proceedings are running in 26 countries outside South Africa, per First Report, June 29, 2026, para. 16.

Inside South Africa the liquidators have sued roughly 4,021 investors for the return of about 8,189 Bitcoin under preference avoidance actions. Outside it, they have brought or intend to bring recovery proceedings against 754 investors for 3,633 Bitcoin, per First Report, June 29, 2026, paras. 17–18.

And the claims side: 9,277 creditors worldwide have filed against the MTI estate in South Africa, totalling approximately R6.4 billion — about $551,913,600. Roughly US$9 million has been spent globally chasing the recoveries, per First Report, June 29, 2026, para. 18.

How it reached Alberta

On May 2, 2023 the South African proceedings were recognised in Canada as a foreign main proceeding, with full force and effect in every province and territory, by order of Justice Romaine. The liquidators were entrusted with administering and realising MTI's property in Canada — which consists of Bitcoin received from, and transferred to, MTI investors, per First Report, June 29, 2026, para. 19.

They then went to work case by case: 19 actions in Alberta against 23 MTI investors and 8 John Does across British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec — the Clawback Actions. The pleaded basis is that by participating in the scheme and taking the Bitcoin transfers, those investors caused MTI's other investors damages for which they are liable to the liquidators under sections 26, 29, 30 and 32 of the South African Insolvency Act, 24 of 1936, per First Report, June 29, 2026, paras. 20–21.

Suing people one at a time did not scale. On March 11, 2026 the foreign representative applied in the Court of King's Bench of Alberta for the appointment of GlassRatner Restructuring Inc. as national receiver over MTI's assets held by Canadian investors, under **sections 272(1)(d) and 275(3)(a) of the *BIA* and section 13(2) of Alberta's *Judicature Act***, per First Report, June 29, 2026, para. 1 and Application Record, March 11, 2026.

On April 15, 2026 Justice Marion made the order. GlassRatner was appointed national receiver, without security, of all the assets, undertakings and properties of MTI held by the Canadian Investors defined in Schedule "A" — and the Affected Property is deemed to include all cryptocurrencies MTI disposed of to those investors, or their Canadian dollar equivalent, and all claims against them relating to those cryptocurrencies, per Order of Justice Marion (Receivership Order) and First Report, June 29, 2026, para. 2.

Schedule "A" listed 31 names — the 31 largest recipients of Bitcoin.

Why only thirty-one, and why that is now changing

The limit was economic, not principled. The receiver explains that the definition was confined to the 31 largest because the liquidators and the foreign representative had concluded that the cost of pursuing individual actions against the other Canadian investors, who had received less, would likely exceed anything recovered from them, per First Report, June 29, 2026, para. 23.

The real population is far larger: approximately 1,550 investors received a total of 951.9 Bitcoin, per First Report, June 29, 2026, para. 22.

What changed the arithmetic is the receivership itself. Commencing these proceedings and the prospect of a centralised claims process "may permit efficiencies that would not be available in the context of individual recovery actions" — so the receiver, with the foreign representative, is assessing costs and expected recoveries under a proposed claims process, including working out the threshold at which adding a smaller recipient becomes economically justified. Pending that, it supports widening the definition to take in every Canadian investor who received Bitcoin, saying the relief "is expected to enhance realizations for the receivership estate and is fair and reasonable in the circumstances", per First Report, June 29, 2026, paras. 24–25.

That is the substantive ask filed on June 29, alongside three others, per Application Record, June 29, 2026 and First Report, June 29, 2026, para. 3.