Yes this maybe true but itâs going through FXLQ first,, R Gray (FXLQ) has IBFX contractual tied to him for the rest of their existence. :eek: I know I once worked for both.
Scandal at Forex Liquidity Of all the scandals I have reported on to date this one is by far the most disturbing. The main reason is because FXLQ appears to have defrauded, not just the trading public, but more importantly U.S. regulators. And did it in such a bold manner as to send chills down the spines of anyone concerned about due diligence. Yesterday the NFA took a member responsibility action against Forex Liquidity that prevents them from accepting any new customers, distributing customer funds without their approval, and requires that FXLQ provide NFA with a full accounting of their financials, which they have been unwilling to do as of this date: http://www.nfa.futures.org/basicnet/Case.aspx?entityid=0362216&case=07MRA00013&contrib=NFA Why has the NFA taken this action? Let's go right to the source, the NFA auditor's own affidavit: Ah yes, FXLQ reported adjusted net capital of $36 million on their last CFTC report. These guys have been telling regulators all year they have plenty of capital. I'm curious to know what contractual services Robert Gray provided that earned him a $35 million bond? A quick search on the Internet shows Swiss Imperial does simple accounting work (http://www.manta.com/coms2/dnbcompany_v264z9). So why would a forex dealer be billing an accountant $35 milllion? Isn't it supposed to work the other way around? Hmmm. This is interesting. So the bond and cash are not sitting in a brokerage account for FXLQ. The bond and cash are actually sitting in Switzerland at Swiss Imperial in an account marked "Malory?" Now that sounds very fishy indeed. No worries, Mr. Gray can just request the funds be transferred back to the U.S. to FXLQ's domestic bank/brokerage account right? Right? RIGHT?!!! You have got to be kidding me. Let's see, Robert Gray is transferring nearly $48 million in cash and securities and he "doesn't recall" the name of the bank the money is going to?! How can he sit there and tell the NFA that with a straight face? He probably wasn't. I can picture him now scrunched up in the corner of his office, shivering and biting his nails like a man about to be water boarded trying to tell the NFA anything if they'll just go away and let him get back to reaming traders unfortunate enough to sign up with him: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=75753&highlight Is Robert Gray a complete idiot? Why the hell would you lie to the NFA and give them a fake account number KNOWING NFA is going to check to see if this account actually exists? Why didn't Rob Gray just get on an airplane and fly out of the country? Why go through this farcical con job in light of the fact that a two year old could see through this BS? But no, Gray continues to spin like Larry Craig after getting caught with his pants down in a Minneapolis washroom. "non-current assets." How about "never-were assets." It looks like FXLQ created this bond out of thin air to fatten up their balance sheet. What's the matter FXLQ? Are you ashamed to be a poorly capitalized firm? It's one thing to fib about your company assets. But are they doing this to cover up huge company losses which has left them $10 million in the hole? That of course is the nightmare scenario and could explain why Gray has been desperately trying to throw the NFA off his tracks. This case is pretty serious. And I wouldn't be surprised if the feds break down the door of FXLQ and raid the place. If this bond is fictitious that is the kind of fraud that gets you thrown in the slammer for a number of years. This isn't just a matter of having shoddy book keeping as we have seen with firms such as One World Capital or Concorde Financial. This sounds like gross fraud and if FXLQ is indeed in the hole to tune of $10 million a lot of people are gonna get hurt. It's time to come clean Mr. Gray. What the hell is going on at Forex Liquidity?
