Zimbabwe: Beven Capital Ponzi Scheme Fugitive Arrested in UAE After Years On the Run, Extradited to Zimbabwe Over $100,000 Fraud

A Zimbabwean man accused of masterminding the notorious Beven Capital Ponzi scheme has been extradited from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and is now facing multiple charges of fraud, theft by deception, and impersonation in Harare.

Shepherd Chibaya (36), identified as one of the founders of the collapsed investment scam, was arrested in the UAE after years on the run and handed over to local authorities through Interpol cooperation.

He has since been remanded in custody pending trial.

According to prosecutors, Beven Capital lured unsuspecting investors with promises of 50% returns in just six weeks, only for the scheme's operators to vanish with millions.

Instead of helping victims recover their money, Chibaya allegedly re-emerged to exploit them further by posing as a medical doctor at Parirenyatwa and Parktown Hospitals and pretending to have insider access to the scheme's management. Authorities say he even became chairman of the defrauded investors' group by leveraging these lies.

In one of the most elaborate scams, between 2020 and 2021, Chibaya allegedly defrauded a female investor of US$98,000, concocting stories about taxes, bribes and legal fees.

He is accused of faking his own arrest, impersonating a police officer, and later pretending to be dead to avoid detection.

A stolen Samsung S20 cellphone was also traced back to him.

Other counts include defrauding a complainant of US$850 in 2021 under the guise of "tax fees" and swindling another investor of US$2,000 after promising to help recover a US$30,000 investment while posing "on duty" as a doctor.

"A third investor lost US$2,000 after being promised recovery of his US$30,000 investment, with the accused again pretending to be "on duty" as a doctor when collecting cash," the court.

After years on the run, the accused person was tracked down by Interpol in the UAE and handed over to Zimbabwean authorities. He has since been remanded in custody pending trial.

If convicted, Chibaya faces lengthy prison time.

Read the original article on New Zimbabwe.