The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced that the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas issued a final judgment order against Jonathan Cartu, Leeav Peretz, Nati Peretz, all believed to be residents of Israel, and Blue Moon Investments Inc., a Seychelles company.
The order holds them liable for illegally offering binary options off-exchange 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 for 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 prohibits the defendants from registering with the CFTC and trading in any registered entity.
BeeOptions Case Background
The order finds that beginning on or about September 26, 2015, the defendants offered illegal, over-the-counter binary options through an online platform they operated and maintained. The order further finds that the defendants not only made material misrepresentations to customers and potential customers about the risk level of binary options, but also manipulated the results of certain trades to force customer losses and create profits for themselves. The order finds through this fraudulent scheme, the accused fraudulently obtained more than $51,155,645 from customers in the United States.
The CFTC said it thanks and acknowledges the assistance of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the Ontario Securities and Exchange Commission, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the International Financial Services Commission of Belize, the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, of the Central Bank of Ireland, the Capital Markets Authority of Israel, the Financial Services Authority of Malta, the Financial Market Supervisory Authority of Switzerland FINMA and the Financial Conduct Authority of the United Kingdom.