Crypto kingpin remanded in custody

The founder of Billion Traders FX, who is accused of defrauding over 500 people of $10m, has been remanded in custody by Rwanda’s Gasabo Primary Court. The New Times reports that Davis Manzi first appeared in court on Monday where prosecutors laid out charges against him, including money laundering, fraud and illicit foreign exchange trading. He allegedly committed the crimes through his online enterprise platform, convincing the public to invest large sums of money into it, as he promised them significant returns from online forex trading. Prosecutors argued that he launched the operation without authorisation from relevant institutions, including the National Bank of Rwanda (NBR) and Capital Market Authority (CMA) ‘which are the authorities in charge of the type of business he was doing’. He allegedly told potential investors that if they invested $50 000 in his company, they would get a 10% profit within six months on top of their initial investment. Manzi told the court that when he opened the company, ‘there was no law governing forex exchange,’ and when he approached BNR and CMA, they did not give him a licence but still allowed him to operate. He said he has already refunded more than $7m of the deposits.