SEC obtains judgment against fraudsters behind LBinary and Ivory Option
Binary options fraudsters Lior Babazara and Anton Senderov will have to pay disgorgement of $560,773 and a civil penalty of $350,000.
Judge Rosanna Malouf Peterson of the Washington Eastern District Court on Thursday signed an order approving a final motion for consent judgment in a case targeting the individuals behind fraudulent binary options schemes LBinary and Ivory Option.
The consent judgment was signed a couple of months after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) secured a clerk’s entry of default against Lior Babazara and Anton Senderov, the individuals behind the scams.
According to the consent judgment, seen by FinanceFeeds, Babazara and Senderov are jointly and severally liable for disgorgement and pre-judgment interest in the amount of $560,773, representing profits gained as a result of their fraudulent conduct. The defendants are also liable for a civil penalty in the amount of $350,000.
The order includes permanent injunctions prohibiting the defendants from offering and/or selling binary options, as well as from employing any device, scheme, or artifice to defraud.
As FinanceFeeds has reported, Anton Senderov and Lior Babazara a/k/a Lior Bar, are charged with defrauding more than 2,800 US investors through online sales of binary options.
The SEC’s complaint alleges that Senderov and Babazara defrauded investors through two online binary options brokers they controlled, LBinary and Ivory Option. The defendants also owned and controlled LianTech Finance Marketing, Ltd., which operated a call center in Israel that functioned as a “boiler room.”
According to the SEC’s complaint, employees at the call center allegedly persuaded investors to open binary option trading accounts and deposit significant sums into those accounts. Call center employees lied to investors about their professional backgrounds and falsely told investors that the brokers earned money only if investors made money. In reality, the brokers earned money only from investor losses and therefore had no incentive to advise investors on how to trade binary options profitably.
Most investors lost money, with some losing their entire savings. The binary options brokers largely refused to honor investor requests to withdraw money from their trading accounts.
