FinanceFeed reported today that the U.S. Maryland District Court turned town Lee Elbaz’ request to travel to Israel. The Judge has found that the defendant remains a significant risk of flight. The U.S. authorities continue to believe that this defendant poses a serious risk of flight under the Bail Reform Act. The trial is scheduled to commence on July 16, 2019.
Already on March 29, 2019, a Magistrate Judge denied Lee Elbaz’s Emergency Motion to Modify Conditions of Release to allow her to travel to Israel to visit her grandfather who is critically ill on the grounds that the defendant poses a flight risk. Elbaz filed a motion for review of the Magistrate Judge’s Order. The United States Government has filed a Memorandum in Opposition to the Motion. On April 2, 2019, the Court affirmed the Magistrate Judge’s detention order.
Elbaz was arrested by the FBI in September 2017. The Indictment charges Lee Elbaz with several counts around binary options fraud. Elbaz allegedly participated from approximately May 2014 through June 2017 in a fraudulent scheme involving the sale and marketing of binary options via the brands BinaryBook and BigOption. She has been the CEO of Israeli Yukom Communications which promoted these fraudulent binary options schemes.
In addition to Lee Elbaz, four other people are involved in the binary options scam with BinaryBook and BigOption. They have already pleaded guilty and are currently waiting to be sentenced:
- Austin Smith, former Vice President of Numaris, a partner of
Yukom pleaded guilty, and founder of Wealth Recovery International. Sentencing has been scheduled for September 3, 2019. - Lissa Mel (a/k/a “Monica Sanders”) pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Sentencing for defendant Mel has been scheduled for June 17, 2019.
- Liora Welles (a/k/a “Lindsay Cole,” “Lindsay Wells,” and “Lindsay Taylor”) pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Sentencing has been scheduled for March 22, 2019.
- Shira Uzan (a/k/a “Shira Baror” and “Emily Laski”) pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud charged. Sentencing has been scheduled for March 22, 2019.
