Weâre Mad as Hell! And weâre not going to take this anymore! So sayeth the investors of Olint who are pouring onto the Internet in Jamaica to rage against David Smithâs Machine. Here is just a sampling: http://investforlife.wordpress.com/2008/07/14/olint-office-closed/#comments That about sums it up. Pay the people and move on man (of course when you say âmanâ be sure to pronounce man with the proper Jamaican accent.) This is yet another lesson on what can happen to you when you give your money to someone who ainât got no license man.
Go-Trade Jamaica Browsing the web I came across this article on a very unique marketing ploy that I Trade FX was using to attract clients in Jamaica last November: http://www.siliconcaribe.com/2007/1...th-itradefx-in-a-us100-giveaway-to-jamaicans/ David Smith was depositing $100 of his own money into individual I Trade FX accounts? This is highly irregular to say the least and while I have heard of plenty of companies that give signup bonuses to customers I have not heard of individuals doing this for customers. What it indicates is that Smith was not some passive, minority shareholder in I Trade FX. It sounds like he was pretty involved in the firm judging from this promotion.
A Scoundrel to the End Congratulations to the customers of FXLQ who are on the verge of being made whole, an unusually rare occurrence when a forex dealer goes bankrupt. Here is hoping some of that luck rubs off on the poor sods at Olint. But the customers of FXLQ wonât have Rob Gray to thank, thatâs for sure. At the last second Gray tried to scuttle the Receiverâs plan to have GFT and Ikon buy the customers of this formerly disgraced and dismembered firm. Gray said âNYET!â to the sale in a formal court objection (someone please explain how Gray is able to strut around in public, and before a court no less, after faking a $35 million bond?) The Receiver then proceeded to obliterate Gray in court in a rollicking motion filled with such goodies as this: http://www.robbevans.com/pdf/forexlqreplyreceiver01.pdf âUtter disregardâ for the rules? Thatâs our Robbie boy! So where is this mythological $3 million being kept hidden? You donât happen to have a safe house in the Turks & Caicos do you Robbie boy? Ouch. It is finally hitting Robbie boy that FXLQ is DONE. Finished. Kaput. Bereft of life it rests in peace. But he canât let go. One can picture him clinging to the fax machine as a couple surly movers try to haul it out of the office. But my favorite little nugget has to be this statement found in Ikonâs motion to the court: http://www.robbevans.com/pdf/forexlqreplyikonglblmkt01.pdf Taking a quick look at the IFX affidavit Mr. Belogour says: Yet there Robbie boy was telling the court on July 3rd, only a few hours after getting a vague âsure weâre interestedâ shrug of the shoulders from IFX , that IFX markets could be used to distribute customer funds. Classic Gray. Just keeps on Bullsh*tting them to the end. And it certainly is the end. Oh Robbie boy the pipes, the pipes, are callingâ¦
The End of Olint Yesterday the Turks and Caicos Government froze the assets of David Smith and raided his home and place of business. Armed with a search warrant from the Supreme Court the Financial Crimes Unit of the Government swooped into action, grabbing computers, files and other knick knacks as their investigation of him reaches an apparent climax. Radio Jamaica is reporting that in the end Smith could face criminal charges: http://www.radiojamaica.com/content/view/10004/26/ Worries are growing that the collapse of Olint could have repercussions across Jamaica as the investment scheme is said to have $600 million of Jamaican money tied up in it. Good Grief. Now we are at the point where forex hucksters can crash a nationâs entire economy? Invest for Life has the full story: http://investforlife.wordpress.com/2008/07/15/olint-assets-frozen/ On a Separate Note: Sources are telling me that the I Trade FX âDavid Smith $100 Bonusâ promotion last winter lasted only a few days before it got shelved. I Trade FX should be releasing their official response to the NFA complaint in the next few weeks. Stay Tunedâ¦
