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Ameer Cajee and Raees Cajee, dubbed South Africa’s ‘crypto bros’ by many, have gone rather quiet.

It turns out that the duo behind Africrypt, a so-called cryptocurrency investment platform that they claim was hacked, could be hiding from more than just the law.

Late last month, it was reported that the brothers “stole from the wrong guy” and  “there is nowhere on Earth they can hide.”

That guy would be Juan Meyer, a former business associate of Czech gangster Radovan Krejcir.

It’s understood that the brothers left the country in December of last year, selling a Lamborghini, a Ferrari, and two properties the day before they departed.

They have been traced to different hotels in the United Arab Emirates, but their exact whereabouts remain unknown, at least publicly.

Where does Vanuatu fit into all of this? The Guardian reports that they’re among the more than 2 000 people who took advantage of the country’s controversial “golden passports” scheme last year.

Included among those 2 000 is “a slew of disgraced businesspeople and individuals sought by police in countries all over the world”:

Among those granted citizenship through the country’s development support program were a Syrian businessman with US sanctions against his businesses, a suspected North Korean politician, an Italian businessman accused of extorting the Vatican, a former member of a notorious Australian motorcycle gang, and South African brothers accused of a $3.6bn cryptocurrency heist.

The passport scheme allows foreign nationals to purchase citizenship for US$130,000 in a process that typically takes just over a month – all without ever setting foot in the country.

Importantly, the “golden passport” scheme also offers visa-free access to 130 countries, with Vanuatu operating as a tax haven with no income, corporate or wealth tax.

This makes it ripe for money laundering, as well as creating access to many countries across the EU.

…security experts warn that the ease with which people can buy passports from the country, as well as the travel it permits, could make it an attractive scheme for members of transnational criminal syndicates, allowing them a legitimate base in the Pacific…

In one brochure advertising the country’s development support program by a registered agent, the agency answers a question about whether passport recipients can change their name. “Once you are granted citizenship, you can change your name by sending us a letter that explains your motivation to change your name and your passport will be issued with your new name,” the brochure reads.

After media queries, Floyd Mera, the director of Vanuatu’s Financial Intelligence Unit, said that citizenship could be revoked if “substantial convictions” are obtained against individuals.

Vanuatu is one of the world’s poorest nations, with the sale of passports accounting for 42% of all government revenue last year.

You can read that full report here.

South African legal efforts to recoup some of the lost funds are still underway, with Johannesburg-based attorney Gerhard Botha representing 105 investors, with a combined lost investment that is conservatively estimated at R115 million.

Botha also downplayed the Cajee brothers’ claims that Meyer had threatened them, saying their version of events was “opportunistic”.

Wherever the Cajee brothers are, they must be feeling the heat.

[source:guardian]