forexsavior Could you please add a new firm to your well canalized ( $46 million ) list, also 80 years of upstanding business and unmatched ethics should get them on top of your list. Here is the scoop.. One of the one of the largest, oldest, well respected futures firms in the US recently opened their doors to Forex traders, this is ground shaking news especially when their platform of choice is MT4, wow net cap of $46 million of net capital and 80 years in business. With so many broker choices, it can be difficult to find a reliable place to trade. At Tradeview Forex, every process, from account setup to funds redemption, is streamlined, and your transactions are executed with speed and precision. Most importantly, you receive a high level of service from a firm that has a tradition of serving serious investors for over 80 years. There are a variety of reasons Rosenthal Collins Group is a good fit for your trading needs. Not only because the size and strength of RCG, but also because RCG values the integrity and ethics of the marketplace. Please visit our website: www.tradeviewforex.com I believe that an account at RCG is beneficial for anyone looking for the security and stability of a large FCM, but with the understanding and customer care of a smaller firm. Below are just a few key points that distinguish RCG from other firms: ⢠Ranked by Futures magazine as #21 out of the top 50 brokers in the world ⢠Second largest independent FCM ⢠$46 million of net capital ⢠$735 million in customer assets, 20,000 accounts, assets over 4 billion ⢠Can trace its roots back to 1923 ⢠Online accounts â streamlined setup: approval within a day ⢠24 hour trading support ⢠Three options for accounts: Tighter spreads, higher interest, or straight through processing ⢠Utilizes familiar MetaTrader 4 software Happy holidays and prosperous New Year, TrdaeView Forex Team www.tradeviewforex.com
Breaking News: NFA Sanctions Velocity4x! NFA is on the war path right now. This is the Fifth poorly capitalized firm they have disciplined this week. If you are a customer of Hamilton Williams or Velocity4x or whatever the hell they call themselves get your money out now. And for the Love of God stay away from poorly capitalized firms! They are dropping like ten pins. http://www.nfa.futures.org/basicnet/Case.aspx?entityid=0358241&case=07BCC00015&contrib=NFA
The Running Man: Part I The NFA is as busy as the Post Office on Tax Day. I haven't even had a chance to chew over the closing of FXLQ or One World Capital yet due to the continuing complaints and emergency actions the NFA is cranking out this week. Nor have I gotten a chance to talk about the Solid Gold or Velocity4x complaints. That's because the Savior must prioritize. And the latest priority is a forex firm that went by the name of Tradeco which just got banned for life by the NFA. http://www.nfa.futures.org/basicnet/Case.aspx?entityid=0359745&case=07BCC00031&contrib=NFA Frankly I had never even heard of this company before the NFA banned them yesterday. But I have heard of their former principal, Mr. Ryan Nettles. It seems like Nettles has been involved in every forex boondoggle of the last decade. There is the Tradex debacle and the Finex Fiasco. And there was a dodgy outfit per Forex Bastards by the name of Futures and Options of Texas that went out of business in 2001: http://www.forexpeacearmy.com/public/review/www.tradexfx.com In short, Mr. Nettles gets around. Between 1997 and 2004 Nettles was registered with six different futures firms with the NFA: http://www.nfa.futures.org/BasicNet/Details.aspx?entityid=0278234&rn=Y Today most of those firms are out of business. But it wasn't until 2004 that Nettles really seemed to hit his stride. For it was in 2004 that Nettles applied to be a principal with the Tradex Group. Ah yes, Tradex. The very name of this firm makes the bile rise in one's throat. The Tradex Group was banned in 2006 by the NFA and earlier this year the mutated offspring of the Tradex Group, Tradex Swiss AG, was shut down in Switzerland and then thrown into bankruptcy leaving legions of traders stranded in purgatory. http://www.nfa.futures.org/BasicNet/Case.aspx?entityid=0350721&case=06BCC00015&contrib=NFA The implosion of the Tradex Group in 2006 was the source of a humorous article in Euromoney in which Craig Karlis of Tradex Swiss AG infamy and Ryan Nettles were at each other's throats like a couple of pitbulls from Michael Vick's Badnewz kennels. While the article is firewalled here are some choice quotes that indicate Nettles won't be able to get a good reference from his old employer anytime soon. (http://www.euromoney.com/article.asp?PositionID=17358&ArticleID=1242197&p=1) Karlis is quoted as saying, "Mr Nettles, while employed by Tradex Group, took it upon himself to start a CTA. he did this without Tradex knowledge. When that happened he put Tradex Group in control of the NFA... He had all his commissions sent to an account in the Bahamas. He Also had a dealing desk that offset all positions... After an audit all this information was revealed." Nettles countered that, "I was just an employee. They told me to do this." Of course, he was just following orders. Where have I heard that before? In the end Nettles stated that, "He's pissed off at me for some reason. I also took my customers away from Tradex. That's why he's all pissed off at me." Ya think? Question is where did he go to after his falling out with Karlis? Well Nettles isn't one to head over to the unemployment office and go on the dole. No Nettles quickly jumped ship and joined the doomed ocean liner: Tradeco Clearing Group LLC. Tradeco was actually the 100th firm to use Metatrader per a press release from the company. But after two months though Nettles hit the road and left Tradeco, he was after all born a rambling man. But that didn't stop the NFA from issuing a complaint against nettles a year later. Indeed, it is a very strange case. Tradeco officially withdrew their membership from the NFA in August of 2007, one month before the NFA filed a complaint against them for fraud and failing to meet their capital requirement. Furthermore, I can find no record of Tradeco on the CFTC capital reports at all for 2007. In fact, their last CFTC report was filed in August of 2006 when they reported that they were $750,000 below the minimum capital requirement. That's right, only a few months after they got their license they were not only violating their capital requirement, but failing to file any financial reports and still allowed to stay in business. That's an impressive accomplishment. So what finally set the NFA off? It looks like they discovered all this during a 2007 audit of the firm. They must have done it right before Tradeco closed their doors. The examination is good for a laugh however. Highlights to come in Part II.
