Court Partly Denies CFTC’s Entry of Default Against Binary Options Gang

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois has partly rejected the request from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC CFTC The 1974 Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) in the United States created the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The Commission protects and regulates market activities against manipulation, fraud, and abuse trade practices and promotes fairness in futures contracts. The CEA also included the Sad-Johnson Agreement, which defined the authority and responsibilities for the monitoring of financial contracts between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commiss The 1974 Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) in the United States created the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The Commission protects and regulates market activities against manipulation, fraud, and abuse trade practices and promotes fairness in futures contracts. The CEA also included the Sad-Johnson Agreement, which defined the authority and responsibilities for the monitoring of financial contracts between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commiss Read this Term) for an entry of default against the perpetrators of a $103 million binary options scam.

In particular, Judge Honorable Andrea R. Wood has granted the entry of default against Defendants Linkopia Mauritius Ltd, Wirestech Limited, WSB Investment Ltd, Zolarex Ltd., and Lee Elbaz, a court document seen by Finance Magnates shows.

However, the motion has been denied without prejudice as to Yossi Herzog, Shalom Peretz, and Yukom Communications Ltd. (Yukom).

As Finance Magnates reported, the CFTC filed the motion for entry of default as the defendants in the case, which includes five entities and four individuals, failed to respond to the lawsuit before the expiration date.

Yukom Communications binary options scam

The Yukom Communications binary options scam has been well documented here at Finance Magnates. As a result of the CFTC’s lawsuit against the company and its key executives, Lee Elbaz was sentenced to 22 years in prison.

Yossi Herzog, Yakov Cohen and Shalom Peretz, as well as convicted Yukom CEO Lee Elbaz, have been sued by the US government since August 2019. The scheme involved the binary option brands Yukom Communications Ltd., Linkopia Mauritius Ltd., Wirestech Limited (BigOption), WSB Investment Limited (BinaryBook), and Zolarex Ltd. (BinaryOnline).

These companies were based in Israel, the U.K., Mauritius, the Marshall Islands and other offshore jurisdictions and targeted investors in the U.S. and elsewhere.

As for the defendants which have not responded to the CFTC, the court document said: “Defendants Herzog, Peretz, and Yukom will be deemed served on the latter of (1) the date when the summons and complaint were sent to their last known address by ordinary mail; (2) the date the summons and complaint were sent to the email address they have used in the past; or (3) 90 days after the publishing of notice in the Times of Israel.”