The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has secured a victory in its pursuit of justice against fraudulent binary options operators. The US District Court for the Western District of Texas has entered a final judgment against Jonathan Cartu, Leeav Peretz, Nati Peretz, believed to be residents of Israel, and Blue Moon Investments Inc., a Seychelles corporation. This ruling marks the resolution of a case initiated by the CFTC on September 2, 2020, against the defendants. Defendants Ordered to Pay $204.6 Million in Penalties by Court According to the CFTC's press release, the court's orde ..read more

As the new year approaches, it is possible to make educated predictions about what the financial landscape will look like in the coming year and possibly beyond. Although everyone has their own opinion, most banking and financial experts would agree on one: compliance will be of great importance to financial institutions as they face a more complex regulatory landscape. The Rise of RegTech We will see a rise in the adoption of Regulatory Technology (RegTech) in the financial industry during 2024. According to Juniper Research, the RegTech sector is projected to reach 127 billion in the next 12 ..read more

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has received a court order to impose a fine of $100,000 against BareIt Media LLC, operated as SignalPush, a provider of binary options signals, and its owner, Ryan Masten. The order includes a permanent injunction and equitable relief. CFTC Fines SignalPush Announced yesterday (Tuesday), the order from the US District Court for the Western District of Texas includes a permanent injunction order against the defendants from operating as commodity trading advisors (CTA) or associated persons (AP) of a CTA. They first need to register with the CFT ..read more

It has been three months since the deadline given to forex brokers by St. Vincent and the Grenadines' (SVG) financial watchdog elapsed. In January, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) ordered forex brokers operating in the jurisdiction to produce a certified copy of the requisite licenses issued by authorities from which their business activities are conducted, or risk being sanctioned. Defending the action, the FSA said the new policy is its response to the rising number of fraudulent claims against forex trading firms in the country. The watchdog noted that the trend could have “potential ..read more

A federal court in Ohio has ordered Jared Davis, the mastermind of a $10 million binary options scam, to pay $561,971 in restitution to defrauded victims. Davis operated the fraudulent binary options brands, Option Mint, Option King and Option Queen, between 2012 and 2016 under Erie Marketing, LLC. Davis Faces Multiple Fines The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced the court order on Friday, noting that the former Ohio resident was hit with permanent registration and trading bans. The judgment comes after action taken against Davis in September 2019 was filed by the US derivat ..read more

On Thursday, a UK Court convicted and sentenced individuals associated with a London-based company called Bespoke Markets Group (BMG) for defrauding 120 investors of roughly £1.2 million. Convicts of a Binary Options Scam The court convicted three individuals: Cameron Vickers, Raheel Mirza, and Opeyemi Solaja, of conspiracy to defraud through a fake company. Further, Mirza was convicted of 'perverting the course of justice,' and a fourth person, Reuben Akpojaro, has been convicted of trading investments without FCA authorization but acquitted of conspiracy to defraud and money laundering. Vick ..read more

On Wednesday, Israel’s State Attorney’s Office asked the Jerusalem District Court to sanction the extradition of six Israeli citizens to the United States to stand trial for their involvement in a binary options scheme that targeted citizens of the country and other nations. The scheme resulted in a loss of $145 million for investors between 2016 and 2017. A local Israeli business daily, TheMarker, reports that the six citizens, who were arrested on Tuesday over their involvement in the scheme, include Uri Maimon, Nissim Alfasi, Oron Montgomery, Dave Barzilai, Afik Tori and Gilad Magozi. Forme ..read more

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has charged four individuals for their involvement in a binary options investment that defrauded investors of £1.2 million. The four accused parties are Cameron Vickers, Raheel Mirza, Opeyemi Solaja (also called Opeyemi Olaja) and Reuben Akpojaro, the UK financial markets regulator announced on Tuesday. The watchdog alleged that Vickers, Mirza, and Solaja between June 2016 and January 2020 ran a London-based investment company called Bespoke Markets. However, rather than invest the funds they collected from investors in the binary options they advertise ..read more

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group, one of the world’s largest derivatives marketplaces, launched event contracts for retail investors on Monday to trade global benchmark products. Previously, the Group announced the planned launch of the event contracts in June. The CME Group's event contracts give individual investors the ability to trade on end-of-day price movements of key futures markets such as natural resources, currencies and indexes, CME Group said. Each event contract is capped at $20 per contract, the derivatives marketplace organizer said, adding that investors will be abl ..read more

The Australian financial market regulator, ASIC, confirmed the extension of the ban on the issue and distribution of binary options to Aussie retail clients until 1 October 2031 on Monday. The product intervention order came more than a month before the expiry of the Australian Securities & Investments Commission’s (ASIC) original order for the ban which became effective from 3 May 2021 for 18 months. Binary options are over-the-counter (OTC) instruments that allow investors to speculate on the occurrence or non-occurrence of an event in a definitive timeframe. These instruments are simple ..read more