Binary Options – Open Letter To Wealth Recovery International

Dear Wealth Recovery International Team,
Dear Tami Hamm,

we understand that you are upset and desperate after your Wealth Recovery International partner Austin Smith had to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with Binary Options in the context of his work for Wealth Recovery International. On a bail of $300,000 he was at least allowed to leave prison and, according to U.S. reports, to stay at his parents’ home in the USA until the sentencing. As is well known, the sentencing is scheduled for 3 September 2019. The maximum penalties provided by statute for the offense to which Smith is pleading guilty are as follows:

FinTelegram and its people were publicly insulted and badly slandered as “antisemites” by Austin Smith and yourself simply because of correct reporting. I would like to counter this with this open letter. As you are aware your meeting with FinTelegram in Vienna was recorded and hence documented. We have not heard any remark that could have been qualified as “antisemitic”. On the contrary, you guys offended our participating Israeli guest very badly. It was FinTelegram that invited you to join this meeting and share intel. FinTelegram didn’t know about your business practices back then.

We for ourselves am grateful for the opportunity of public discussion about the incomprehensible ethics of the people behind the binary options and the fund recovery industry including Wealth Recovery International. All lies you spread about us show how shabby the industry and the players in this industry are. Public discussion will facilitate FinTelegram’s mission to reach even more people and prevent possible fraud through binary options or funds recovery schemes.

Reporting Perpetrators Is Not Antisemitism

FinTelegram has reported on the court case Austin Smith as well as the Times of Israel, Finance Feeds or Finance Magnates. Just to name a few prominent media outlets which are certainly not suspected of being “antisemitic”, are they? Unfortunately, the case is truly remarkable – a former binary options perpetrator, Austin Smith, the founder of Wealth Recovery International, is once again ripping off his victims under a “Funds Revocery” label. This is not the opinion of FinTelegram, but that of the U.S. authorities. The Times of Israel said:

According to a court filing, Smith obtained $125,000 in fees and commissions for the services of Wealth Recovery International from at least one client whom he had directly defrauded when he was an employee at BinaryBook. Smith did not disclose to this client that he was one of the people who had earlier defrauded him.

Simona Weinglass of The Times of Israel in her article
“Israeli-American claiming to help binary options victims pleads guilty to fraud”

Austin Smith had to agree with the U.S. authorities’ view on the evidence at hand. Hence, he pleaded guilty to a so-called plea deal on March 14, 2019 (plea agreement available for download here).

As a matter of fact, too many binary options fraud schemes were orchestrated by and supported by Israeli citizens. The renowned Israeli journalist Simona Weinglass from the Times of Israel also pointed out this fact. For months she has reported in her well-known series “Wolves of Tel Aviv: Israel’s vast, amoral binary options scam exposed” about the billion-dollar fraud industry in Israel and how Israeli scammers defrauded investors worldwide with binary options.

The fact that FinTelegram refers to Israeli participation is certainly not an “antisemitic” statement, but an undisputed and widely accepted fact. You may simply ask the U.S. authorities! Your partner Austin Smith, Israeli-American was part of this Israeli fraud machine with his work for the BinaryBook scheme even though he called himself “John Ried” back then. The U.S. authorities have already emphasized this many times.

FinTelegram – Clean Sheet And References

Unlike Austin Smith, the founder and CEO of FinTelegram has never been convicted of fraud or any other criminal offense by any court. The same is true for any single member of the FinTelegram team. On the contrary, the BitRush Corp case brought forward by Wealth Recovery International shows that the FinTelegram team has been fighting massively against the fraudsters of the binary options since 2016 already and has been successful. In the BitRush case, the co-founder of BitRush Corp who is also the founder of FinTelegram refused to comply with the board’s order to work with the German Uwe Lenhoff and his Veltyco Group and refused to sign off any financial statements that would have enabled Bitrush to support the fraud machinery of UWE LENHOFF.

In 2016, this Uwe Lenhoff and his companies operated some illegal binary options schemes such as Option888, TradoVest, XMarkets or TradeInvest90, Uwe Lenhoff approached BitRush for the use of the company´s software. For this very reason, the BitRush founder and its advisers refused to participate in Uwe Lenhoff’s obviously criminal way of working. The refusal consequently led to disputes with the other BitRush shareholders and the departure of the founder from the company he co-founded. In this context, it should be mentioned that the BitRush founder and his advisors have filed criminal complaints regarding the money laundering activities of Uwe Lenhoff with the authorities which significantly contributed to the arrest of Uwe Lenhoff and his partner Gal Barak.

FinTelegram Work Led To Arrests And Closing Down Of Illegal Broker Sites

After the departure from BitRush, the founder of BitRush and his team subsequently founded FinTelegram and EFRI and continued the fight against the operators of illegal broker sites. With corresponding successes. While Wealth Recovery International with its binary options history evidently ripped off retail investors FinTelegram and EFRI really fought against these perpetrators:

• Uwe Lenhoff was arrested for binary options fraud, financial crime, and money laundering;
• the Israeli Gal Barak, a partner of Uwe Lenhoff and one of the main binary options perpetrator, was arrested in Sofia and is currently fighting his extradition to Austria;
• Dr. Joachim Kalcher, who started to work with Uwe Lenhoff late 2016, is also a main suspect in the case;
• Authorities in several European countries are currently investigating against the network of these bad actors;
• fraudulent broker schemes XTraderFX, SafeMarkets, Golden Markets, CryptoPoint or OptionStarsGlobal have been shot down thanks to FinTelegram and EFRI;
• authorities in various countries are working closely with the FinTelegram team to track down and arrest binary option fraudsters.

Looking back, the BitRush founder team is fully justified in its opinion and behavior in 2016 and in contrast to the Canadian judge, the European authorities were closer to the matter and alerted by our money laundering complaints filed 2016. Meanwhile, binary options are banned in almost all jurisdictions worldwide. Given the past of our FinTelegram and EFRI people, we not only have the legitimacy for the operation of a financial intelligence medium, but also the proven credibility for funds recovery (without huge retainers). We have never been associated with an illegal broker or online schemes. On the contrary, we are pioneers in fighting them. What’s your reference?

Insults And Bullshit

While FinTelegram and EFRI people really fought fraudulent schemes and its perpetrators, Wealth Recovery International and its founder Austin Smith, on the other hand, continued with the binary options approach. Consequently, Smith plead guilty of fraud with binary options and, according to the U.S. authorities, in his new “fund recovery life” again ripped off the investors previously damaged by him.

You, dear Tami Hamm, shouldn’t make the mistake of joining your partner’s approach and trying to harm people with unsubstantiated, false and threatening statements. That’s the binary options way. You have our sympathy and understanding for the awkward situation you’ve been put in over Austin Smith. Insult, slandering and lying about FinTelegram and EFRI and its people will neither help you nor bring sympathy and most probably it will not help Austin Smith in his criminal proceedings.

The good thing about these insults, slander, and threats, however, is that they enable us to hold a public debate in the best interests of cheated small investors. I am looking forward to your reply and an open and interesting discussion. The audience is here for sure.

Best regards

Tamir Cohen

Editor-in-Chief FinTelegram