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SEC Charges Massachusetts-Based Forex Traders And Their Firm With Fraud
The Securities and Exchange Commission on October 28th charged two foreign currency traders and their Boston-based company with operating a fraudulent scheme in which they sent investors misleading account statements while stealing their funds and incurring major trading losses.
The SEC alleges that Craig Karlis of Hopkinton, Mass., and Ahmet Devrim Akyil formerly of Hingham, Mass., fraudulently raised approximately $40 million from approximately 750 investors in a purported foreign currency (Forex) trading venture through their firm Boston Trading and Research LLC (BTR). Investors were falsely promised that BTR had a system in place to limit trading losses. BTR also falsely claimed to investors that "we do not profit unless you do" while in reality Karlis and Akyil were illegally diverting investor money for their own personal use as well as to fund BTR's operations and pay expenses for other companies with which they were associated.
"The bait was the promise by Akyil and Karlis to limit investor risk, and the switch was the theft and unauthorized trading that cost investors 90 percent of the invested funds," said Robert Khuzami, Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement. "If you don't deliver what you promise and violate the securities laws, we will hold you accountable."
David Bergers, Director of the SEC's Boston Regional Office, added, "Akyil and Karlis secretly enriched themselves while many of the defrauded investors lost their retirement savings and financial security."
According to the SEC's complaint filed in federal court in Boston, for a minimum investment of $10,000, investors could deposit money with the BTR program. BTR used a website, sales representatives and live presentations by Karlis and Akyil to solicit funds from investors around the world. Investors provided Akyil with a limited power of attorney that granted him the right to direct the trading of their funds in the Forex market.
The SEC alleges that BTR's misrepresentations to investors included the following:
Investors would have 100 percent transparency about what was going on in their accounts through daily and monthly account statements and 24-hour access to real-time information about the trading Akyil was doing on their behalf.
Investors, through draw-down agreements, could lose no more than an agreed-upon percentage (typically 30 percent) of their investment.
The BTR trading system included an automatic stop-loss program that would curtail losses once they reached a certain percentage.
BTR and its principals would be paid from profits only.
The SEC alleges that BTR, through Akyil and with Karlis's knowledge, traded funds differently from what was disclosed in daily account statements to investors. The balance and equity positions that BTR provided investors on their account statements did not show that their funds had been diminished through BTR's use of investor money for undisclosed purposes. Meanwhile, Akyil and Karlis depleted the investment pool through misappropriation and trading losses far past the stop loss limits promised to investors. BTR collapsed in September 2008 and ultimately distributed the remaining funds to investors, which amounted to approximately 10 percent of their account balances.
The SEC's complaint charges Akyil, Karlis, and BTR with violating the antifraud and registration provisions of the federal securities laws, and seeks civil injunctions, the return of ill-gotten gains, and financial penalties.
Separately, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts today unsealed an indictment charging Akyil and Karlis with criminal violations based on the same misconduct. The SEC also acknowledges the assistance of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Eric A. Forni, Kevin B. Currid, and Patrick J. Noone of the SEC's Boston Regional Office conducted the SEC's investigation. The SEC's litigation will be led by Rachel Hershfang and Michael Foster. The SEC's investigation is continuing.
Additional Materials
Holy crap, stop yelling at me.. I can't take the pressure.
Bad kitty
Sure looks like it is inversely related to me...
It's the same pair...
Think that's the only thing their software shows.
Should be the same thing though...No?
We'll see how many states follow along after.
Also will be interesting to see how the feds will react.
State law trumps federal laws when dealing with intra-state affairs...
Next will be to get my employer to stop the random drug testing :D
What fun would it be if we agreed?
Never tried them... Seems like a new broker every minute.
Google search didn't pull up anything outstanding.
Edit:
Further investigation reveals owned by Ifinix Futures.. a pinksheets company.
That alone makes one wish to run screaming for the door.. any door.. Hell doesn't even need to be a door there.. Probably just make a door.
Not sure I've seen anyone enjoy retirement as much as you.
I'll watch me do the same in a couple decades or so.
Your first implied assertion is wrong. You know all too well that we never agree... Name one public trade you've made that I publicly agreed with?
You're always wrong.. well.. mostly.. close to almost.
Either way.
The statement that maybe the US was the target was fairly bright.. You might have a point there.
I can't think of any forest rich nation that we're going to try to invade?
Any general who thinks a ground invasion with conventional arms in NK is a good idea needs to retire quickly. Venezuela would be the same.
About the only place it would even kinda work would be a desert area or an urban area.
Doesn't mean anything. I've seen both.
As a general rule they have enough of each prepped for any arena they might encounter.
Unless something big is happening that we don't know about I would assume it is nothing big.
10x10.. WOW.. How did you get all of that real estate?
You smoozer you.
I'd be betting on either NK or Vezuala.
If they do Iran it will be an Air war much like Kosovo or the initial "Shock and Awe" phase of the Iraq war.
You're not just now hearing about the UFO/Balloons over NYC?
Who knows.. The video I saw looked pretty much just like a bunch of.. balloons. Not sure what the fuss was about.
Not like it was as crazy as this:
Dunno, just know she's... ALWAYS friggen smiling... always..
No sane person smiles that much.
Used car salesmen maybe..
Oh.. and her hair hasn't moved in fifteen years.. So it has to be a dead cat.
