CAPE TOWN - Accused fraudster and crypto developer Riccardo ‘FluffyPony’ Spagni will soon be on local soil after he was expected to have surrendered himself to US Marshals on Tuesday for his extradition.
Spagni - who was arrested nearly a year ago - is being brought back to the country where he will face nearly 400 criminal charges related to fraud, forgery and uttering.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson, Eric Ntabazalila, said: “We can confirm that Spagni is to be surrendered imminently. He will be brought before Regional Court Cape Town as soon as reasonably possible once he arrives in Cape Town.”
Last year, SAPS issued a J50 warrant of arrest for fugitive Spagni, 38, after he twice failed to appear at the Cape Town Regional Court on fraud charges, which he had previously pleaded not guilty to.
Spagni was arrested in the US on July 21, 2021, on a private charter jet in Tennessee, bound for Mexico.
Spagni, who holds dual citizenship and who is a former maintainer of the privacy coin Monero (XMR), was ordered by a US court that he surrender himself after Independence Day celebrations.
A court order read: “The United States has notified Spagni that the representatives of the Government of South Africa will depart South Africa to effectuate his arrest on July 5, 2022.
“Given that the ‘eve’ of July 5, 2022 is a federal Holiday, the parties have agreed to have Spagni surrender to the United States Marshals on July 5, 2022 at 9am. This proposed modified surrender date and time has been approved by pretrial services and by the United States Marshals,” the US court order read.
As a former employee of Cape Cookies, as their IT manager between October 2009 and June 2011, Spagni allegedly intercepted invoices from another company relating to information technology goods and services it had supplied to Cape Cookies.
Investigation evidence indicates that Spagni received R1 453 561.47, or roughly $99,185, as a result of his efforts to “defraud Cape Cookies” - he potentially faces up to 20 years imprisonment.
He has denied the allegations against him and had pleaded not guilty, further pledging to work with authorities to get the matter “behind him”.
Enquiries to Spagni’s legal team had not been answered by deadline.
Cape Times