Former customers of the now-defunct gold-trading company, Menzgold are calling on Ghanaian authorities to arrest dancehall artiste Stonebwoy over his endorsement of the SiDiCoin NFT scheme. The call came after Stonebwoy took to Twitter to endorse the scheme which the Bank of Ghana has since come out to label as operating without their approval as an unlicensed and unregulated investment scheme.
Stonebwoy initial remarks on SiDiCoin
The Menzgold former clients under their association known as The Coalition of Aggrieved Customers of Menzgold put out a statement signed by the coalition’s PRO and Vice President Francis Owusu that stated,
“It should be noted that Stonebwoy has over 2.8 million followers on Twitter, over 3.1 million followers on Facebook, and over 4 million followers on Instagram and as such we must not take his influence lightly. “
Ghana has not forgotten so soon that Livingstone Etse Satekla alias Stonebwoy was one of the lead brand ambassadors for the botched Menzgold investment wherein a similar fashion he and others lured their followers into investing in Menzgold.”
By its closure in September 2018, Menzgold had characteristics of a Ponzi scheme with investors’ money allegedly disappearing and since then, only 2 of the 181 aggrieved clients are reported to have received some payment from the defunct company.
With this backdrop, it is no wonder that the group was angered to see Stonebwoy attached to this new “unregulated and unlicensed” scheme. The coalition urged authorities not to turn a blind eye to the situation and see to it that Stonebwoy and any other persons involved in the scheme are held accountable.
Through a notice issued on Wednesday 27th April 2022, the Bank of Ghana cautioned the public to desist from trading and investing in the Sidicoin investment scheme and any other unregulated investment schemes.
Bank of Ghana Notice on “Sidicoin” Crypto Investment Scheme.
Following the Bank of Ghana’s statement, Stonebwoy took to the same platform that got him in the hot seat to try and clear the air. The musician used his Twitter account to clarify that he had not been paid or appointed to officially back the scheme.
Acknowledging his own over-enthusiasm as a reference point, Stonebwoy urged the public to heed the Bank of Ghana’s caution including a copy of the Bank’s Notice in his release. He added that his advocacy was for people to learn more about non-fungible tokens (NFTs), Web3.0, the metaverse and crypto-assets.
Stonebwoy Statement following Bank of Ghana Notice
On top of jail time, the coalition made a plea to the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) and the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service for the artiste to be stripped of any National or Corporate Award he has won.