<\/p>\n
Crypto firm NTC Global Trade failed last week in its eleventh-hour bid to stave off final liquidation in the Pretoria High Court.<\/p>\n
This comes almost exactly a year after the company, previously in business rescue, was placed in provisional liquidation after attorney Bouwer van Niekerk was gunned down in his Saxonwold office.<\/p>\n
Van Niekerk represented NTC\u2019s business rescue practitioner Kurt Knoop, who resigned within hours of his attorney\u2019s assassination, citing death threats.<\/p>\n
Read:
Crypto firm investigated by slain attorney Bouwer van Niekerk liquidated
Liquidation of crypto firm delayed as director faces R500 000 costs deposit<\/p>\n
In a last-minute attempt to avert final liquidation, NTC and its sole director, Edwin Thabo Letopa, asked the court to reconsider or rescind the provisional winding-up order granted on 10 September 2025.<\/p>\n
They argued that NTC had already opposed the liquidation proceedings but had not been notified of that hearing and was therefore denied an opportunity to argue its case.<\/p>\n
That application was filed just days before the final liquidation hearing last week. Judge Anthony Millar dismissed NTC\u2019s application with costs.<\/p>\n
Allegations<\/p>\n
Complaints against NTC started surfacing in 2023 when 21 investors applied to liquidate the company after they were unable to withdraw their money, alleging fraud, insolvency and the possible dissipation of funds.<\/p>\n
That application was dismissed for lack of urgency, prompting the investors to launch fresh proceedings in February 2024.<\/p>\n
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FNB and the South African Reserve Bank then placed a freeze on R57.5 million in NTC\u2019s main business account.<\/p>\n
Another account with R58 million was not placed on hold.<\/p>\n
NTC argued that these two accounts held considerably more than the creditor claims against it, and it was therefore not insolvent. Letopa argued that it was the freezing of its accounts rather than lack of funds that prevented it honouring investor claims.<\/p>\n
\u2018Investment company\u2019<\/p>\n
NTC presented itself as an investment company that raised money from investors through interest-bearing debentures and used the funds principally for cryptocurrency arbitrage: buying crypto where it was cheaper and selling it in markets where prices were higher.<\/p>\n
A cash-flow analysis by PwC found little evidence that the roughly R484 million raised from investors was deployed in the crypto-arbitrage activities for which the money was ostensibly intended.<\/p>\n
Substantial amounts instead flowed to related parties and other accounts.<\/p>\n
PwC\u2019s analysis also indicated that money received from newer investors may have been used, at least partly, to fund payments to earlier investors.<\/p>\n
Business rescue<\/p>\n
NTC entered business rescue voluntarily in March 2024 after investors once again launched liquidation proceedings over unpaid investments.<\/p>\n
As Moneyweb previously reported, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) issued a warning in May 2024, urging caution when dealing with NTC and an associated company Arbitrawallet, over suspicions they were offering unregistered financial services.<\/p>\n
It was at this point that Bouwer van Niekerk entered the picture as attorney to the business rescue practitioner, Knoop.<\/p>\n
Van Niekerk initially appears to have worked with Letopa and NTC, including helping to establish the company\u2019s business-rescue process and proposing Knoop as practitioner.<\/p>\n
Van Niekerk and Letopa had earlier cooperated in opposing an application by the National Director of Public Prosecutions for a preservation order covering 35 accounts holding a combined R176 million.<\/p>\n
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The prosecuting authority alleged that NTC operated as a Ponzi scheme, using funds from new clients to pay earlier investors.<\/p>\n
The Pretoria High Court dismissed the application, finding that the evidence before it was insufficient to establish the alleged Ponzi scheme or NTC\u2019s insolvency.<\/p>\n
Subsequent court papers reveal a serious breakdown in the relationship between Van Niekerk and Letopa, who resisted demands to hand over NTC financial records and grant access to its crypto wallets.<\/p>\n
Letopa nevertheless told the Sunday Times that there was no bad blood between him and Knoop.<\/p>\n
Van Niekerk was shot dead in an apparent execution-style hit by four assailants in the boardroom of his Saxonwold law firm on 5 September 2025.<\/p>\n
One alleged gunman, Mukelani Ntombela, has since been arrested and charged.<\/p>\n
Read: Hit on liquidation attorney Bouwer van Niekerk sparks fear and outrage<\/p>\n
NTC argued that it was neither factually nor commercially insolvent and had sufficient assets and investments to meet investors\u2019 claims.<\/p>\n
It said the interruption of investor payments resulted largely from funds being frozen under preservation proceedings, rather than lack of funds.<\/p>\n
The investors and liquidators disputed this, pointing to NTC\u2019s failure to repay investors and PwC\u2019s cash flow analysis showing that much of the money had moved to accounts linked to Letopa, Arbitrawallet director Marius Venter and associated entities \u2013 with little evidence of the crypto arbitrage activity for which the funds were ostensibly raised.<\/p>\n
#Crypto #firm #NTC #fails #eleventh #hour #bid #escape #final #liquidation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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