The Running Man: Part II We pick up the story in the summer of 2007. Tradeco is still technically in business although Nettles has long since cut his official ties to the firm. Here are the highlights of the NFA's complaint: Two words: BUCKET SHOP Bwahahahaha! Let that be a lesson to everyone. Just because someone throws up a website and makes grandiose statements doesn't mean they're legit. Ah yes, the old "Fidelity 14 bond." I have seen firms toss this old lemon around in the forex industry to try and ease the concerns of customers worried about the safety of their funds. Whenever you see this old dog dragged out of the kennel that should sound the alarm bell in your head to put your money elsewhere as few serious brokers try to pawn that off on their customers. Later in the complaint the NFA calls out Tradeco for not only failing to meet their capital requirements but for failing to even keep a general ledger. Guess that's why we never saw any reports on the CFTC website this year... So who is to blame for this mess? The NFA tried to pin the blame on Nettles since he was "The director of operations for Tradeco and the firm's AML compliance officer. Accordingly, Nettles had supervisory responsibilities with regard to Tradeco's activities." But Nettles strongly disagreed and in his response to the NFA's charges basically denied everything and said he had nothing to do with it. The NFA has not rendered a decision on his culpability, but they did find Tradeco guilty on all counts. Only problem is Tradeco no longer exists. No one ever replied to the NFA complaint which is probably still sitting in some over stuffed mailbox with all of Tradeco's other bills, flyers and court summonses. Talk about beating a dead horse... So where is the running man today? Well last anyone heard he was involved in the "Finex Group." Traders at Forex Factory put the word out on Finex earlier in the year (http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=34001&page=2) and sure enough a few months later Swiss authorities swooped in to freeze all of Finex's accounts (http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=49010). In a rather droll email Finex agents told their customers: No reason to be alarmed?! With Ryan Nettles on the scene traders should have EVERY REASON TO BE ALARMED. Of course they can always, "move to another country." And so the running man just keeps on running. Run Ryan! Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun!
Finalists for the Forex Dealer Dead Pool Today the CFTC issued their final report on Net Capital before the new $5 million capital requirement rule goes into effect. http://www.cftc.gov/marketreports/financialdataforfcms/ While this report details balances as of only October 31, it is the last piece of independent data the public can use before the bell tolls in a few weeks. And don't think these firms don't know that. Furthermore, in light of the FXLQ scandal, the numbers you see here are more likely to be overestimates of how much capital these firms have so be sure to factor that into the equation. At this point in time any firm that still isn't reporting capital of over $5 million should be avoided by the trading public at all costs. The risk is too large and as One World Capital has shown it just isn't worth it. The following 10 firms should be avoided at this point in time as they are at high risk for going out of business. If you have money with them, take it out, NOW. 1) SNC Investments: $1,152,000 They are well below the $5 million capital requirement. It is highly unlikely they will make the new requirement at this point. I advise customers to leave this firm and look for greener pastures. 2) Wall Street Derivatives: $1,228,000 This firm is based out of New Zealand and I'm not even sure they have any U.S. customers as their U.S. website is out of service. 3) Advanced Markets: $1,322,000 Amifx is already teetering on the brink as they are the subject of a business conduct committee case before the NFA in which they are cited for a whole host of financial violations including not meeting the old capital requirement. This firm does not have much of a future. 