The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has announced that the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas entered an order of final judgment against Jonathan Cartu, Leeav Peretz, Nati Peretz, all believed to be residents of Israel, and Blue Moon Investments Inc., a Seychelles corporation.
The order finds them liable for offering illegal, off-exchange binary options and committing fraud in connection with the illegal offering. This resolves the CFTC’s September 2, 2020 case against the defendants, who operated a number of Binary Options brokerage brands including BeeOptions, Glenridge Capital, and Rumelia Capital.
The court’s order of default judgment and permanent injunction prohibits the defendants from engaging in conduct that violates the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA); orders them to pay $51,155,645 in disgorgement, jointly and severally; and a civil monetary penalty of $153,466,935. The order also permanently bans the defendants from registering with the CFTC and from trading on any registered entity.
BeeOptions Case Background
The order finds that beginning approximately September 26, 2015, the defendants offered illegal, off-exchange binary options via an internet platform they operated and maintained. The order further finds the defendants not only made material misrepresentations to customers and potential customers concerning the level of risk of binary options, but also manipulated the results of some trades to force customer losses and generate profits for themselves. The order finds through this fraudulent scheme, the defendants fraudulently obtained more than $51,155,645 from customers in the United States.
The CFTC said that it thanks and acknowledges the assistance of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Ontario Securities Commission, Australian Securities and Investments Commission, International Financial Services Commission of Belize, Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, Federal Financial Supervisory Authority of Germany, Central Bank of Ireland, Israel Securities Authority, Malta Financial Services Authority, Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA, and the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority.
