The person behind the QVSE investment scheme, which has been cited in court for fraud, is recruiting Kenyans on a new platform, soliciting deposits to purportedly unlock money frozen in the previous scheme.
Carl Grindan, popularly known as ‘Prof Carl’, is asking investors to deposit $400 (Sh51,800) into a new investment scheme called Apollo, with the promise that it will allow investors access to funds estimated to be close to Sh1 billion locked in QVSE accounts.
Grindan has given the over 12,000 Kenyan investors up to September 25 to deposit the Sh51,800 or lose the cash locked in QVSE accounts, according to notices sent to them through the secretive text message app, BonChat, seen by the Business Daily.
This emerged on a day when two local agents of the QVSE investment scheme were charged with fraudulently inducing trading in securities and operating an investment scheme without a licence from the Capital Markets Authority (CMA).
“Ruth Mueni Kimeu and Mary Katuma Mwangangi, on diverse dates between 15th January 2026 and 17th September 2026 at an unknown place within the Republic of Kenya, jointly with others not before court, fraudulently induced members of the public to subscribe for and trade in securities through QVSE/GIG by publishing statements and making promises which were deceptive,” reads the duo’s charge sheet at a Nairobi court.
Ms Kimeu, an employee of Machakos County, and Ms Mwangangi, a primary school teacher, denied two counts of collecting investments and fraudulently inducing investment in securities.
Prosecutors allege that they got Kenyans to trade in securities through QVSE by publishing deceptive statements and making false promises.
But as the CMA and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) continued to probe QVSE and its parent firm Global Investment Group (GIG), associated with American Marc Hudon, the person behind the illegal investment scheme opened a new firm and continued business as usual.
Grindan has created Apollo Exchange and has promised investors it will transfer their frozen funds from QVSE to the new entity upon payment of the Sh51,800.
He reckons investors will withdraw both their transferred QVSE balances and the new deposit from September 25 in a scheme that promised investors a daily return of $12 (Sh1,554).
“This is equivalent to us opening up a brand-new safe withdrawal channel for everyone on the new platform, bypassing the old channel to safely redeem the money that rightfully belongs to you,” Grindan said in a message to investors seen by the Business Daily.
Since January, QVSE has attracted thousands of Kenyans, including teachers, small-scale traders, professionals and boda boda operators, with promises of large returns from trading in US stocks, like Apple, Nvidia and Tesla.
The model relied on copy trading, where a signal provider like Grindan alerts investors to start trading using their digital capital, which is apportioned to mirror the preferred trades of QVSE.
The investors’ cash is stored in stablecoins, and they are expected to cash out via trading the cryptos on Binance.
Investors were required to deposit $500 (Sh65,000) or $1,000 (Sh130,000) to their QVSE accounts, and Grindan sent trading signals through BonChat, which listed 12,005 investors.
Kenyans who deposited $500 got $6 (Sh777) per trade, while a $1,000 account earned $12 (Sh1,554) per trade. Grindan sent signals twice daily, allowing investors to double their returns.
On September 5, Grindan froze the QVSE accounts, accusing some members of creating multiple accounts to increase their trading limits.
He then asked investors to make additional deposits equal to their initial principal – Sh65,000 or Sh129,000 – for their accounts to be activated, a promise that turned out to be false.
A week later, on September 12, the CMA listed both QVSE and GIG among 15 entities the regulator said were operating illegally in Kenya and lacked permits to support their businesses.
“These entities are the subject of active investigations by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations in collaboration with the Capital Markets Authority and other law enforcement agencies,” the CMA said.
“The Authority strongly cautions the public against dealing with entities and persons disguising their fraudulent activities as investment opportunities.”
But Grindan dismissed the regulator’s warning and told investors to put more money on the platform, claiming that the CMA’s notice lacked substance.
“The content is merely performative and lacks real substance; it is simply a way for them to signal to the public that they are taking action, rather than being based on anything tangible,” read a message sent on BonChat.
Apollo is the latest investment platform Grindan is running under GIG after the QVSE landed in trouble and an earlier scheme known as PCEX, which the CMA said operated in Kenya illegally.
PCEX used a similar copy-trading model, and investors deposited $500.
The scheme encouraged members to recruit more people by awarding them bonus signal transactions to boost their account holdings
However, the company did not reopen, and it is unclear how much money Kenyans lost.
Grindan has used a photograph of a white, middle-aged Caucasian man in a dark grey plaid blazer and white Oxford shirt.
The Business Daily has since conducted a reverse search of the photograph, which showed it was first uploaded on the internet in September 2021 under a Norway-based photographer’s portfolio alongside five other shots.
A similar picture apparently from the same shoot is currently the LinkedIn profile picture of a business executive at a major Norwegian automotive group.
Regulatory filings show GIG was incorporated in Colorado, United States, in June 2025. Its registered agent was listed as Marc Hudon, and the company has not made any filings since.
