THREE founders of E-Creator, a Ponzi scheme which recently fleeced several people of large sums of money after luring them into joining the scam couched as an investment have been denied bail and remanded in custody to August 24.
Zhao Jiaotong, Trymore Tapfumaneyi and Justin Kuchekenya, who are facing money laundering and fraud charges, were denied bail by magistrate Marehwanazvo Gofa who ruled that they were a flight risk.
The court also heard that police had not yet concluded their investigations as more victims were coming up.
The trio’s alleged accomplice, an Ivory Coast national, Billy Thomas Syedou is on the run.
Allegations are that on February 7 this year, the accused acting in connivance with Syedou, Abraham Mutambu and others who are still at large registered a company with the Zimbabwean Registrar of Companies styled E-Creator Electronic Commerce [Private] Limited under company registration number 2853/23, with its offices located at room 15 and 16 10th Floor Joina City building, Harare.
The accused launched the company as an online e-commerce operator.
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Between February and early this month, the accused lured hundreds of people into joining the scheme after investing various amounts of cash, hoping to get huge monthly profits depending on the amount invested.
Members joined the scheme through various EcoCash numbers supplied on the platform by the accused. To make the scheme more attractive, the alleged scammers advertised on State television and roped in several celebrities as brand ambassadors on social media platforms.
On July 03, some of the complaints encountered challenges in accessing their funds and approached the company for clarifications. One of the accused Mutambu allegedly told the complainants that the challenges were caused by a systems upgrade, and assured them that they would soon receive normal services.
Two days later, the complainants were advised that the company had ceased operations and that one of the founders Zhao had fled to China with depositors’ money amounting to US$1 million. Zhao was later arrested and brought to court together with some of his accomplices.