Banxso Liquidation Stalled: The Owner's Company Is Fighting the Payout — and Questioning Victims

Last updated: 10 July 2026

The man accused of siphoning nearly R1 billion from South African investors has found a new way to keep it: his other company is now suing to stall the process that would claw the money back — and, in a move that should alarm every victim, it has begun questioning Banxso's own clients in an attempt to get them to concede they have no claim at all.

More than 7,000 people invested in Banxso, according to court papers. The liquidators have recovered roughly R113 million so far. Proven investor claims already exceed R137 million, and the total invested may run into billions of rands. Every month of delay drains legal fees out of that pot — and the delays are coming from one direction.

Here is what has happened, what it means for your money if you are in the creditors' queue, and the two traps every Banxso victim needs to avoid right now.

The story so far, in sixty seconds

• 2022: Banxso launches in Cape Town — FSCA-licensed, sponsoring Bafana Bafana and UFC champion Dricus du Plessis. The licence and the sponsorships built what Moneyweb called a "veil of legitimacy."
• 2022–2024: Deepfake adverts featuring Elon Musk and Johann Rupert promise monthly incomes of up to R500,000 from a R4,300 "investment." High-pressure agents push clients into risky CFD trades they were, in the courts' view, guaranteed to lose.
• October 2024: The FSCA provisionally withdraws Banxso's licence. July 2025: the withdrawal becomes permanent.
• December 2025: The FSCA withdraws the licence of AfriMarkets — a second platform owned by the same man, running what the regulator described as an identical model. We traced that pattern in our investigation into Banxso, AfriMarkets and Mixirite.
• 2026: The FSCA fines owner Harel Sekler and former director Warwick Sneider a combined R2 billion — the largest administrative penalty in the regulator's history, more than four times the R475 million imposed on Steinhoff's Markus Jooste.
• 2 March 2026: The Western Cape High Court places Banxso in final liquidation, finding it "factually and commercially hopelessly insolvent."
• 27 May 2026: Flamingo Clearing House — also owned by Sekler — files a High Court review that freezes the liquidation's progress. That is where we are now.

The owner's company vs. the payout

To understand the current fight, you need one fact: Flamingo Clearing House is not a bystander. Per Moneyweb's investigation, Flamingo acted as Banxso's CFD liquidity provider and was a key link in the chain through which client money moved offshore. Its owner is Banxso's owner.

Flamingo and a third Sekler company, XF Solutions, submitted claims of R67 million and R5 million against the Banxso estate — presented as loans owed to them. The Master of the High Court rejected those claims. Then, at the second creditors' meeting on 15 May, additional victim claims were confirmed and the liquidation's next steps were approved. Twelve days later, Flamingo filed its review application asking the court to set aside that entire meeting and everything decided at it.

Five of the six liquidators and their attorneys, Mostert & Bosman, have called the application a blatant, obstructive attempt to stall — part of what they describe as a "carefully coordinated strategy" to discredit the liquidators and derail the process. Pierre du Toit of Mostert & Bosman went further, telling Moneyweb that Flamingo and Sekler were "co-conspirators in the criminal scheme of Banxso." Sekler's attorney denies the allegations and has accused the liquidators and journalists covering the story of bias.

Do the arithmetic from a victim's chair. If insider companies' R72 million in claims had been admitted against roughly R113 million recovered, well over half the pot would have flowed back toward the very network accused of draining it. Rejecting those claims kept that money in play for ordinary creditors. Stalling the process is the next-best outcome for the insiders — and the worst one for you, because the estate pays its lawyers for every month of fighting. Legal costs had already passed R11.5 million by May, on Flamingo's own attorney's numbers.

Sixth liquidator, missing database, and a fight over evidence

Two more battles are running underneath the headline case.

The sixth liquidator. Five liquidators were appointed to wind up Banxso — including a trustee who also administers the Mirror Trading International (MTI) estate, South Africa's largest-ever liquidation. Then Sekler, exercising his right as a shareholder, nominated a sixth: Vaughn Victor. The other five have since formally accused Victor of opposing the creditors' meeting, refusing to sign the liquidators' statutory report, and resisting steps against Flamingo. The Master has so far ruled against Victor's objections each time. Victor did not respond to Moneyweb's questions.

The database. The liquidators want a database containing Banxso's client investment records, trading histories — and recordings of conversations between Banxso agents and their victims. Neither Banxso nor Sekler has handed it over despite requests going back to September 2025. If you ever spoke to a Banxso "account manager" who pushed you to deposit more, the evidence of exactly what was said to you may be sitting in that database. That is why the fight over it matters: it is not paperwork, it is the proof of how 7,000 people were worked.

