France regulator AMF warns about aggressive ‘boiler room’ direct marketing LeapRate

June 01, 2018 BY LeapRate Staff

France regulator AMF warns about aggressive 'boiler room' direct marketing

French financial regulator Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) has issued a warning about the prevalence of aggressive 'boiler room' direct marketing. The AMF stated that this fraudulent practice encourages investors to purchase financial products on the basis of sales pitches incommensurate with the real value of the assets in question and with the promise of extremely…

May 31, 2018 BY LeapRate Staff

Goldman Sachs junior banker charged in Insider Trading scheme

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced charges against an employee of prominent investment bank Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) with repeatedly using his access to highly confidential information in order to place illicit and profitable trades in advance of deals on which the bank was providing investment banking advisory services. According to the SEC’s complaint,…

May 21, 2018 BY LeapRate Staff

Investment and Binary Options scams rise in record $340 million 2017 in Australia

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has reported that Australians lost more money to scammers in 2017 than in any other year since the ACCC began reporting on scam activity. According to the ACCC’s ninth annual Targeting scams report released today, more than 200,000 scam reports were submitted to the ACCC, Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network…

May 17, 2018 BY Valentina Kirilova

ASIC permanently bans financial adviser

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) announced that it has permanently banned financial adviser Ezzat-Daniel Nesseim from providing financial services. ASIC found that Mr Nesseim engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct, that he was not of good fame or character, and that he was likely to contravene a financial services law. In the course…

May 08, 2018 BY LeapRate Staff

Cifuentes Fund Management and owners charged and fined $1.8M over Forex fraud scheme

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has announced that Judge Esther Salas of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey has entered an Order of default judgment and permanent injunction against Alcibiades Cifuentes and Jennifer Wee Cifuentes, both of West New York, New Jersey, and their corporate entity, Cifuentes Fund Management, LLC. The Order,…

April 30, 2018 BY LeapRate Staff

BullionDirect owner Charles McAllister charged with $16M fraud and money laundering

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has announced that it has filed a federal civil enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas against Defendant Charles H. McAllister, of Auburn, Alabama, charging him with fraud and misappropriation in connection with contracts of sale of precious metals through his company, BullionDirect, Inc.…

April 26, 2018 BY LeapRate Staff

Civil action filed against Michael Salerno and his companies for LinkedIn-based Retail Forex fraud

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has announced that it has filed a civil enforcement action charging Defendants Michael Salerno of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, and his companies Black Diamond Forex LP and BDF Trading LP, both Pennsylvania limited partnerships, and Advanta FX, a Pennsylvania corporation, with fraudulently soliciting members of the public to become foreign currency (forex) proprietary traders and…

April 20, 2018 BY Valentina Kirilova

Chairman of Australia’s largest wealth manager resigns following lying and overcharging scandal

Australia’s government is shocked by bank wrongdoing, as AMP Ltd. (ASX:AMP) has deliberately misled regulators over charging customers for services they didn’t receive. Meanwhile Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX:CBA) has collected fees from dead people, in one case for more than a decade, Bloomberg has informed earlier. AMP Chief Executive Officer Craig Meller announced that…

April 17, 2018 BY LeapRate Staff

Binary options and crypto CEO Blake Kantor arrested, faces 20 years in jail for fraud

The US Department of Justice has announced that a three-count indictment was unsealed yesterday (see below) in federal court in charging Blake Kantor, also known as “Bill Gordon,” with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, obstruction of an official proceeding and making false statements to Special Agents of the FBI. Kantor was arrested by federal authorities yesterday and…

April 13, 2018 BY LeapRate Staff

ESMA warns of imposter trying to steal personal data

Pan-Europe financial regulator The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has announced that it has been informed of an individual operating under the name “Edward Stewart”, using ESMA’s identity and logo. This individual is presenting himself as an employee of ESMA conducting investigations in order to steal personal data and convince the potential victims to transfer…

Category: Fraud