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Finally! BaFin orders Deutsche Handelsbank to implement appropriate AML procedures
Deutsche Handelsbank has appeared as a payment processor in many binary options and broker scams. Moreover, the BaFin-regulated institution is a correspondent bank and partner of other regulated payment processors such as MoneyNetint, which also support scams. EFRI has filed a corresponding complaint to BaFin. The German regulator has now officially ordered Deutsche Handelsbank to implement appropriate AML measures to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.
Latest Updates
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Italian Consob orders black-out of five illegal financial services providers
The Italian watchdog Consob is currently the only financial market regulator known to us that has the legal authority to order internet providers to black-out of illegal financial sites. So far Consob has already blocked 335 websites for the Italian market. Almost all blocked sites offer illegal broker services.
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Update: FCA removes warning against FinTech startup Lanistar
On 18 Nor 2020, the FCA issued a consumer warning against the FinTech startup Lanistar. Subsequently, Lanistar apparently contacted the FCA and offered clarification. These talks evidently have been positive. On 20 Nov the FCA officially removed its warning. Lanistar agreed to make clear in its communication that it is not conducting FCA-regulated activities.
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FCA fines TFS-ICAP £3.44 million for printing trades
UK regulator FCA announced today that it has fined FX Options Broker TFS-ICAP Ltd £3.44m for market misconduct. Between 2008 and 2015, TFS-ICAP brokers carried out the practice of printing trades or flying prices. TFS-ICAP brokers did this openly and over a prolonged period. In 2018 the UK broker pleaded guilty to securities fraud in the U.S. and paid a $1.15 million fine.
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SEC awards over $1 million to Whistleblower for an independent analysis
The U.S. SEC announced an award of over $1.1 million to a whistleblower whose independent analysis led to a look at new conduct during an ongoing investigation. This whistleblower investigated publicly available materials and conducted an analysis that revealed important new insights into securities law violations.
Payment Processors
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Maxigrid Case – GlobalNetint allegedly terminated bank accounts
Maxigrid Ltd of the Israeli FinTech entrepreneur Roy Almagor is a CySEC-regulated investment firm. Despite the regulation, Maxigrid has supported scams like RoyalsFX or LincolnFX as a payment processor according to the information available to us. Payments from client-victims of the scams were made via the Lithuanian GlobalNetint (GNI), among others. Allegedy, GNI terminated the bank accounts of Maxigrid, Roy Almagor, and related entities.
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Investor Warning – Russian Umarkets broker scam facilitated by Epayblock and Exactly
The huge Russian Umarkets broker scam is allegedly operated by Market Solutions Ltd, SVG, and Maxi Services Belize Ltd, Belize. On their website, the companies Prometheus Ltd, SVG, and TS Software Ltd are also stated as operators or owners. The scam works with different payment processors like Exactly (www.exactly.com), the Lithuanian Epayblock, and also accepts crypto deposits from potential victims.
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Update on the Crypto Capital Corp Shadow Banker Case
The superseded indictment against U.S. citizen Reginald Fowler and his Israeli partner Ravid Yosef was unsealed in early 2019. They are charged with operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, bank fraud, and wire fraud. All this is said to have been done on the basis of cryptocurrencies and hundreds of millions of dollars are said to have been moved around the globe. This case is closely connected to the Bitfinex Case around a lawsuit.
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Binary Options Legacy – What happened to AlgoPay, AlgoCharge, and the Seroph Group?
FinTelegram research has been uncovered that the Good Option and Royal Broker binary options scams were operated by the Anguilla-registered G.O. Limited between 2014 and 2015. These and other scams have been facilitated by the Cyprus-based Payment Processor AlgoCharge of the Israeli Sarel Tal who acts as the director of AlgoPay Limited registered in Cyprus. Today all companies and websites have disappeared or are about to.
Cybercrime Court Cases
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Binary options supervillain – The Yossi Herzog Story exposed in Australia
Yossi Herzog, charged in the Yukom Case in the U.S. with binary options fraud to the tune of $200 million is one of the alleged supervillains of the binary options era. Apparently, he defrauded tens of thousands of victims out of hundreds of millions with his broker schemes in the U.S., Europe, and Australia. As a result of Australian investigations, the Australian regulator ASIC is now heavily criticized for not having taken action against Herzog and his scams earlier.
Regulatory Updates
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Whistleblower Business – U.S. SEC awards $900,000 for exposing overseas violations
The U.S. Whistleblower programs of regulators such as the SEC and CFTC are becoming a lucrative business for agencies that focus on the procurement of whistleblower information. This includes activities outside the U.S. This week the SEC awarded $900,000 for the detection of securities law violations overseas. Whistleblowers get their awards from monetary sanctions paid to the regulator from the offenders.
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CySEC-regulated brokerage Coverdeal Holdings renounces license
Many of CySEC-regulated CIFs operate scams through offshore companies, using the CySEC CIF license to pretend seriousness. Admittedly, not all CySEC CIFs are engaged in scams but quite a lot are. In this respect, it is good news for investor protection if CySEC companies withdraw. Coverdeal Holdings Limited has done so, renounced its CIF license 231/14, and terminated its respective activities.
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European Funds Recovery Initiative (EFRI) is a non-government organization with the mission to support scam and cybercrime victims.
