Australian securities regulators are reportedly conducting an investigation against Forex TG Pty (FXTG), according to Israeli business newspaper Calcalist. The media report says that FXTG was founded by missing UTrade CEO, Aviv Talmor, and the Australian firm now allegedly owes investors around $2 million. The Israeli newspaper also reports that one of Talmor's international partners claims he owes him $800,000.
UPDATE: Speaking with Finance Magnates, the current owner of FXTG Stavro D'Amore explained that the newspaper report is false as Talmor is no longer linked with the firm. D'Amore commented: "I have no dealings with any liquidators or Aviv, the company has been mine since 4 November 2015 and ASIC records show this. I have taken control and am looking to offset certain parts of the business including restructuring and changing the brand. I have requested ASIC to voluntarily suspend my licence so I can restructure the brand without affecting clients and service."
UTrade Background
In December 2015 a Tel Aviv court banned UTrade Premium Ltd from all investment activity, following an appeal submitted by the Israeli Securities Authority (ISA) claiming unlicensed investment activity by the company.
An ISA audit revealed that 40 of UTrade Premium’s 350 clients have asked to withdraw their investments and were still in the middle of the payment procedure. The audit also revealed that since the ISA banned the brokerage from signing new clients the previous May, it has nonetheless acquired 44 new clients, pouring $3.5 million into UTrade Premium’s bank account.
“We suspect UTrade Premium investors’ funds were transferred from company’s account for other proposes then agreed upon,” the ISA report noted. “In addition, we suspect that UTrade Premium is seeking for new investors, though the company will not be able to restore investors’ funds out of known insolvency. Auditing reveals UTrade Premium’s Liquidity hardship, while traders asking for their cash back didn’t receive it [at all], or are receiving funds back bit by bit, through forced layout plans imposed by the company, which are expected not to be fully completed considering its current financial status.”
The last time we reported on FXTG back in October 2014, it had just finished going through a deep restructuring process and relaunching under a new brand.
