Yehuda Belsky aka “Jay Bell” faces prison sentence over binary options fraud
The indictment, charging the owner of Y Trading with mail fraud and misappropriation of customer funds, was unsealed today.
The US authorities continue their clampdown on fraudulent binary options schemes. Earlier today, an indictment was unsealed at the New York Eastern District Court charging Yehuda Belsky, also known as “Jay Bell,” the owner of Brooklyn-based Y Trading, LLC, with mail fraud, failure to register as a commodities trading advisor, and misappropriation of customer funds.
Belsky was arrested today and is set to be arraigned this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Steven L. Tiscione.
The indictment says that, in 2008 Belsky was permanently barred by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) from trading in commodity futures transactions and options. However, from March 2014 to June 2018 Belsky presented himself as an experienced commodities trader and promised investors he would invest their money in binary options.
Belsky also lured investors by showing them fraudulent monthly account statements from the North American Derivatives Exchange that claimed to show his successful history of commodities trading. In reality, he stole the investors’ money for his personal use and to repay other customers who he had fraudulently induced to trust him with investment funds.
If convicted of mail fraud, Belsky faces a maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment.
Let’s recall that in June this year, Jared J. Davis, head of an international binary options scheme was arrested and a 19-count federal indictment unsealed, charging him with defrauding investors out of at least $10 million. Under the indictment, Davis and others ran a fraudulent binary options investment scheme between 2012 and 2016 through Erie Marketing LLC, headquartered in Sandusky, where Davis was involved in various real estate ventures and businesses. The options business used various trade names, including OptionMint, OptionKing and OptionQueen. Davis’ binary options businesses were not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission nor the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Department of Justice explains.
Earlier in September this year, a case against Lee Elbaz, former CEO of Israel-based company Yukom Communications, a purported binary options sales and marketing company, marked some progress, as Judge Theodore D. Chuang of the Maryland District Court nixed Elbaz’s attempts to put an end to the action against her.