Has anyone yet discovered whose dead cat that is sitting atop her head?
It's been there long enough for everyone to perceive it as a wig.. But it's not I tell you.. It's a dead cat. No doubt it was scurrying about and died when it saw the size of her teeth.
You're in the right spot. You'll likely not be surprised that most if not all of us arrived here via your same route. Most if not all of us were penny traders who simply got fed up trying to predict the witlessly dishonest arrhythmic asymmetric movements of worthless shell companies.
Welcome to a much larger world.
Japan is talking quantitative easing merely a week after our Fed issued the same warning I mean update.
This is the materialisation of the "Currency War" that has been a headline on just about every website that is not "Mainstream" for weeks if not months now.
This goes back to my concerns a couple weeks ago when Japan claimed they were intervening into forex by selling yen. My concern was how successful they could be when the states were opposed to increasing the value of the buck.
Another seemingly unrelated issue that as luck would have it.. IS related, is the recent decision to halt foreclosures. There is a fairly severe problem with the paperwork involved with the transfers of the loans from one bank to another.
End result is banks go tits up because they can't legally prove they own the loans..
Dollar dies a remarkably quick death.
So it would seem that my initial impression that Japan would have no luck in devaluating it's currency in comparison to the buck would be spot on for the moment.
I can only beg forgiveness.. The urgency of the situation overwhelmed me.. I mean.. She WAS talking.
All I had on hand was the shiny stuff.
I assure you she was soon after sedated and the tape was removed to prevent any actual harm to my adored.
The funny thing is I still don't know how she got out of her box.
I remember back in my penny stock days seeing a few companies that generated revenue that way...
One is screaming in the background and the other is using every method she can devise to not go to bed.
Odds of me having two kids in the morning are dwindling with every pointless tear.
Other than that they're doing great.
The big one is progressing nicely and has obviously inherited my attitude.
The little one is begining to crawl and is proving my predictions that she will be into EVERYTHING right on the money.
Both Mommy and Daddy are busy day in and out chasing after or yelling at two wild children.
Dunno, depends on what happens.
I have no idea what will.. just have a feeling something big is about to go down.
Activity in the market seems to hint that I'm right.
Funny that watching the market as close as we both do, we are privy to many things unsaid or unknown to the masses.
Not loading.. Youtube must be busy.
You know the more I learn about the system under which we live and how it is clearly finite, I find the less I care about punishing those responsible. I have no desire to lead a revolution or to seek out the true architects of this evil system. I simply don't. I see that as a distraction from what I should be doing. That is to prepare.
We are obviously watching the end of our society.. or at least the transformation of our society into another, and I feel it more important to ensure my place in the new world rather than be bitter about the old.
Yeah and that's what I'm thinking.. should have clarified.. But you did a fine job of it.
Right, I see that side of it but my perception is that the devaluation of our currency is the deciding factor... They have flooded the market with dollars such that inflation and no doubt hyper/uber/mega-inflation is on the way.
So you're still thinking deflation?
Seems to me that it is inflation that is inevitable.
The way I'm seeing it, they are trying so hard to cause inflation and it's just not happening that at some point it will be like a dam bursting and all of a sudden milk will be $20 a gallon.
It's really looking like the 1.4ish trend line is the next stop..
Pay careful attention while along this trend line. Nothing is guaranteed, and while my instinct is we plummet from the trend line, I have been wrong many times when trying to predict a trend line break or bounce.
Play real tight when the market is trying to decide and then let loose after the decision rolls in.
I've been watching for a bottom and have been fooled a couple times.. Couple quickies here and there but just nothing of substance.
Shorting the yen?
You sure?
Word has it quantitive easing is on the way...
Do wave as the Buck plummets out of sight.
Yeah I saw that a month or two ago...
Obviously all BS, but the question that kept popping into my head was:
What's the play?
Word has it that when global warming bs is disproven and people stop caring about turrsm, they will try to tell us we are being invaded by aliens.
I kinda take this as common knowledge at this point.
And accepting it as such I move past it directly to what is my move when it starts happening.. Mainly.. Euro? USD?.. Yen??
Will they all stagnate for some time or will there be a big mover.. and why?
Dunno.. just something to ponder as we watch the EUR/USD prove me right once again as it tickles up close to 1.4... An impressively important trend line.
You'll notice that some sites do list pairs as a comparison to the buck as opposed to how we trade them via our brokers.
Doesn't really make any difference as it's all the same ratio.
Add a beer cooler and I'm sold.
Whatever.. It's going to happen at some point.. So let's get it over with.
Truth is I want it to go down now while I'm able to react. I can get out of dodge a heck of alot quicker now than I will in thirty years in my electric wheel chair.
Good God I wish they would just hurry up and get it over with..
SK and NK.. Israel and Palestine... India and Pakistan..
All this tension has been building for what now seems like eons.
Now I saw a headline about China and Japan heating up.
Jeeze let's just get this over with already.
It looks much better. When you were first starting there were numerous objects that were out of place or covering each other up.
Not to mention the page size was too wide.
Looks much more professional.
I can't imagine they will get away with that here in the states. We are typically about ten years behind the UK in getting the shaft from ole gubby.
Could you imagine the uproar if they tried it?
Then the uproar when they implemented it and had some sort of malfunction?
That would almost be worth watching.
From a distance.
You're getting much better at web design.