BULLETIN: UPDATED 9:18 A.M. ET (U.S.A., DEC. 8.)
A Mexican company listed as a customer of Steve Renner’s Cash Cards International (CCI) in a 2005 scam known as MegaFund now has been charged by the CFTC with running a massive Forex fraud scheme that gathered at least $28 million from more than 800 U.S. customers.
Named defendants by the CFTC were MXBK Group S.A. de CV, a private Mexican financial services holding company, and its Forex trading division, MBFX S.A. Court records show that MXBK Group S.A. de CV formerly was known as MexBank Group SA de CV or MexBank.
Separately, the SEC has charged three men with fraud for blindly pitching the MexGroup program and raising “tens of millions” of dollars in the process. Charged in Utah federal court were Clifton K. Oram, Don C. Winkler and William R. Michael.
“Beyond the fact that none of the defendants understood how the Forex market or Forex trading functioned, neither Oram, Winker or Michael took any significant steps to investigate MexGroup, its principals, or the viability of the investment,” the SEC charged. “Instead, they blindly accepted MexGroup’s representations about its background, veracity, and track record.
“Further, Michael and his company used MexGroup’s purported performance numbers on his company’s website and made misleading representations and omissions regarding their own Forex trading experience,” the SEC continued. “Even more egregious, Winkler and Oram continued to offer and sell the MBFX offering even after the November 2008 collapse.”
Renner, the operator of both CCI and the INetGlobal autosurf, currently is serving an 18-month prison sentence for tax evasion. In February 2010, the U.S. Secret Service alleged that Renner was operating a Ponzi scheme through INetGlobal.
Renner has denied the Ponzi allegations.
The CFTC case against the Mexican companies and the SEC case against the promoters were brought as a result of a joint cooperative investigation among the regulators, the FBI and the IRS, officials said.
Read the CFTC complaint, which alleges the MXBK Group Forex scam began in 2005.
Here is a snippet:
“U.S. customers sign up to participate in the Defendants’ forex trading enterprise by completing forms electronically on the Defendants’ internet website. However, when completing their customer applications, U.S. customers are required to designate certain U.S. individuals or entities, sometimes called ‘resellers’ or ‘introducers,’ who in turn act as liaisons for U.S. customers with Defendants’ operations in Mexico. The resellers or introducers receive rebates described as ‘PIPs,’ which are purportedly based upon the volume of trading.”
(NOTE: The full complaint is highly recommended reading if you follow HYIP and Forex fraud schemes.)