The Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced charges on six people and four companies in a binary options fraud scheme which received $165 million with illegal, off-exchange binary options transactions on currency pairs, oil and other commodities.
The CFTC’s complaint states that three Canadian brothers David Cartu, Jonathan Cartu, and Joshua Cartu from May 2013 to April 2018 marketed, offered and sold illegal and off-exchange binary options to retail customers on websites of BeeOptions, Glenridge Capital and Rumelia Capital brands.
The complaint also alleges that the Canadian brothers worked with another pair of Canadian brothers living in Israel – Leeav Peretz and Nati Peretz. Together they operated call centers primarily located in Israel but targeting US residents promising “quick” returns of “between 60-85%” through trading binary options.
The CFTC claims that the Cartu and Peretz brothers directed individual brokers to solicit US customers with falsely represented financial expertise, compensation structure, physical location and identity. The brokers also mislead their customers that the offered binary option transactions were profitable, when in reality, the majority of customers lost money.
Ryan Masten of Austin, Texas and his company BareIt Media LLC d/b/a SignalPush, as well as All Out Marketing Limited, Blue Moon Investments, Ltd. and Orlando Union Inc. are also implicated in the fraud charges. Each of the offshore entities is owned and controlled by one of the Cartu brothers.
Division of Enforcement Director James McDonald said:
The scope and breadth of the fraudulent activity alleged in this case is only matched by that of the international and domestic cooperation organized to prosecute it. The CFTC is committed to leveraging not only our resources, but also our extensive relationships with domestic and foreign partners, to root out misconduct in our derivatives markets.
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