United States Court Orders Yakov Cohen & Co-Defendants to Give Up $7 Million of Ill-Gotten Gains from Binary Options Fraud with Outcome Manipulated by Defendants & Clients Losing 95% of Money, Created Websites with Fictitious Trade Names Including BigOption, BinaryBook & BinaryOnline
12th September 2024 | Hong Kong
A United States court has ordered Yakov Cohen & co-defendants to give up $7 million of ill-gotten gains from binary options fraud with outcome manipulated by defendants & clients losing 95% of money. The scheme includes creating websites with fictitious trade names including BigOption, BinaryBook & BinaryOnline. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (9/9/24): “The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois entered a consent order requiring Yakov Cohen to disgorge $7 million in ill-gotten gains received from his participation in a fraudulent binary options scheme. The order resolves the allegations against Cohen in the CFTC’s August 12, 2019 lawsuit against Cohen and co-defendants Yossi Herzog, Lee Elbaz, Shalom Peretz, Yukom Communications Ltd., Linkopia Mauritius Ltd., Wirestech Limited d/b/a BigOption, WSB Investments Ltd., d/b/a BinaryBook, and Zolarex Ltd, d/b/a BinaryOnline. [See CFTC Press Release No. 7995-19] The lawsuit is pending against the co-defendants. Case Background – The order finds, beginning on approximately March 26, 2014 and continuing through approximately September 2017, Cohen and his co-defendants fraudulently solicited individuals in the United States and elsewhere to trade binary options through websites using fictitious trade names such as BigOption, BinaryBook, and BinaryOnline. The defendants falsely represented their interests were aligned with their customers’ interests, when they actually profited from their customers’ losses. The defendants also falsely claimed the offered binary options were actual transactions subject to objective market conditions, when they were merely book entries whose outcomes were manipulated by the defendants or others acting at their request. In addition, the defendants misrepresented their financial expertise, basis for compensation, physical location, and the identity of their employees and agents; falsely claimed customers’ funds were “safeguarded separately” when in fact they were commingled with the defendants’ own funds and transferred through off-shore bank accounts, including those controlled by Cohen; and falsely stated the binary options they offered were profitable, when in fact approximately 95% of customers lost money. Cohen received at least $7 million from the scheme. Parallel Criminal Action – On February 13, 2019, Cohen was indicted by the United States Attorney for the District of Maryland and charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud on the same conduct charged in CFTC’s complaint. [United States v. Yakov Cohen, 19 cr 77-1 PX (D. Md. 2024)] After pleading guilty to the charges, on August 15 Cohen was sentenced to 66 months in prison and ordered to pay a $7 million penalty. The disgorged funds will be returned to customers who suffered losses in connection with the fraudulent conduct through a victim fund administered by Department of Justice.”
“ United States Court Orders Yakov Cohen & Co-Defendants to Give Up $7 Million of Ill-Gotten Gains from Binary Options Fraud with Outcome Manipulated by Defendants & Clients Losing 95% of Money, Created Websites with Fictitious Trade Names Including BigOption, BinaryBook & BinaryOnline “
United States Court Orders Yakov Cohen & Co-Defendants to Give Up $7 Million of Ill-Gotten Gains from Binary Options Fraud with Outcome Manipulated by Defendants & Clients Losing 95% of Money, Created Websites with Fictitious Trade Names Including BigOption, BinaryBook & BinaryOnline
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