Hawks still investigating Russian frauster

Nontando Mafany
17 April 2016

The Hawks have set their sights on the local arm of an international investment scheme which has already collapsed in Russia and is apparently on shaky ground here after attracting millions of South African investors.

A Russian fraudster is allegedly the mastermind of the operation, suspected to be a pyramid scheme.

It left millions of Russian investors bankrupt. But the probe by the Hawks, which also involves crime intelligence police officers, is being hampered by the magnitude of the scheme.

The so-called MMM scheme, founded by convict Sergey Mavrodi and known locally as MMM South Africa, entices investors by promising 30 percent profits every month.

This week, despite reports the scheme had collapsed, local recruiters denied this was the case. They were adamant that while two arms of MMM – MMM Global and MMM Extra – had closed to protect investors’ money, the South African branch was unaffected.

 A recruiter said nearly two million South Africans had signed up to MMM since February last year. Hawks spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said an inquiry into MMM had been opened.