A South African law firm just cut ties with Mirror Trading International, and the exit raises uncomfortable questions about who knew what—and when.
Ulrich Roux and Associates formally announced the breakup in a December 21st letter, ending a relationship that began in April 2020. Back then, Cheri Ward, MTI's head of communications, hired the firm to handle regulatory compliance, draft contracts, and manage correspondence with South Africa's Financial Sector Conduct Authority.
The problem: Ulrich Roux and Associates describes itself on Facebook as a divorce and family law practice. How a family law firm ended up representing a cryptocurrency trading platform accused of running a Ponzi scheme remains unexplained.
According to observers tracking the scheme, the firm served a specific purpose. MTI used them as a weapon against South African critics—much like OneCoin wielded the German firm Schulenberg & Schenk to silence voices raising alarms. Legal muscle, deployed to intimidate.
Now that Mirror Trading International is collapsing, the law firm faces a deluge of desperate investors. Ulrich Roux and Associates responded with a carefully worded statement distancing itself from liability. They're not financial advisors. They never endorsed investing with MTI. The firm accepts zero responsibility for client losses.
But here's where it gets murky: the law firm claims MTI misrepresented their relationship. Marketing materials and affiliate pages repeatedly stated that Ulrich Roux and Associates backed MTI and were "satisfied members" of the platform. The firm now denies this characterization entirely.
The withdrawal letter includes a telling caveat. Ulrich Roux and Associates states the firm itself never invested in MTI. It pointedly does not say whether individual attorneys at the firm did.
That omission matters. MTI and its network of affiliate promoters used the law firm's name extensively to attract investors. If attorneys were themselves "satisfied members," as the marketing claimed, it would explain their willingness to represent the operation while it allegedly defrauded thousands.
The timing accelerates everything. CEO Johan Steynberg fled South Africa days before this announcement. As MTI's facade crumbles, the law firm is scrambling to establish legal separation—a defensive move that protects them from investor lawsuits but also abandons the victims whose money potentially funded their work.
Ulrich Roux and Associates took fees to represent a company that prosecutors say operated as a Ponzi scheme. They did this while marketing materials falsely suggested they were invested stakeholders. Now they're claiming independence while offering no assistance to the people whose savings vanished.
The law firm's exit is less an act of conscience and more a calculation: the ship is sinking, and they're cutting the rope.
🤖 Quick Answer
Why did Ulrich Roux and Associates terminate its relationship with Mirror Trading International?The South African law firm ended its engagement with MTI through a formal letter dated December 21st, concluding a professional relationship initiated in April 2020. The firm had provided regulatory compliance services, contract drafting, and correspondence management with South Africa's Financial Sector Conduct Authority.
What raises questions about the legal representation arrangement?
Ulrich Roux and Associates identifies itself primarily as a divorce and family law practice on its Facebook profile, making its representation of a cryptocurrency trading platform accused of operating a Ponzi scheme professionally incongruous and unexplained.
When did the law firm's involvement with MTI begin?
The professional relationship commenced in April 2020, when Cheri Ward, MTI's head of communications, engaged Ulrich Roux and Associates to manage regulatory and legal matters related to the cryptocurrency trading
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