Businessman Davis Manzi, the founder of Billion Traders FX, is set to reappear in court on October 17, appealing against a 30-day remand that was handed to him by the primary court of Gasabo back in August.
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Manzi, 38, is accused of defrauding over 500 people of $10 million through his online enterprise Billion Traders FX. He allegedly convinced his clients that if they invested large sums of money into the business, they would get significant returns from online forex trading.
He faces charges including money laundering, fraud, and illicit foreign exchange trading. During his arraignment, on August 26, prosecutors told court that Manzi launched his operations without authorisation from relevant institutions.
"He didn't get authorisation from BNR [National Bank of Rwanda] and CMA [Capital Market Authority], which are the authorities in charge of the type of business he was doing,” court heard.
They also said that he "promised clients very high and unrealistic promises of profit,” where for example, he told potential investors that if they invested $50,000 in his company, they would get a 10 percent profit in six months and get their capital back.
However, the suspect told court that at the time he opened the company, "there was no law governing online forex trading,” and thus when he approached BNR and CMA, they did not give him a license but still allowed him to operate.
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He also insisted that his enterprise worked well with its clients from 2020 to 2022 when problems arose as a result of Capital Markets Authority reporting him to RIB, leading to the closure of his bank accounts.
He told court that out of the $10 million that Rwandans invested in his enterprise, he already refunded more than $7 million and can refund the rest if authorities unblock his accounts. The prosecutors asked court to remand him as further investigations are done, arguing that he is a flight risk due to the money he owes many Rwandans.
The presiding judge decided to remand him due to, among other reasons, the fact that the crimes he is suspected of are serious. Since then, he filed an appeal against the decision. His appeal is set to be heard on October 17 at the intermediate court of Gasabo.