How a Former US Secret Agent Got Back $2Mil for Binary Options Victims

Attorney Haggai Carmon spent 20 years tracking money launderers for the US Department of Justice. He says the binary options industry’s ‘layering’ reminds him of a sophisticated espionage or terror organization – The Times of Israel

“I used shock and awe,” Carmon said, describing how he recovered $1.5 million on behalf of California-based businessman Steven Koel. “They thought that they would be protected by the fact that they used fake names and said they were in England. As soon as I knew their real names and where they live, they were exposed, they lost all their defenses.”

The Times of Israel piece is indeed a must read, especially when one considers that Binary Options scams have hit so close to home.

This past September Gambling911.com reported on how a handful of such scams focused on “raping clients” (their words).   Our own Thomas Somach helped with the investigative reporting on this matter that was mostly covered by media outlets in the UK.

From the Daily Mail:

Companies lure victims by scam emails, with high-pressure salesmen persuading responders to invest small sums such as £250.

A second team then lean on these investors to put in thousands more. Meanwhile further thousands are charged to their credit cards without authorisation.

Some of the victims of the scheme are believed to have committed suicide with single-investor losses totaling up to £200,000.

Carmon told the Times of Israel that when he first realized the scope and sophistication of Israel’s binary options fraud this past April, “he was disgusted and awestruck in equal parts”.

Carmon said, “I have yet to see a person who earned money trading binary options — not on their computer screen, but who actually withdrew their winnings. Some of the companies are rigged.

“A top professional tailored the layering,” he said, referring to the practice among money launderers to distance money from its criminal origins by hiding it behind layers of financial transactions. Binary options companies, 90 percent of which, Carmon estimates, operate from Israel, similarly hide behind layers of false identities.”

- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com