Gasabo Intermediate Court has convicted businessman Davis Manzi on charges of illegal foreign currency exchange, fraud, and money laundering, sentencing him to seven years in prison and imposing a fine of Rwf 11.36 million.
In a ruling delivered on Friday, December 12, the court also found his wife, Sophie Akaliza, guilty of complicity and sentenced her to three years in prison.
Manzi is the founder of Billion Traders Ltd, an online forex exchange company prosecutors say was used to defraud hundreds of investors of more than $10 million.
The case, which has been before the courts for nearly two years, arose after the company failed to deliver promised returns, leaving investors facing heavy losses.
In earlier hearings of the case, prosecutors argued that Manzi misled investors as he ran his operations without a license, in addition to promising them impossible returns that he ended up failing to deliver.
They noted that though he held a permit from the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), it authorised only conventional currency exchange and not online forex trading.
By doing online operations, prosecutors said, Manzi acted illegally. They further accused him of laundering investor funds by transferring them to various accounts to conceal it.
The prosecution had sought a 15-year prison sentence for both Manzi and Akaliza.
The defence, in response, said Manzi's financial difficulties began in November 2022, when Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) froze his bank accounts during the investigation, effectively halting operations and payments to investors.
Manzi also denied that Akaliza was a co-owner of the company, saying she was an employee who managed local operations from 2022, when the business expanded internationally.
On the licensing issue, he argued that Rwanda lacked a clear regulatory framework for online forex trading at the time and that officials from the central bank had allowed him to continue operating under his existing RDB certification.
According to the law, Manzi has 30 days to appeal the verdict.