Italy’s Companies and Exchange Commission (CONSOB) has ordered the blocking of access to six new unauthorized investment websites.
Of these six websites, five are illegal financial intermediation websites and one is a website through which an offer of financial products is made in the absence of a prospectus.
In issuing the orders, CONSOB made use of the powers deriving from the “Decreto crescita” (“Development Decree” Law no. 58 of June 28, 2019, article no. 36, paragraph 2-terdecies), regarding the obfuscation of websites of abusive financial intermediaries, as well as the power introduced by law no. 8 of February 28, 2020, article no. 4, paragraph 3-bis, with reference to the black-out of the website through which the illegal offer is made.
The sites targeted by the latest orders are:
- “Marketsac” (website and related page
- “FCapital24” (website
- “FX Future Trading” (website www.fxfuturetrading.com and related pages and
- “UfinaCapital” (website
- “Mercantiles” (website www.mercantiles.org).
- “Optimal Yield Limited” (website www.optimallyyieldltds.com).
The number of websites taken down since July 2019, when CONSOB was empowered to order the banning of fraudulent financial intermediaries, has risen to 1019. Last week, the regulator ordered the banning of five unauthorized investment websites.
The blocking of these websites by ISPs operating on Italian territory continues. For technical reasons, it may take several days for the black-out to take effect.