A Pretoria investment scheme conman’s 13-year career, in which he stole over R8-million from unsuspecting investors, came to an end as he was sentenced by the regional specialised commercial crimes court.

According to the NPA, Stephanus Johannes van Eerden (62) was convicted of 71 counts of theft after pleading guilty last week.

He was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment by the court.

Van Eerden committed these crimes through different investment schemes from 2008 to 2021.

NPA spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said Van Eerden operated different investment schemes in which he persuaded people to invest in bogus businesses as though they were legitimate.

“Two of his investment schemes where he stole over R8-million from 36 complainants were Bitcoin and Med Consult Group (MCG),” Mahanjana said.

Van Eerden was arrested and released on bail in October 2017 after a person opened a case at the Brooklyn police station.

Thereafter, several dockets were opened for similar offences all over the country and he was again nabbed in January 2022.

Mahanjana said after Van Eerden was granted bail on the condition that he did not commit any crimes again, he committed the same crime four days later and continued to do so until his arrest in 2022.

“A complainant testified before the court that he lost all his money to the investments and cannot afford to stay in his own home. Instead, he has to rent it out to make a living,” Mahanjana said.

The NPA, led by advocate Willem van Zyl in the case, argued in court that Van Eerden was a career conman and the community needed to be protected from him.

“The way he went about conducting his business had finally caught up with him,” Mahanjana said.

“[Van Zyl] reminded the court that in 2017 when Van Eerden was applying for bail, he cited extreme health problems as a mitigating factor. He asked the court to impose the minimum prescribed sentence of 15 years’ direct imprisonment.

“In delivering the sentence, the magistrate said that Van Eerden’s conduct showed his lack of ability to have true remorse. He stole money because of greed.”

Mahanjana said Van Eerden asked for a lesser sentence due to ill health, but the magistrate said that ill-health could be used as a licence to commit crimes.