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Tag: U.K. Financial Services Authority

  • Now, A ‘Fraudulent $53 Million Worldwide Off-Exchange Forex Scheme,’ CFTC Alleges; Agency Charges Australian Resident Senen Pousa, U.S. Residents Joel Friant And Michael Dillard, Along With ‘Investment Intelligence Corp.’ And ‘Elevation Group Inc.’

    EDITOR’S NOTE: In a statement on the allegations against Senen Pousa, Joel Friant, Michael Dillard and their companies, the CFTC pointedly stressed that international agencies cooperated in a probe and that the alleged scammers created victims in multiple nations . . .

    The CFTC has gone to federal court in the Western District of Texas, alleging that Senen Pousa of Australia and Joel Friant of Bellingham, Wash., were running a “fraudulent $53 million worldwide off-exchange Forex scheme” through an Australian enterprise known as Investment Intelligence Corp. (IIC).

    Also charged in the alleged caper were Michael Dillard and Elevation Group Inc. of Austin, Texas.

    “The scheme allegedly accepted at least $53 million from at least 960 clients worldwide, including at least 697 clients in the United States, and clients in Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, and Singapore, among other countries. None of the defendants has ever been registered with the CFTC,” the CFTC charged.

    U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel of the Western District of Texas issued an emergency freeze of the assets of Pousa, Friant and IIC and prohibited the destruction of books and records, the CFTC said.

    Cooperating in the probe were the Australian Securities & Investments Commission, the U.K. Financial Services Authority, the Hungarian Financial Supervisory Authority, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets, the Financial Markets Authority of New Zealand and the New Zealand Serious Fraud Office, the CFTC said.

    From a CFTC statement (italics added):

    The CFTC complaint alleges that from at least January 1, 2012 through the present IIC, through Pousa, Friant and its other agents, and defendants Dillard and Elevation Group, utilized “wealth creation” webcasts, webinars, podcasts, emails, and other online seminars via the Internet to directly and indirectly solicit actual and prospective clients worldwide to open forex trading accounts at IIC. The complaint further alleges that clients were promised by IIC, through Pousa, Friant, and other agents 1) a monthly return of 9 percent, 2) that IIC’s managed forex trading would risk less than 3 percent of a client’s capital per transaction, 3) that IIC was able to limit the risk inherent to forex trading by limiting its managed forex trading to 2 to 5 trades per month, and 4) that IIC has six “proprietary traders” working 24 hours a day trading clients’ funds. The CFTC complaint alleges that all of these representations to clients were false.

    On or about May 16-17, 2012, the complaint alleges that clients suffered a loss of over 60 percent of their investment, when IIC, by and through its agents, entered over 200 forex trades in each client’s account in violation of the representations made by IIC, by and through its agents.

    Also assisting the CFTC were the Texas State Securities Board, the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas, the FBI and the SEC, the CFTC said.

    Read the CFTC complaint.

  • BULLETIN: CFTC Says California Man At Helm Of Ponzi Scheme Targeted At Deaf Christians; Marc Perlman Charged With Fraud Amid Claim He Advised Investor To Sell House Quickly And Plow Proceeds Into Forex Scheme

    BULLETIN: The CFTC has gone to federal court in the Southern District of New York, alleging that Marc Perlman of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., and his firm, iGlobal Strategic Management LLC, were running a commodity-pool and Forex Ponzi scheme targeted at deaf Christians.

    Perlman and the company have been charged with fraud. The CFTC said the scheme sucked in “at least $670,000 from at least 17 people.”

    In at least one instance, the CFTC charged, Perlman encouraged an investor “to sell a house at a price that would result in a quick sale, stating that the profits that the iGlobal Investor would earn with iGlobal would make up for the lost equity.”

    It is at least the third major fraud scheme targeted at the deaf community since 2009. In October 2010, the SEC charged an entity known as Imperia Invest IBC in a caper that sucked in millions of dollars and affected thousands of people with hearing impairments. In 2009, the FTC charged Affiliate Strategies Inc. (ASI) in a government-grants scam. The Noobing autosurf was in the ASI stable of companies, and promotions were targeted at the deaf.

    Both Imperia Invest and Noobing were promoted on the MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold Ponzi forums — the same venues from which Ponzi schemes such as AdSurfDaily and alleged Ponzi schemes such as Zeek Rewards were promoted.

    “Perlman furthered his and iGlobal’s fraudulent scheme by playing upon the Christian faith of certain iGlobal investors, using claims about his own faith and references to scripture to obtain the trust of certain iGlobal investors,” the CFTC charged.

    Victims hailed from Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Pennsylvania, the CFTC said, noting that Perlman is deaf.

    “Perlman offered to have calls with certain potential iGlobal Investors through a video phone system that enables communication through sign language,” the CFTC charged. “During these calls, Perlman told certain potential iGlobal Investors that he was offering them the opportunity to invest in a forex investment system that would yield profits of 10 percent each month. He later revised this projected number to 5 percent after certain iGlobal Investors invested funds.”

    The U.K. Financial Services Authority assisted in the CFTC probe, CFTC said.

    Read the complaint.

  • BULLETIN: CFTC Moves Against Alleged Texas Forex Fraudster Christopher B. Cornett; Agency Says Huckster Is Convicted Felon Once Banned By NASD; 5 International Law-Enforcement Agencies Assisted In Probe

    BULLETIN: The CFTC has gone to federal court in Texas, alleging that Christopher B. Cornett of the town of Buda was operating a Forex- pool fraud and misappropriation scheme that gathered more than $14 million in phases between June 2008 and October 2011.

    Cornett has been charged civilly with fraud, which allegedly operated through entities the CFTC identified as ITLDU, ICM, International Forex Management LLC and/or IFM LLC.

    “[M]ost, if not all, of the profits, losses and account balances that Cornett reported to pool participants were false,” the CFTC said.

    Five international agencies, according to the CFTC, assisted in the probe: the U.K. Financial Services Authority, the British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission, the Ontario Securities Commission, Germany’s BaFin, and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority.

    In 2003, according to the CFTC, the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) “barred [Cornett] with association with any NASD member in any capacity” and ordered Cornett to pay restitution in the amount of $28,423.73 for signing a customer’s name on the back of a check and using the funds for Cornett’s personal benefit without the authorization, knowledge or consent of the customer.”

    NASD was the predecessor agency of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).

    Also in 2003, Cornett was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to five counts of bank fraud, the CFTC said.

    Read the CFTC complaint.