4) Hamilton Williams (VelocityFX): $1,345,000 This firm is a train wreck. They just got fined $90,000 by the NFA for not meeting the old capital requirement. Then they lost their liquidity provider when FXLQ got shut down. Now they can't accept any customers from their unregistered introducing brokers. This firm is literally on life support. Do yourself a favor and stay the hell aware from them before the regulators pull the plug on them once and for all. 5) Solid Gold Financial: $2,040,000 Solid Gold's future is now in serious doubt. Like many of the other firms on this list they have been charged by the NFA with failing to meet their existing capital requirement. When you can't meet the old requirement it stands to reason you won't be able to meet the new one either. Solid Gold is anything but a solid investment at this point. 6) Bacera Corporation: $2,300,000 Like a turd that won't flush Bacera Corporation just refuses to go down the drain. The Savior wrote Bacera off over the summer as sources knowledgeable about them stated they were going to close up shop. But no, they are still hustling the folks in LA for fresh deposits. In September Bacera settled a complaint with the NFA after it was discovered they were undercapitalized to the tune of $1.2 million. NFA reported Bacera only has about 200 customers as it is. But to those 200, do yourself a favor and get yourself another broker because sooner or later the pipes are gonna get cleaned and these guys are going to get flushed once and for all. 7) GFS Futures & Forex: $2,353,000 This firm is in an especially tight fix. They offer 200:1 leverage which means they need to come up with $10 million. And as this number shows they are far, far away from that. 8) Forex Club: $3,320,000 They still have not hit the minimum $5 million mark. And don't forget since they are a market maker they have other financial requirements to meet as well. They still haven't publically done so. 9) Easy Forex: $3,789,000 Under siege for their sleazy sales tactics, it's hard to imagine the NFA isn't going to drop the hammer on them soon. 10) Money Garden: $5,035,000 While they have crept up over the $5 million mark MG is notorious for their 400:1 "flexi" accounts which will require MG put up a minimum $10 million in capital in addition to other financial requirements for being a market maker. They are not even close to doing this despite their CEO's insistence they could easily get the money last summer. It looks like this veteran of the industry is about to be forcibly retired. And so this is where we stand as of Friday, December 7, 2007. The new $5 million capital requirement kicks in on Friday, December 21, 2007. Two weeks to go. Tick Tock. Tick Tock.
FXLQ in Legal Limbo I've gotten word that customers at FXLQ are not able to get their money out at this time. The mystery deepens as the search for the missing $35 million bond goes on...
FXLQ in Complete Chaos For those of you caught in the FXLQ meltdown this thread at Forex Factory has some excellent information: http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=59150&page=3 This trader posted the following which shows you the incredible maelstrom that FXLQ is currently mixed up in: If you have money at FXLQ, MultibankFX or any of the other brokers that clear through FXLQ GET YOUR MONEY OUT NOW IF YOU STILL CAN!
Undercapitalization at ODL Upon second glance at the latest CFTC Capital Report I have come across a rather alarming capital number for a firm that previously have been well above the $5 million minimum capital requirement. The firm is ODL securities and they reported only $2,566,000 in adjusted net capital. The previous month they reported over $9 million in adjusted net capital. That is quite a stunning drop. But what makes ODL's current number even more disturbing is that in October the NFA gave ODL a beat down in a BCC action in which they charged ODL with a bucket load of financial requirement violations that seriously calls into question the manner in which this firm is run. NFA Charges: ⢠F.R.SEC11(a)NEW - FDM MAINTAIN ADJUSTED NET CAPITAL â¢F.R.SEC11(b)NEW - FDM TAKE CONCENTRATION CHARGE-UNAFFILIATED ⢠F.R.SEC11(c)NEW - FDM TAKE CONCENTRATION CHARGE-AFFILIATES ⢠F.R.Section 11 - LTM REPORTING ⢠C.R.2-10 - RECORDKEEPING FCMS/IBS ⢠C.R.2-36(b)(1) - CHEAT, DEFRAUD, DECEIVE FOREX CUSTOMERS The NFA gives example after example of how this firm misreported its financial numbers and failed to meet the most basic financial regulatory requirements expected of a Forex Dealer. http://www.nfa.futures.org/BasicNet/Case.aspx?entityid=0330396&case=07BCC00006&contrib=NFA The NFA's final decision was as follows: With ODL's net capital woefully below $5 million and in light of the NFA blowing the lid off ODL's appallingly bad book keeping and shoddy accounting practices I am putting out the warning to the trading public: Avoid ODL and if you have money at ODL it's time to get your money back and find yourself another broker.