Africa Bitcoin Corporation (ABC) co-founder Warren Wheatley has resigned as CEO, weeks after being slapped with a R5 million fine and 20-year debarment over share trades he says involved just 50 shares worth R301.
Wheatley was placed on precautionary suspension late last month, with well-known tech personality Stafford Masie stepping into the CEO role after the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) sanctioned Wheatley and two other executives over alleged manipulation of Altvest shares.
Having earlier told ITWeb that Wheatley won't be litigating in public, nor publicly responding to the allegations, he has now issued an open letter saying the FSCA’s findings relate to trades that, combined, were only worth R301.
“At the time, I was testing a stockbroker trading platform that had historically not functioned correctly. During the testing, three trades for a combined 50 shares worth a total of R301 were executed. That was the total of the sale price received, and I have not since sold shares in the company,” Wheatley says.
The FSCA fined Wheatley R5 million, due before the end of this month, while also banning him from providing, or being involved in providing, financial products or financial services, acting as key persons of financial institutions, or providing services to financial institutions for 20 years – effectively shutting him out of regulated financial services for two decades.
Wheatley has also resigned as CEO, saying “stepping away from the company is deeply difficult. I, with many others, built this company from the ground up”. ABC says Masie will continue to serve as interim CEO while the board continues to seek a permanent CEO.
The former CEO says the team built the company "through a pandemic, using our own capital and countless hours. Our team believed in its purpose long before success was assured. That same commitment is why the company's best interests must come before my interests.”
Wheatley says his resignation is "voluntary and without any admission of wrongdoing, and without giving up my rights before the Financial Services Tribunal". He says he will "pursue those applications and answer every question put to me".
“Wheatley’s reconsideration and related proceedings before the Financial Services Tribunal are personal to him and continue independently of the company,” ABC said in a Stock Exchange News Service announcement. “The board remains focused on ensuring leadership continuity and the ongoing stability of the group,” it added.
At the time the alleged share manipulation took place, WGW held a 34% shareholding in Altvest, with Wheatley, in his capacity as a director of WGW Capital, executing trades through the company's share trading account. Tatum Keshwar Investments held a 17% shareholding in Altvest, with Keshwar-Wheatley executing trades through the company's share trading account, the FSCA says.
Shuffling stock?
South Africa's financial sector watchdog alleges Wheatley, alongside CIO Akshay Karan and Wheatley's wife and co-founder, Tatum Keshwar-Wheatley, who headed the company's media and investor relations function, were complicit in manipulating share prices.
The FSCA explains that the three worked together to artificially inflate Altvest's share price and create a misleading impression of demand and trading activity while the company was listed on the Cape Town Stock Exchange.
The sanctions relate to alleged share manipulation the FSCA says happened at a time when they held these positions at Altvest Capital, which was renamed Africa Bitcoin Corporation last September.
Altvest listed on the Cape Town Stock Exchange in May 2022, where it remained until October 2024, when it moved to the JSE's AltX. The alleged share manipulation took place in September 2022, just four months after its initial listing, the FSCA says.
The FSCA also sanctioned and barred Keshwar-Wheatley, who was fined R3 million, and Karan was hit with a R1 million fine. ABC says these two executives remain on suspension.
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