The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has charged the Israeli and US companies’ executives with an alleged $15 million scam involving crypto and binary options investment programs scam. According to the CFTC, Binary options scams were carried out between October 2013 and November 2016, and crypto scams carried out between November 2013 and August 2018. CFTC charged Israeli company Tal Valariola and Itay Barak for the same allegations. These Israeli firms operated a marketing company called Digital Platinum Limited.
Israeli companies allegedly helped an offshore company that engaged in crypto scams.
According to the US CFTC, Israeli companies Tal Valariola and Itay Barak allegedly helped All in Publishing (AIP), an offshore company that has engaged in fraudulent binary options in the United States. The CFTC further noted that over 51,000 new users opened a binary options account and deposited nearly $13 million in total due to the misleading marketing campaigns and 8,000 users that opened a crypto exchange account, deposited more than $2 million in total. The CFTC complaint also names a Florida resident, Daniel Fingerhut, who allegedly created fraudulent solicitations related to binary options of All in Publishing (AIP).
The CFTC has charged the accused on four counts.
The US CFTC has charged the defendants with four counts. It included option fraud and CTA fraud, seeking various injunctions banning them from any activity related to the commodities trading. The CFTC also asked the court to order the disgorgement worth $15 million. According to the complaint, Daniel Fingerhut managed the affiliate marketing program of Digital Platinum Defendants. Brokers had promised investors that they could use algorithmic trading software or a “bot” that would trade for them.
The CFTC said that the Florida resident hired, directed, and supervised at least four people in Florida and one person in Israel. They wrote solicitation emails and distributed them in bulk through autoresponders. Earlier, the FBI had issued a warning saying there is an upsurge in crypto scams during the coronavirus pandemic, and scammers are using this opportunity to scam investors of their funds.
