The FSCA says that Praesidium Advisory Services had no licence to trade forex for clients.
- SA’s financial services watchdog has fined Praesidium Advisory Services director Craig Massyn R20 million and barred him from the industry for two decades.
- The regulator found Massyn’s forex investments were ‘similar’ to a Ponzi scheme.
- The FSCA has asked the police to probe Massyn and his two co-directors for fraud and theft.
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South Africa’s financial regulator has fined the directors of the Praesidium group of companies millions of rands and barred them from the financial services industry for offering investments “similar in nature to a Ponzi scheme”.
The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) announced on Monday that its investigation of Praesidium Advisory Services, Praesidium Wealth and Praesidium Sentinel concluded that the companies contravened numerous financial sector laws. All three have already been liquidated.
In addition to the fines and debarments announced on Monday, the FSCA said it would refer the matter to police as it “seems likely that several offences have been committed, including fraud and theft.”
No licences, consistent losses
The FCSA’s probe, which has been ongoing since September 2020, chiefly focused on foreign currency…
