[imagesource:here]

How does one officially become known as the country’s youngest self-made millionaire?

You claim it for long enough that the label sticks.

Back in 2015, Sandile Shezi’s name was splashed across headlines dubbing him our ‘youngest self-made millionaire‘.

As the attention grew, questions started to be asked and it wasn’t long before people began to pick holes in his story and in his company, Global Forex Institute (GFI).

When we last checked in on Shezi, he had been charged with two counts of fraud and handed himself over to Gauteng police.

In his wake lies a number of people who say they have been fleeced out of their hard-earned money, including one woman who claimed she had been kicked out of her house.

Shezi appeared in Randburg magistrate’s court last month to face those fraud charges and is currently out on R5 000 bail.

As Fin24 reports, he’s not going down without a fight:

[He still] has meetings with clients or what he calls “members of the family” on Zoom, where he demonises the media for spreading “opinions” about him…

The GFI site now appears to be defunct, and any attempt to log in results in a flurry of ads for a dating site. Despite co-creating the company, and previously calling himself CEO, Shezi’s lawyer Lloyd Moonean told Fin24 that “Global Forex Institute is not run by Mr Shezi, however we believe it is still operational.”

Moonean also says his client denies all criminal charges made against him.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by ® (@sandileinnocentshezi)

Another name affiliated with GFI is that of co-founder George van der Riet.

With some digging around, it came to light that van der Riet had actually served jail time in the UK for manslaughter and drug dealing under the name David Van der Riet.

We previously covered this and van der Riet left a comment:

“Yes someone did die as a result of trying to rob me in the street with a knife and a friend. I punched him once and if the situation came up again I would do exactly the same thing.

…when given the opportunity of a reduced sentence for pleading guilty to all charges, I did what most people would. I sucked up my pride and took the deal by pleading guilty.”

Last week, when Shezi’s lawyer was asked whether van der Riet was still involved in any business dealings with their client, he said van der Riet had passed away.

Shezi has also opened some new business ventures:

Shezi is now CEO of the Rivoltare Group, a company, which according to its unsecure website, calls itself the “worlds [sic] leading financial markets education provider”, which was “established with the sole purpose of giving ordinary people the opportunity to turn their dreams into reality”.

One of his latest ventures is an offering is called ITradeFXLive which says it is the most simplified forex course in the world.

Signing up for the premium forex course costs R1 499 a month, and the site is riddled with basic errors and strange pop-ups.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by ® (@sandileinnocentshezi)

As with many ‘ventures’ of this sort, you can also make money by referring other people to sign up.

There’s a shape that comes to mind. Ah yes, the classic pyramid.

Shezi’s lawyer denies this and compared his product to Airbnb and Uber.

A recent investigation by The Sowetan shows that Shezi is an active director at 28 business entities based in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.

These include a funeral parlour, a construction firm, a textile business, and something labelled South African Ward Councillors and PR Councillors Award (PTY) LTD.

He is due back in court on November 24, where he will face those two counts of fraud.

[source:fin24]