Red-listed offshore broker LQDFX has been on our radar for about two years. The scheme was founded by the well-known fintech entrepreneur Ozan Ozerk a/k/a Ozan Özerk, who founded several regulated ventures, including OpenPayd or EuroTrader. The UK FCA recently warned against the offshore broker LQDFX,which is now operated via Saint Lucia and Bulgaria. The broker announced a 1:1000 leverage boost for micro accounts. Be very cautious.
Key Data
| Trading name | LQDFX |
| Business activity | Offshore forex and CFD broker |
| Domain | www.lqdfx.com |
| Social media | LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram |
| Legal entities | LQD LLC LQD Ltd |
| Jurisdictions | St. Vincent & The Grenadines Saint Lucia Bulgaria |
| Contact data | +44 (0) 20 80641038 52 Han Omurtag St, Sofia, 1124, Bulgaria |
| Leverage | up to 1:1000 |
| Authorization | No |
| Payment options | Credit and debit card, crypto |
| Payment processors | Confirmo, PayRedeem |
| Warnings | FCA, BCSC, SMB Turkey |
| Compliance rating | Red Compliance |
| Related individuals | Ozan Ozerk, John Watson |
Short Narrative
LQDFX is a forex brand operated by the unregulated offshore entity LQD LTD, registered in Saint Lucia. Until recently, it was operated by LQD LLC, registered in St. Vincent & The Grenadines. However, the offices are located in Sofia, Bulgaria. The company’s director and 30% shareholder is John Watson, also the domain registrant.
LQDFX has been the subject of warnings from the Capital Markets Board of Turkey (link), the US SEC, and the Canadian BCSC warning in Canada. Already in June 2017, the Turkish regulator blocked LQDFX for Turkish consumers.
In 2019, the U.S. CFTC included LQDFX in its Red List.
The Similarweb Analysis
Between March and May 2023, most of the site’s approximately 67,000 visitors came from the United States (43.51%), followed by the UK (31.92%), and France (9.02%), the Similarweb statistics say.
Compliance Check
LQDFX is not necessarily a scam, but in any case, it offers unauthorized and, thus, illegal financial products in the United States, Europe, UAE, and Asia. Moreover, the onboarding is not compliant with the applicable regulatory requirements in these countries.
LQDFX has already received several regulatory warnings in various jurisdictions.
In our review today, we could have made unlimited pre-KYC deposits to LQDFX via Bitcoins (BTC) without confirming our identity or address. The crypto deposits are to be made either by transferring them directly to the LQDFX address or via the crypto payment processor Confirmo (www.confirmo.net). This approach certainly violates financial laws and regulatory frameworks in most jurisdictions.
Given the lack of regulatory authorization, warnings from financial market regulators, and other regulatory lapses, we have assigned LQDFX a Red Compliance Rating.
Please read our updated report on EuroTrader Group here.
Share Information
If you have any information about LQDFX, Ozan Ozerk, or any other acting persons, please let us know via our whistleblower system, Whistle42.
