Broker ceased to exist

Forex Place Ltd, delivering its brokerage services under the 4XP brand, has terminated its operation due to the revocation of a conformity certificate issued by the Financial Market Relations Regulation Center (FMRRC).

According to the statement posted by the Financial Market Relations Regulation Center in October 2013, the regulatory authority ruled that Forex Place Ltd had been deprived of a license on account of unsatisfactory provision of trading services and improper execution of its commitments.

The ruling was adopted by the executive board at a FMRRC session.

Police raid offices of 5 forex brokers in Israel

In 2016, the Israeli police closed offices of 5 forex brokers that were implicated in a large-scale fraud scheme. Every client suffered an average loss of 210,000 euros. These brokers are: Forex Place (4XP), BForex, Sisma Capital, Tradaxa, and Aston Forex (Aston Invest Ltd.).

The stock market regulator Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) and the Israeli police together started investigating fraudulent activities in the forex and binary options markets in Israel. The investigation was aimed at five companies that are suspected of fraud in the amount of around 105 million euros. Fifty lawsuits with at least 500 victims of the dubious brokers were brought in court.

According to the Israeli mass media at that time, alleged fraudsters included Forex Place (4XP), Sisma Capital (Tradaxa), Bforex, and Aston Forex that are closed now.

What is known about these brokers?

4XP headquartered in Ramat Gan was managed by Benny Abramov, Yair Abramov, and Shimon Choen. They did not give any comments about the investigation. Bforex was based in Mitzpe Ramon and had call centers in Herzliya, while a namesake company was registered in the UK. Its director Tzachi Rosenbaum also made no comments.

According to the French regulator, the brokers were operating without the permit of any legal regulation authority, tricked clients into giving money through online chats and phone, while promising them annual profits of 20%, 30%, and even 88% from derivative trading.

The investigation showed that the brokers’ employees introduced themselves as office managers of companies in London or Paris winning clients over. The brokers’ representatives promised that clients’ funds will be stored in the European banks, such as ING, RBS, or HSBC. Instead of it, the money was instantly moved outside the EU: mainly to Israel, Georgia, or Singapore and to offshore accounts on the Seychelles, the British Virgin Island, and in Belize.

The French media reported that two employees of 4XP had been featured earlier in similar cases. One of them was involved in a hate crime against a Palestinian taxi driver in 2007. Another was arrested in a hotel in Paris in November 2015. The police found 6,000 euros in 50-euro bills. The man claimed he won the money in poker. To secure his release, he had to pay 80,000 euros.

Bforex ran into problems in 2016. According to clients, the broker was not withdrawing money, and the client support was not responding. In April 2017, an announcement appeared on the company’s website about a transfer of Bforex business activities and traders’ accounts to Financika (Sharp trading Ltd.).

Sisma Capital Ltd. stopped operating on May 6, 2014. Later the FSMA regulator warned investors that the company continued working under the names of Broker & Co and Tradaxa. This way, fraudsters concealed themselves as other companies and continued with illegal activities until 2016.

End to binary options in Israel

The Israeli authorities received a lot of complaints and lawsuits from duped foreigners. As a result, the country’s reputation in the global community was harmed.

After multiple investigations, the Israeli bill on securities was amended in order to ban binary options trading for foreigners. The Israel Securities Authority can punish the Israeli brokers that sell binary options to foreign traders. Now such an activity is considered the violation of the money laundering law.