iTrader Israel's legal battle continued today as the case surrounding the firm was transferred to the Israeli State Attorney’s Office. The case, which was handed over from the Investigations, Intelligence and Commerce Control Department (IICD) of the Israel Securities Authority (ISA), deals with a number of charges against several iTrader Israel employees.

Charges were launched in late 2016 with the Israeli prosecutor stating that iTrader was simply a “well-oiled scam.”

A source familiar with the case told Finance Magnates that the company is not worried about today's announcement as it sees the decision as merely a technical issue. The ISA, the source noted, has not said it will indict iTrader and the handing over of the case to the prosecutor is standard procedure.

CEO in the dock?

Seven senior members of the firm, including the former CEO, are involved in the case. The prosecutor claims that they used the knowledge gap between themselves and clients to misrepresent what they were selling and the levels of profitability involved.

More serious are charges that the various employees put pressure on clients, who they knew were losing money, to continue to invest more, despite knowing that those clients were going to lose that money too. Some of these customers had lost hundreds of thousands of dollars and iTrader Israel employees are accused of having taken advantage of their mental state to continue putting pressure on them to hand over more cash.

With the transfer of their case to the State Attorney’s Office, the case is moving to a new stage. The IICD investigated the issue, and the State Attorney will now have to decide whether to drop the case or to form an indictment against the accused. Once this is done, the case will move to a court and be ruled upon.

Adv. Ronen Rosenblum, iTrader Israel's attorney, weighed in on today's announcement, saying: “ISA’s announcement only means that the investigation is over, and nothing more. I am convinced that after examining the evidence, the prosecutor will decide to dismiss the case.”