The Olint Soap Opera Continues âI am now indemnifying all the directors and employees as I am the only one that was aware of these activities and I am now at this stage unable to pay out and am making this proposal to you.â â David Smith, per Nationwide News. It sure is beginning to look like Olint was a Ponzi scheme. A news report is stating that David Smith admitted the following in a leaked email obtained by Nationwide News: http://boomp3.com/listen/1741m06o4_f/olint-broke-provider-investforlife 1. The club is broke and most likely bankrupt 2. The older investors got their money out while the newer investors are the ones âcarrying the losses.â Is that not the very definition of a Ponzi scheme? 3. He overstated his rates of return to club members. 4. The collapse of the fund was due to; competition from competitors, regulatory scrutiny, shoddy bookkeeping. 5. In particular Smith is blaming the Jamaican Government for raiding his company in 2006 as that loss of his records apparently precipitated an accounting fiasco resulting in âdouble paymentsâ to some members. He then states that he didnât report these âdouble paymentsâ to his customers because he was afraid of a bank run which he once again blamed the Jamaican Government for starting. 6. Smith was only trading 50% of the funds while accounting for 100%. 7. He closes stating that Olint was ânot a Ponzi schemeâ and to give him another year to make it all back. But no sooner had this report been read over the airwaves than David Smith himself called in screaming that he never wrote the email and that it was bogus. Smith said, âI had not written the email. Itâs absolutely not true. And if you really think about it do you think my house is that big that I had to email my own wife?â So who is to be believed? Well, with David Smithâs credibility in tatters my gut tells me the email is legit. But who knows for certain. What is certain is that Olint is El Busto. Still, no word of any arrests in the Turks and Caicos. The investigation goes on and there will certainly be more to come.
David Smith Created I Trade FXâs Platform? So says this article from the Jamaica Gleaner in December of 2007. As part of the $100 promotion that I Trade FX was offering to Jamaican customers via www.gotradejamaica.com Smith is said to have âcreated the platformâ that customers were using in this promotion, which was in fact I Trade FXâs own platform: http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20071207/business/business5.html The article further states: The more I read about David Smith the more I see the name of I Trade FX popping up. And the more suspicious it looks for I tradeâ¦
Olint Rumor Mill Keeps Squeezing out the Pulp Itâs hard to know what to believe about Olint these days with newspaper headlines like this âDavid Smith Alive and Kickingâ courtesy of the Jamaica Observer: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news...38189_OBS__DAVID_SMITH_ALIVE_AND_KICKING_.asp So where did these ârumoursâ come from? Who knows. So much about this Olint case is cloaked in secrecy. An email is leaked by an unknown source purportedly written by Smith stating the fund is a shambles forcing Smith to deny it. But later in the week Smithâs own lawyer hints that the email was in fact legit: http://investforlife.wordpress.com/2008/07/18/olint-broke-email-very-genuine/ Earlier this week Jamaican radio reported that Olintâs accounts at brokers like FXCM, Oanda and FX Solutions have been frozen and that David Smith is being investigated by the Department of Justice for possible money laundering (although none of these firms has gone on the record stating they even have any David Smith accounts at their firms, possibly because of client confidentiality agreements.) And Government officials in the Turks and Caicos remain tight lipped and unwilling to shed any light on David Smithâs now defunct operation. In such an environment ârumoursâ will take hold. It is time someone in authority in Jamaica or the Turks and Caicos step forward and tell us all what the hell is going on.
The All Hallowâs Eve Pool Returns The NFA is on the march. This week they announced that all Forex Dealer Members must meet the first capital benchmark of $10 million by October 31st: http://www.nfa.futures.org/news/newsNotice.asp?ArticleID=2165 How does you firm stack up? The following firms have net capital below $10 million Advanced Markets $5,017,000 Bacera $5,387,000 MG Financial $6,001,000 Forex Club $7,380,000 Hotspot $7,843,000 Friedberg Mercantile $8,167,000 CMC $8,426,000 Ikon $8,462,000 MB Trading $8,660,000 Easy Forex $8,662,000 IFX $9,141,000 In particular you will notice that three firms are far below the upcoming increase to $10 million. Advanced Markets, Bacera and Money Garden. In fact, they are struggling just to meet the current $5 million net capital requirement with Advanced Markets a scant $17,000 above the current law. That kind of capitalization does not inspire much confidence and traders really need to beware doing business with them. The following firms have net capital below $20 million GFS Forex $10,829,000 Alpari $11, 668,000 ODL $15,182,000 I Trade FX $15,828,000 FX Solutions $18,088,000 CMS Forex $19,306,000 The following firms have net capital above $20 million PFG $20,275,000 Interbank FX $22,980,000 Gain Capital $44,293,000 GFT Forex $58,304,000 FXCM $70,794,000 Oanda $164,256,000 As always conduct your due diligence and make sure the firm you are trading with will be able to comply with the new law.
