Thapelo Alfred Lephondo (47) and his company, Thaps Financial Solutions, were on 21 August 2025 convicted and subsequently sentenced by the Bethlehem Specialised Commercial Crimes Court for fraud and money laundering.
In 2020, Lephondo fraudulently applied for the Temporary Employee Relief Scheme (TERS) on behalf of his purported employees, whereas they were not employed by the company.
The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) made payments to the total value of R908 287.28 to Thaps Financial Solutions bank account. As a result of this committed fraud, the Department of Employment and Labour was prejudiced and suffered a loss.
A case was registered and referred to the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation in Bethlehem for further investigation which led to Lephondo being arrested.
Lephondo was sentenced to a fine of R500 000 or six years imprisonment for fraud. He was sentenced to 36 months of correctional supervision for money laundering.
The company, Thaps Financial Solutions, was sentenced to a fine of R100 000 for fraud wholly suspended for five years for fraud and R500 000 wholly suspended for five years for money laundering.
Cece Smith 