Yukom Case – Justice works, binary options boiler room executive Lee Elbaz found guilty and was ordered to be taken into custody

According to Simona Weinglass of The Times of Israel, the trial against the Israeli Lee Elbaz, former CEO of the Israeli boiler room operator Yukom Communications, started on July 16, 2019, before the appropriate U.S. court. Witnesses included former boiler room employees and FBI agents involved in the case. On August 7, 2019, the jury found Lee Elbaz guilty of fraud with binary options. The verdict was rendered by a new jury within just a few hours after an allegedly biased juror was replaced yesterday. The verdict is a first huge victory for the many thousands of victims of Israel’s fraudulent binary options industry. The judge ordered her taken into custody immediately after the jury’s verdict.

The prosecutors’ arguments

The jury heard from the prosecution and its witnesses that Yukom Communications, led by defendant Lee Elbaz, was a center of financial vampirism. Yukom has served customers of the binary options platforms BinaryBook and BigOption. Yukom’s boiler room agents took more than $145 million off these customers. With lies about their identity, their location, their financial experience and the returns they can generate. The prosecution accused Lee Elbaz of being responsible for and organizing these lies and financial vampirism as CEO of Yukom.

Defense Line

Elbaz’s defense strategy was to claim that the alleged fraud was the exclusive responsibility of her subordinates. She herself would never have lied to investors or incited employees to do so. However, the prosecution provided evidence that Elbaz had trained employees to systematically lie to investors.

The “small” lies, such as false names or false statements about the financial experience of employees, would have been covered for Elbaz by a legal statement from Israeli lawyer David Bitton.

Jury finds Lee Elbaz guilty

The evidence presented by the prosecution must have been conclusive and convincing. The jury did not make an easy decision. After four days of deliberation from Thursday to Monday, Lee Elbaz was found guilty. In the run-up to the trial, five former Yukom employees have already pleaded guilty to fraud with binary options.

The “f**cking money making machine” Lee Elbaz was found guilty in all four counts of the indictment. Each of these cases is punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment. The sentence will be handed in court on 9 December 2019.

Precedent case

The Yukom case is certainly an important precedent for the judicial treatment of the Israeli binary options fraud industry. The trial against Lee Elbaz was merely the prelude to further charges in the Yukom case. The trial against Yukom shareholder and beneficial owner Yosef (Yossi) Herzog is certainly the highlight. This indictment should be the next. Further accusations are to follow, one hears from insiders.

After Lee Elbaz‘s conviction and the guilty pleas of the five former employees, one can be curious about the sentencing. As is customary in US criminal law, the judge determines the extent of the punishment in separate hearings. Some of the dates for these convictions have already been set. We would be surprised if Lee Elbaz were sentenced to less than 20 years in prison and a million-dollar sentence. A prison sentence of 25-30 years would seem more probable and just to us.

Guilty verdicts and pleads

• Lee Elbaz (a/k/a “Lena Green”), the former CEO of the Israel-based company, Yukom Communications, was found guilty after a three-week jury trial of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and three counts of wire fraud. Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 9, 2019 .
• Lissa Mel (a/k/a “Monica Sanders”) worked as boiler room agent for Numaris. She pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She was sentenced to a 12-months prison term and a restitution payment of $288,024.
• Austin Smith, (a/k/a “John Ried“) former Vice President of Numaris, a partner of Yukom and founder of Wealth Recovery International pleaded guilty, Sentencing has been scheduled for September 3, 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 Sept 20, 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 Sept 20, 2019. 
• Yair Hadar (a/k/a “Steven Gold”) pleaded guilty on March 21, 2019. Sentencing has been scheduled for Sept 23, 2019.
• Yossi Herzog, a beneficial owner of the Yukom Scheme, is indicted with binary options fraud. Trial date and details of the indictment are not yet publicly known.
• Kobi Cohen, a beneficial owner of the Yukom Scheme, is indicted with binary options fraud. Trial date and details of the indictment are not yet publicly known.