YUKOM Is Not The Only Illegal Online Trading Scheme

The Israeli Lee ELBAZ, 36, and her three co-conspirators Lissa MEL, Liora WELLES, and Shira UZAN are charged with running an illegal online trading scheme by the U.S. authorities. While Lee ELBAZ was the CEO of Israeli YUKOM COMMUNICATIONS, their co-conspirators worked for the company’s so-called investor retention services. Unfortunately, YUKOM is not the only illegally operating scheme in the online trading industry. Other companies such as E&G Bulgaria are even bigger.

The U.S. indictment alleges that YUKOM provided investor retention services for illegally operating broker sites. Currently, four former YUKOM employees are indicted with two of them pleaded guilty already (read our report here).

Former CEO of Israeli Sales and Marketing Company Yukom Charged for Role in Fraudulent Binary Options Scheme

The U.S. indictment alleges that Yukom provided investor “retention” services for two websites, known as BinaryBook and BigOption, that were used to promote and market purported binary options, and that those binary options were fraudulently sold and marketed. 

U.S.Department of Justice, United States v. Lee Elbaz

In their illegal online trading scheme, YUKOM employees systematically misled investors by falsely claiming to represent the interests of investors but that, in fact, the owners of the broker sites profited when investors lost money. YUKOM employees misrepresented the suitability of and expected return on investments and provided investors with false names and qualifications. They, too, misrepresented whether and how investors could withdraw funds from their accounts. The purpose of this conspiracy was to get retail investors money says the indictment:

YUKOM And E&G Bulgaria

Companies like YUKOM are responsible for tens of millions of investors worldwide being ripped off by illegal broker sites offering binary options, FOREX, crypto, and CFDs. While the domains (websites) were constantly changing, the boiler rooms and people remain the same. There are more YUKOMs out there in the market, even bigger ones.

In Bulgaria, for example, E&G Bulgaria (formerly E&G Finances) is run by Israeli Gal BARAK and his Israeli team. This team also includes Marina ANDREEVA, Kfir LEVY, and Stanislav MALETSKI. Kfir LEVY, for example, is Manager of the Boiler Rooms of E&G Bulgaria and Stanislav MALETSKI calls himself Retention Team Leader on his LinkedIn profile.

Marina ANDREEVA presents herself as CFO of E&G Finances on her LinkedIn profile while Gal BARAK himself acts as CEO and is the beneficial owner of this illegal online trading scheme. As with YUKOM, the team of E&G Bulgaria EOOD (E&G Bulgaria Ltd) acquires customers and customer funds for various illegal broker sites. These sites include SafeMarkets, XtraderFX, Golden Markets, and Fin-techPrime.

E&G Bulgaria Is Much Bigger Than YUKOM

In the U.S. Lee ELBAZ indictment, the prosecutors purport that the YUKOM-operated BinaryBook raised some $99 Million from investors between 2014 and 2016. FinTelegram received evidence that the E&G Finances (now E&G Bulgaria) raised more than $200 Million from investors via their illegal online trading scheme.

E&G Bulgaria is a case directly comparable to YUKOM. Count for count of the indictment may be applied. After the ban of binary options in Israel, people around Gal BARAK emigrated to Sofia, Bulgaria. From there they now operate their illegal broker networks and damage investors in the European Union. The interesting thing is that even the job names at YUKOM on the one hand and E&G Bulgaria on the other are identical. In both cases, the employees work with fake names and terrorist calls.

FinTelegram did some deep research on the platforms operated by E&G Bulgaria. When we registered with SafeMarkets, for example, we received 23 unwanted (cold) calls from E&G Bulgaria’s Boiler Room within the first 48 hours. Even after informing them that we don’t want these calls and they are forbidden in the EU, the boiler rooms continued their phone attacks. In addition, other callers also registered for other platforms. It can, therefore, be assumed that customer data about the boiler rooms will be used for a variety of platforms and marketing activities.

E&G Bulgaria and U.S. Connections

It may be a coincidence in time that E&G Finances recently deleted its website and Facebook page and now operates as E&G Bulgaria. FinTelegram reported on these incidents. Evidently, too many traces have been left for disappointed investors and authorities. In both Bulgarian companies – E&G Finances and E&G Bulgaria – U.S. Americans are involved in management.

Furthermore, there is a direct connection between the Israeli-Bulgarian team of the E&G mastermind Gal BARAK and the Israeli Gery SHALON, who is indicted for organizational cybercrime and money laundering in the USA.

FinTelegram was fed a list of more than a dozen illegal broker sites operating in the US that ripped off US retail investors. It is to be hoped that in the case of E&G Bulgaria and other companies, the EU authorities will act just as consistently as the U.S. authorities do against YUKOM.

Report Illegal Broker

Illegally operating broker schemes and their boiler rooms are part of fast-growing global cybercrime activities. Millions of investors are defrauded by those broker sites losing billions of euros every year. Hence, it is important to warn investors of such illicit sites. If you are a victim of an illegally operating broker site such as Tradeinvest90, Option888, XMarkets, XTraderFX, GToptions, StoxMarket, Bluetrading, FXTrade777, or KayaFX please file your claim and report activities via our whistleblower system: