A group of investors led by Cody Kerns have dragged the defunct online forex trading firm, FxWinning Limited, and its co-owners to court over allegations of fraud and deceptive trade practices. Sanchez Fischer, the South Florida-based law firm representing the investors, announced the lawsuit today (Wednesday) noting that the legal action was initiated last week.

‘A Sophisticated Scheme’

FxWinning Limited, according to one of its websites, is registered in Hong Kong. The company operates two forex websites: fxwinning.net and fxwinning.pr.

According to Sanchez Fischer, the 27-page lawsuit alleged that FxWinning's owners, David Merino and Rafael Brito Cutie, and the company's de facto Principal Operations Manager in the United States, Renan da Rocha Gomes Bastos, engaged in a conspiracy to commit fraud, deceptive trade practices, and several other causes of action. Jonathan Lopez and Julian Kuschner, two individuals who "held themselves out" as Merino's partner and 'partners in FXWinning', were also allegedly involved in the acts.

In the lawsuit, the investors alleged that FxWinning and its principals solicited tens of millions of dollars by touting the platform’s trading algorithm and making “false promises, misrepresentations, and outright lies.”

Furthermore, investors claimed that FxWinning and its agents engaged in “a sophisticated scheme” that lured them into investing with the trading platform and subsequently substantially increasing their investments by making false promises of lucrative returns.

However, instead of delivering the promised returns, FxWinning prevented client withdrawal, citing a compliance audit. The brokerage later shut down, despite assuring investors that they had passed the compliance check. The investors are now seeking to recover over $28 million through legal action.

"Plaintiffs were left with no method of withdrawing their funds from their FxWinning accounts, and FxWinning and its principals simply stole their investors' money,” the law firm stated in the statement.

A Defunct Broker

Finance Magnates conducted a check on fxwinning.net and found that the forex trading platform ceased operations in late June, citing “unforeseen circumstances.” The other website, fxwinning.pr, remains inaccessible.

On its website, fxwinning.net claims to offer its users “a powerful trading platform in web, tablet or mobile.” The website also lists global banks, UBS, Citi, Barclays, Morgan Stanley and Commerzbank as some of its liquidity suppliers.

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