Raees and Ameer Cajee, founders of collapsed crypto platform Africrypt, have reportedly returned to South Africa years after the company’s 2021 implosion, according to a televised investigation.
An episode of Carte Blanche alleged the pair are residing in the gated Zimbali Estate in KwaZulu-Natal, though journalists attempting to approach the property were blocked by private security and failed to make direct contact.
“They can protect themselves. They’ve got security. Because they have money,”
Said Gerhard Botha, a lawyer representing an investor who claims to have lost about $50 million.
Africrypt operated between 2019 and 2021, marketing itself as a high-yield crypto investment service that promised returns of up to 13% per month through what it described as an artificial intelligence-driven trading system.
The platform collapsed on April 13, 2021, after the founders told users it had been hacked and its holdings stolen, before leaving the country and travelling through jurisdictions including the Maldives, Tanzania and the United Arab Emirates.
Initial media estimates suggested as much as $3.6 billion had disappeared, though later investigations put investor losses closer to $40 million to $50 million, with Ameer Cajee arrested in Switzerland in 2021 and later released on bail.
The renewed attention comes as the South African Reserve Bank has warned that crypto assets and US dollar-pegged stablecoins pose emerging financial stability risks, citing 7.8 million users across the country’s three largest exchanges and roughly $1.5 billion held in custody at the end of 2024.