June CFTC Net Capital Report The CFTC has released its latest Adjusted Net Capital report. With less than three months to go before the NFA raises capital requirements to $10 million the Capital issue is once again front and center in retail forex. How does you firm stack up? http://www.cftc.gov/marketreports/financialdataforfcms/index.htm The following firms have net capital below $10 million Advanced Markets $5,054,000 Bacera $5,361,000 MG Financial $6,086,000 ACM $7,342,000 Hotspot $7,711,000 Friedberg Mercantile $8,189,000 Ikon $8,301,000 Forex Club $8,454,000 CMC $8,729,000 Easy Forex $9,478,000 No change in capital for Advanced Markets, Bacera and Money Garden who are still way below the upcoming cap increase. Also, for the first time ACM is reporting net capital and their first number out of the box isnât that great. One suspects they had no idea cap requirements were going up and it could very well be they have completely mistimed their entry into the U.S. market. ACM appears to have brought a knife to a gun fight⦠Typical of a Swiss firm isnât it? The following firms have net capital below $20 million GFS Forex $10,909,000 MB Trading $11,165,000 IFX $13,010,000 ODL $13,053,000 Alpari $13,084,000 I Trade FX $16,097,000 FX Solutions $17,974,000 CMS Forex $17,931,000 PFG $19,862,000 The following firms have net capital above $20 million Interbank FX $30,364,000 Gain Capital $61,918,000 GFT Forex $67,298,000 FXCM $70,792,000 Oanda $165,526,000 As always conduct your due diligence and make sure the firm you are trading with will be able to comply with the new law going into effect in less than three months.
The Dark Regulator With the Dark Knight breaking box office records around the world it looks like the CFTC is trying to cash in on the caped crusaderâs popularity. In a recent press release announcing the formation of a âforex fraudâ taskforce the CFTC stated, âThis announcement sends a clear signal that the CFTC is on the beat, and that our continued and increased cooperation with law enforcement authorities will help put these forex dealers where they belong â in jail.â http://www.cftc.gov/newsroom/enforcementpressreleases/2008/pr5530-08.html Ya I know many of you are chuckling to yourselves, in classic Joker style, âha, ha, ha, and I thought my jokes were bad.â Forex fraud has been rampant the last couple years and like the hapless gang at the Gotham police department the regulators can never seem to get the bad guys who remain safely tucked away like âLauâ from the Dark Knight hiding out in his Hong Kong skyscraper. Only in the retail forex world the villains sip margaritas on the Turks and Caicos Islands or are busy forging $35 million ABN-Amro bonds in Switzerland. But maybe there is finally hope here in Gotham. Perhaps the Dark Regulator can save us from the scammers and con-men who are a blight on our wonderful forex world. Letâs hope the CFTCâs new task force scheme works out and that they are able to drive these agents of chaos in the retail forex market out of business once and for all. But then again the Jokers of the retail forex world have never been intimidated by schemes have they? Joker: Do I really look like a guy with a plan? You know what I am? I'm a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it! You know, I just, do things. The mob has plans, the cops have plans, Gordon's got plans. You know, they're schemers. Schemers trying to control their worlds. I'm not a schemer. I try to show the schemers how, pathetic, their attempts to control things really are. So to the folks at CFTC, please, make sure this latest scheme doesnât draw the kind of ridicule the Joker loves to heap on law enforcementâ¦