After pleading guilty to wire fraud charges in November of last year, Jason Scharf may now face the wrath of those he tricked into buying binary options.
The US Justice Department released a statement on Monday evening saying that it wants ‘Victim Impact Statements’ from people that were scammed by Citrades - a binary options trading firm.
Scharf, who is a dual citizen of Israel and the US, was the CEO of Citrades from early 2013 through to the end of 2015.
Though the company was based mainly in Israel, it had representatives working on its behalf in the US.
And it wasn’t long before Uncle Sam’s gavel of justice came crashing down on Scharf and his cronies.
In his plea, the former CEO admitted to having lied to investors about the products he was selling.
He also had to admit that ‘account managers’ were working for Citrades, not the traders they were purporting to help.
On top of that, he had to admit that the prices Citrades displayed did not reflect market prices but were set by a platform provider and that all trading was b-booked.
Wu's fury
Scharf is going to be sentenced for his crimes on September 9th of this year, and his case is being overseen by Judge George Wu.
Judge Wu’s decision will be influenced by the aforementioned Victim Impact Statements.
These may sound like a series of simple letters, but that’s not the case. It includes any mental health problems, including nightmares, appetite change, and uncontrolled crying, that a victim of Scharf’s may have faced.
The victim also has to say how it has affected their family, lifestyle and describe any financial losses they incurred as a result of the scam.
As Scharf is thought to have scammed over 8,000 people - most of them in the US - it’s possible that Judge Wu may end up with several postal sacks filled with letters detailing victims’ sob stories.
And given how ruthless many binary options brokers were, it’s likely they’ll be genuinely heart wrenching stories too.
Come September time, Scharf better prepare to feel the vengeance of the shafted.
