South African Bitcoin Ponzi scheme mastermind suffers heart attack while in custody in Brazil

Author: Terence Zimwara, Bitcoin; Compiler: Deng Tong, Golden Finance

Johann Steynberg, the mastermind behind the South African Bitcoin Ponzi scheme, recently died of a heart attack while under house arrest on a farm in Brazil. According to his Brazilian wife, Steynberg left no will and had no assets to inventory.

South African police investigate reports of Steynberg's death

Johann Steynberg, the mastermind behind the South African Bitcoin Ponzi scheme, has reportedly died in Brazil from pulmonary thromboembolism. At the time of Steynberg's death, the CEO of Bitcoin investment platform Mirror Trading International (MTI) was reportedly under house arrest on a farm in the Brazilian state of Goiás.

Steinberg's three-and-a-half-year prison sentence had been commuted and he had been moved to the farm at the time of his death, awaiting an extradition hearing. As previously reported, the extradition hearing is expected to determine Steynberg's next destination.

Although a death certificate purporting to confirm Steinberg's tragic end has been posted online, some in South Africa have expressed doubts about the report. On social media, some users have suggested that Steinberg, who was reportedly buried in Jardim das Palmeiras in Goiania, may have been staged for death. Others have compared reports of Steinberg's death to the story of a killer named Thabo Bester who faked his own death to facilitate his escape from a South African prison.

Steinberg's mental health issues

Similarly, another media report suggests that an elite unit of the South African police is not yet convinced that Steinberg is dead.

Meanwhile, a report by Mybroadband revealed that Steinberg’s mental health issues had been deteriorating. Although no date was given for the escalation to begin, the report revealed that MTI mastermind’s lawyer Thales Jayme had to take Steinberg to a doctor after he suffered a panic attack on April 15. However, seven days later, Steinberg died of a heart attack.

Following Steinberg’s death, his Brazilian wife reportedly claimed that her late husband had neither assets to list nor left a will.