Willie Breedt, the CEO of VaultAge Solutions (VS), disappeared after taking money from the investors in December. This story was first reported by News 24 on May 29. VaultAge Solutions was founded in 2018, with the offer of weekly return by cryptocurrency mining. The company traded and accepted deposits from $50.
Hawks, South Africa’s Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, is the investigator of the case. He stepped into the case and followed several instances in which investors accused the VaultAge of fraudulence, and stated they only received 1% of the expected return. Meanwhile, rumors indicate the possibility of him living in a mansion in a well-known Marina Martinique Estate in Ashton Bay. Although having more than 2000 investors, VaultAge Solution is not registered as a legitimate financial institution with the Financial Services Conduct Authority (FSCA). The crypto scheme had many investors with millions of rand invested in it. Some investors commented regarding this issue one of them reads:
“We are pensioners and invested R200 000. From December until April, we received payments on the growth of our investment. Since then, we never got any money. We are desperate and living on a shoestring budget.”
Breedt’s reply to a few of the comments reads:
“I am busy attending to the commitments I have made to members. The commitment is to have all the initial capital paid back by 31 May.”
He made the promise of repaying some of the investors, however, he didn’t answer any of the questions regarding his whereabouts and visit to Mozambique. Albiet, the words of a person, who sent them fraudulent prove of payment via his company are not trustworthy. Meanwhile, we know that the fugitive is afraid of low suites due to Mookgophong’s explanation. He stated receiving proof of payment document indicating that R141, 500 was Trans fared into his account only when he was threatened with legal actions. Moreover, the Western Cape investor was another person that was repaid with R20 000 instead of the R2 million he was expecting and approached Hawks with the same experience.
Captain Matimba Maluleke stated that not only did the investors testified against Breedt but also numerous VaultAge Solutions administrators, who could even be counted as Breedt’s colleagues. Pensioners were among many investors, who lost their money. With this regard, Lettie Engel Brecht of Krugersdorp stated:
“We are pensioners and invested 200,000 rand [roughly $11,500]. From December until April, we received payments on the growth of our investment. Since then, we never got any money. We are desperate and living on a shoestring budget.”
So, Breedt replayed to some of the messages and made some statements to redeem himself including the written reply to News24 declaring his awareness of the criminal investigations against him, but he said he didn’t do anything wrong. Numerous investors declared their frustration to the media. They approached Breedt several times, and he allegedly promised to compensate for their loss, but no one received any payment.
Let’s sum up the case. Breedt’s flee is definite since he replied some of the investors and news 24, but never mentioned his whereabouts. He is also a fraud because he didn’t compensate for the loss he caused. If the rumor about him living in a mansion turned out to be true it will eliminate the last option we could think of for not paying the investors back, which was bankruptcy.