Alleged binary options fraudster Lee Elbaz wants to know identities of victims
The identities of these unnamed individuals are essential for purposes of trial preparation, defense counsel argues.
In a pretty startling move, Lee Elbaz – the former CEO of Israel-based Yukom Communications, a purported binary options sales and marketing company operating on behalf of BinaryBook and BigOption, has demanded that the United States Government reveals the identities of her co-conspirators and the victims of the crimes she allegedly committed.
In a set of documents, filed with the Maryland District Court on Wednesday, May 16, 2018, Ms Elbaz moves to dismiss the indictment against her for failure to allege proper venue and for failure to state an offense. More interestingly, she seeks the so-called bill of particulars (a request for more detailed information).
Specifically, according to Ms Elbaz’s motion for bill of particulars, the Government must share the identities of her alleged co-conspirators and the facts alleged that could support the conclusion that the conspiracy was entered into in Maryland or acts in furtherance of that conspiracy took place in Maryland.
Count One (conspiracy to commit wire fraud) references more than eight unidentified individuals who shared marketing materials with one another and with Ms Elbaz, and those materials are alleged to contain misrepresentations. At no point, however, the Indictment provides the names of these individuals or their personal or professional connection to Ms Elbaz, the defense counsel argues.
Furthermore, the defendant says that “the Indictment fails to provide the names of those who are allegedly victims of the charged offenses”. According to the defense, “the identities of these unnamed individuals are essential for purposes of trial preparation because only with that information will Ms. Elbaz be able to assess the Government’s case”.
Let’s recall that, according to the Indictment, Yukom provided investor “retention” services for two websites, known as BinaryBook and BigOption, promoting and marketing binary options, and those binary options were fraudulently sold and marketed. The indictment further alleges that in her role as CEO of Yukom, Elbaz, along with her co-conspirators and subordinates, misled investors using BinaryBook and BigOption by falsely claiming to represent the interests of investors but that, in fact, the owners of BinaryBook and BigOption profited when investors lost money.
From in or about May 2014 through in or about June 2017, Elbaz was an employee of Yukom and served in various capacities, including as Chief Executive Officer from at least in or about March 2016 through December 2016. In startling statements made during the detention hearing of Elbaz, her counsel stated that “CEO in Israel may not mean the same thing here” and that she used the designation to simply to “make the customers feel important”.
Ms Elbaz has pled “not guilty” to the charges against her.
