Investment scammer 62-year-old Stephanus Johannes van Eerden is going to spend 15 years in prison after he admitted to stealing millions of rand from his clients.
The Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court heard that the accused Van Eerden committed 71 counts of theft over a period of 13 years from 2008 to 2021.
The accused operated different investment schemes and persuaded people to invest in them as though they were legitimate businesses.
Two of Van Eerden’s so-called investment schemes – where he stole more than R8 million from 36 complainants – were supposedly linked to bitcoin and Med Consult Group (MCG).
Van Eerden was first arrested and released on bail in October 2017 after one of the complainants opened a case at Brooklyn Police Station, in Pretoria.
Thereafter, a number of dockets were opened for the same type of offence all over the country.
Van Eerden was re-arrested in January 2022 and has been in custody since.
Regional National Prosecuting Authority Spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said all the dockets were consolidated and centralised in one court.
One of the complainants told the court that he lost all his money to these bogus investments, such that he could no longer afford to stay in his own home and had to rent it out in order to make ends meet.
Prosecutor Advocate Willem van Zyl argued in court that Van Eerden was a career conman and the community needed to be protected from him.
The way the accused conducted his business had finally caught up with him.
Prosecutor Van Zyl reminded the court that in 2017 when van Eerden was applying for bail, he cited extreme health problems as a mitigating factor.
However, after being granted bail with the condition that he did not commit similar crimes again, Van Eerden committed the exact same crime just four days later.
The accused continued his scams until his arrest in 2022.
Van Zyl urged the court to impose the minimum prescribed sentence of 15 years direct imprisonment.
In delivering the sentence the magistrate said that Van Eerden’s conduct showed his lack of ability to have true remorse.
He stole money because of greed, not because of dire need.
Van Eerden asked for a lesser sentence due to ill health, however, the magistrate said that ill-health cannot be used as a licence to commit a crime and sent the accused to prison for 15 years.
