US Govt seeks to provide more information to victims of alleged binary options fraudster Lee Elbaz
The US authorities propose to inform the victims of Lee Elbaz and the binary options schemes she operated via a public Department of Justice website.
The victims of the fraudulent schemes run by alleged binary options scammer Lee Elbaz may get access to information about the proceedings against her, as well as to a Victim Assistance Line, under proposals filed by the United States Government with the Maryland District Court on Monday, October 15th.
Lee Elbaz is the former CEO of Yukom Communications which provided investor “retention” services for two websites, known as BinaryBook and BigOption, promoting and marketing binary options. The indictment 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.
On Monday, October 15th, the United States of America moved the Court for authorization to use alternative victim notification procedures – namely, publication on a Department of Justice website- because it believes that there are a large number of potential crime victims in this case, making it impracticable to notify them on an individualized basis.
In support of its motion, the Government note that the Crime Victims’ Rights Act provides crime victims with certain rights, including the right to “reasonable, accurate, and timely notice” of public court proceedings.
As an alternative procedure to notify potential crime victims in this case, the Government proposes that it maintain a public Department of Justice website at https://www.justice.gov/criminal-vns/case/lee-elbaz (the website is not active at the time of writing of this article – Ed.). The website would provide a summary of the case, information regarding the case’s status, and other significant case-related documents, such as the charging documents. The website also would contain an e-mail address and telephone number for a Victim Assistance Line through which individual potential crime victims could contact the Department of Justice with questions regarding the case.
The reason for asking for such a notification procedure is that the Government believes that the alleged conduct may have affected thousands of individuals.
In September this year, the Court denied Elbaz’s motions to dismiss the case against her.
The case, captioned USA v. Elbaz (8:18-cr-00157), continues at the Maryland District Court.
