Several people who invested their monies in the bogus scheme Black Child Billionaire have been left high and dry, despite the sentencing of the two defrauders involved. The victims, mostly from Phuthaditjhaba in the eastern Free State, were unable to recover their hard-earned money.
The Bethlehem Commercial Crimes Court slapped the second con man, Lebohang Ernest Maboea (28), with a suspended sentence on Friday, 17 May. His sentencing was a result of probing by the Free State Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crimes unit. Probing by the elite crime fighting wing revealed that four known persons lost a cumulative amount of more than R500 000.
“Maboea was sentenced to three years’ direct imprisonment for seven counts of fraud, two years’ imprisonment which is suspended for five years for seven counts of contravention of the Banks Act, and two years’ imprisonment which is wholly suspended for five years for 13 counts of contravention of the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act. The sentences will run concurrently,” said WO Fikiswa Matoti, provincial spokesperson for the Hawks.
Maboea’s co-accused, Neo Patrick Makhokolo (30), was sentenced in August last year to a 17-year suspended sentence after being convicted of fraud, money laundering, contravention of the Banks Act, and contravention of the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act. He was further ordered to repay one of the victims R18 000 in instalments of R1 500. He was also declared unfit to possess a firearm.
According to the Hawks’ findings, Maboea and Makhokolo defrauded people through their get-rich-quick scheme during 2018 and 2019. They reportedly recruited several people and persuaded them to invest money into their bogus scheme with a promise of getting interest ranging between 25% and 100% in returns, within 30 days. After scamming the victims, Maboea vanished but was re-arrested earlier this year after months of evading the police.
