CMA (Capital Markets Authority) has brought charges against one Ruth Mueni Kimeu and Mary Katuma Mwangangi, who face charges of operating an unlicensed collective investment scheme through Quant Vest Stock Exchange (QVSE)/Global Investment Group (GIG) and fraudulently inducing the public to trade in securities.
According to the charge sheet, the offence is carrying out business of collective investment scheme without a license contrary to Section 23(2) as read without Section 34(A)(1)(licensee) of the Capital Markets Authority(CMA) Act Cap 485 Laws of Kenya.
The two are accused that on diverse dates between January 1st 2026 and 17th September 2026 at unknown place within the Republic of Kenya jointly with others not before Court, carried out business of a Collective Investment Scheme.
QVSE is said to have promised investors a US$6 per day on US$ 500 trading Tesla/Apple shares and recruited investors via WhatsApp Group, which is said to have had 12,005 members. The red flags were up when QVSE froze withdrawals on September 4th 2026, demanding top-ups to reactivate.
CMA has issued a public alert against dealing with unregulated entities
CMA has been pushing investors who are affected by investing in unregulated products to report to the Capital Markets Fraud Investigation Unit (CMFIU), which is the Police Unit attached to the Capital Markets Authority.
In a public notice issued this month, CMA flagged 15 entities it says are operating unlawfully and fraudulently soliciting money from investors without the required permits.
The unregulated entities mentioned include Global Investment Group, QVSE, Kore Exchange, Abacus Wealth Management, Brown Advisory Group, B Invest, Bitblock Capital Limited, Maliwave Investments, Monetrix Capital Investments and Twenty-four Hours Pro expert Trader.
Others are Wealth Sharing Group, also known as Opticoin, CBEX, Just Markets, Ultima Cryptocurrency and Lukman-trust fund.
These unregulated entities are said to be under the CMA anti-fraud unit radar, the DCI and other law-enforcement agencies.
The regulator urged affected investors to cooperate with investigators and report their cases to the nearest DCI office. Several names such as QVSE have previously attracted regulatory or public scrutiny outside the latest warning.
While QVSE and Global Investment Group in Kenya have had adverse mention in public forums, other scammers and their masterminds are still roaming free.
Other most notorious players running unlicensed collective investment schemes in Kenya, some with networks stretching to West Africa, include CBEX and Lukman-trust Fund.
JustMarkets, said to have its nerve centre in Lagos, is yet another unlicensed entity that is targeting the more sophisticated investors with such high-grade products such as indices, forex trading platforms, access to Gold and Precious Metal trading and a chance to speculate on key energy commodities such as WTI and Brent Crude Oil, instruments that only astute global traders can deal in.
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