"Globes" has been inundated by a stream of complaints and news of lawsuits by foreign citizens claiming to have been deceived by Israeli binary options companies. Last week we brought you the story of Sik Mun Simone Loke from Hong Kong who filed a claim for NIS 36 million against Israeli binary options company Toro Media in the Tel Aviv District Court.
Two more such smaller cases filed in the Tel Aviv District Court are Martin Nicholson from Switzerland who is suing IT Binary Options for €118,600 and John McMillan from Canada who is suing IGMD for $51,436.
Nicholson, represented by Advs. Adam Ashkenazi and Raouf Najjar, say in the suit. "To our regret, false presentations by the defendants who work in deceitful ways to disguise their true operations through a range of companies and various registered entities, not only harm the name of the State of Israel but leave innocent people in foreign countries without pensions and without a cent."
Gambling instead of legitimate trading
Nicholson, a musician and music teacher, claims that in January 2015 he signed an agreement with the Banc de Binary, which is registered in Cyprus and the UK, and trades in binary options. He claims that Banc de Binary is owned by Oren Shabat, the owner of IT Binary options, who presents himself on the Internet as "An Israeli businessman known worldwide as an expert in the digital options sector. After becoming famous as a pioneer in online trading he began to expand his business and today invests in a range of other areas."
According to the lawsuit, as part of the agreement presented to Nicholson in a false presentation, he invested money in legitimate trading in the stock market. However, he claims, "As time went by, it became clear that that same apparent legitimate trading market was just a cover for deception in the guise of binary options trading or in other words - gambling."
At a certain stage, he opened his eyes and understood that the trading was just a deception and had no connection to legitimate trading in shares. The lawsuit says, "Nicholson understood that he had in effect become a gambler just like anybody who had entered a fancy casino. But these bets were due to a false presentation that dealt in trading with supervised and legitimate shares."
Nicholson claims that throughout his dealings, he was contacted by representatives of the Israeli company who presented themselves as 'brokers" as part of the fraud, used fictional names and claimed to be citizens of various countries around the world. In hindsight it is clear that Banque de Binary's employees were actually the employees of IT Binary options, all living and working in Israel. The lawsuit also claims that Oren Shabat goes under several names, "Probably in order to disguise himself and remain anonymous." These names include Oren Cohen and Oren Laurent.
False recommendations
According to the lawsuit, the connection between the sides ended in the middle of 2016 and over the previous 18 months Nicholson lost about NIS 460,000. "Every time representatives of the defendants presented themselves as brokers with major experience in trading, advised the plaintiff in an unlawful way, to trade in certain options while pulling out of their bags good and reliable information based on their experience. Moreover, the representatives of the defendants would explain to the plaintiff that he had to invest certain sums in a particular foreign currency and even presented him with examples and commitments from which he would profit. The defendants turned him over," the lawsuit claims.
Nicholson charges that the representatives of the defendants acted fraudulently, gave him false information and acted for personal profit rather than his benefit.
Europe in Israel
In another lawsuit recently filed by Advs. Adam Ashkenazi and Raouf Najjar, a Canadian named John McMillan makes similar charges against another Israeli company IGMD, owned by Yehoram and Shay Hillel and overseas company Global View International Services. McMillan claims to have lost NIS 195,500 ($51,436) as a result of fraud and false presentations made to him by the defendants about binary trading.
According to the lawsuit, at the end of May 2016, McMillan began trading in binary options on a website owned by Global View International Services, which was in fact owned by IGMD. According to McMillan, he began trading on the site after being shown a false presentation about legitimate trading and then by a range of people who presented themselves as brokers. It subsequently became clear to him that these people were not brokers and were not based in London but at IGMD's offices in Israel.
According to the lawsuit, over a number of weeks, McMillan traded on the website and lost a lot of money and each time IGMD representatives contacted him to propose trading in a different binary option that would yield returns.
The lawsuit adds, "After much pressure and persuasion by representatives of the defendants, he continued to trade and did indeed profit by scant amounts and then he began to lose again." In July 2016, McMillan despaired and ceased trading.
Advs. Yaniv Dekel and Ram Jean representing IT Binary Options and Oren Shabat said, "This is a groundless suit that hitches a ride on the recent campaign against companies that operated legitimately and with authorization. In our statement of defense we will fully present our proof and we are certain that this trumped up suit will be dismissed."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 25, 2017
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