Riccardo Spagni, the ex-lead maintainer of monero (XMR), a privacy-preserving digital currency, was arrested last month in Nashville, Tennessee on fraud charges allegedly related to offenses in South Africa between 2009 and 2011.
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According to the court documents, the Government of South Africa seeks Spagni's provisional arrest with a view toward his extradition to stand trial for fraud.
The Government of South Africa claims that as an employee of Cape Cookies, Spagni "intercepted invoices from another company, Ensync, relating to information technology goods and services it had supplied Cape Cookies."
"SPAGNI knowingly used false information to fabricate similar invoices purporting to be from Ensync, relying on details including this company's Value Added Tax (VAT) number and bank account information. SPAGNI then inflated the prices for the goods and/or services," the court documents say.
Currently, Spagni is in the custody of the US Attorney General. The first hearing is set on August 5 where the court will determine if Spagni is held pending trial or not. In South Africa, Spagni might face up to 20 years in prison.
Earlier in June, iHodl reported that South Africa plans to tighten the cryptocurrency market in three to six months. As per Kuben Naidoo, Chief Executive of the Prudential Authority, South Africa's banking watchdog, the country is trying to put in place the regulatory framework quickly after the local market suffered a proliferation of scams.
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