If Flamingo's people contact you: the trap to avoid

This is the part of the story we think deserves more alarm than it has received. Flamingo obtained a court order — in what the five liquidators say was an "improper manner" — to run its own insolvency enquiry, separate from the official one. According to the liquidators' circular to creditors, its purpose is to question former Banxso clients and get them to concede two things: that they have no claim against Banxso, and that there was nothing wrong with Banxso's business model.

Read that again. The company accused of helping move victims' money offshore is legally entitled, for now, to summon those victims and question them about their own claims.

If you are a Banxso victim, three rules:

• Never concede anything about your claim — not informally, not "just to confirm details," not in writing. Whether you have a valid claim is for the Master and the courts, not for a questioner working for the other side.
• Verify who is contacting you before you engage. The official liquidation is run by the appointed liquidators through Mostert & Bosman. If someone contacts you about your claim, ask in writing which entity they represent — and if the answer involves Flamingo, get legal advice before saying another word.
• If you receive a formal summons, take it seriously — with help. A Section 417/418 summons carries legal weight even when the enquiry behind it is contested. Contact the liquidators' attorneys or your own before responding.

The second trap: "recovery agents"

Every high-profile collapse produces a second wave of predators, and Banxso's is already here — Moneyweb has reported a scam specifically targeting Banxso victims using their personal data. The pitch is always the same: someone contacts you claiming they can recover your Banxso funds for an upfront fee, often armed with accurate details about your account that make them sound official.

The rule is absolute: no legitimate liquidator charges victims upfront fees over WhatsApp or email. Recovery in a liquidation happens through the creditors' process — slowly, through the Master, with no shortcuts for sale. Anyone selling a faster lane is farming you a second time. This is the same pattern we documented in our withdrawal-problems playbook: desperation is the product, and scammers buy it cheap.

Who actually gets paid first?

A question thousands of Banxso victims are asking Google, so let us answer it plainly. In a South African liquidation, the estate pays in a strict order: first the costs of the liquidation itself (the liquidators' fees and legal costs), then secured creditors (those holding collateral), then preferent claims such as employees' wages and SARS, and only then concurrent creditors — which is where ordinary investors sit, sharing whatever remains in proportion to their proven claims.

That order explains the anger over costs in this case: every rand of the R11.5 million-plus in legal fees comes off the top, before any victim sees anything. It also explains why the insider claims fight matters so much — R72 million in rejected claims is R72 million that stays in the pool for the people at the back of the queue.

Is Banxso still operating?

No. Banxso's FSCA licence was provisionally withdrawn in October 2024, permanently withdrawn in July 2025, and the company was placed in final liquidation on 2 March 2026. No one can legally trade through Banxso, and anyone claiming to represent a "relaunched" Banxso is running a scam. The more important warning is the pattern: the same ownership network launched AfriMarkets, which lost its licence in December 2025, and the FSCA has since acted against Mixirite over similar sales practices. Collapsed operations do not die — they rebrand. That is why we maintain our running FSCA warning-list tracker.

Frequently asked questions

What is the final liquidation order for Banxso?

On 2 March 2026 the Western Cape High Court placed Banxso (Pty) Ltd in final liquidation, finding the company "factually and commercially hopelessly insolvent." Six liquidators are winding up the estate under supervision of the Master of the High Court.

How much money have the Banxso liquidators recovered?

Approximately R113 million so far, per the first liquidation and distribution account — against proven claims already exceeding R137 million from more than 7,000 investors, with the total amount invested potentially running into billions of rands.

Which creditors are paid first in a liquidation?

Liquidation costs are paid first, then secured creditors, then preferent creditors (employees, SARS), and finally concurrent creditors — the category ordinary Banxso investors fall into — who share whatever remains proportionally.

When will Banxso victims get their money back?

No honest answer exists yet. Flamingo's review application has stalled the process, and contested liquidations of this size run in years, not months. Distributions to concurrent creditors cannot happen until the disputes over claims and the meeting are resolved. Be deeply suspicious of anyone who promises you a faster timeline for a fee.

The lesson that keeps costing R1 billion

Banxso had a real FSCA licence. It sponsored the national football team. It passed every surface-level check a beginner knows how to make — and 7,000 people are now concurrent creditors learning insolvency law the hard way. When a broker fails in South Africa there is no compensation fund; there is a queue, and the lawyers stand in front of you.

Two habits cost nothing and would have caught this: the 30-second check — which surfaced Banxso's red flags long before the collapse — and running any broker through our free Broker Checker before your first deposit, which scans live regulator warnings and real trader complaints in about half a minute.

We will keep following this story — the review application, the database battle, and the enquiries — and update this page as the courts rule. If Banxso taught South Africa anything, it is that the story is never over when the licence dies.