Yesterday, the operator of an online binary options company, Blue Bit Banc, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The perpetrator, Blake Kantor (also known as Bill Gordon), faces up to 20 years in prison as well as restitution, criminal forfeiture and a fine.
These events took place in the federal court in Central Islip, where Kantor pleaded guilty and admitted to obstructing the investigation into his activities. From 2014 to 2017, Kantor and his accomplices took in around $1.5 million from roughly 700 investors in BBB’s binary options.
Investors were told that they can place binary option trades and that the predetermined profits promised them would be based on the actual prices of securities, currencies and other investments at particular points in time. Conveniently enough Kantor forgot to mention that there was software in place, which altered data associated with binary option investments in such a way that it favored BBB.
When Kantor was informed by an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation that they were looking into his involvement in binary options, he quickly had one of his co-conspirators alter BBB customer list. Additionally, while being interviewed by the FBI, Kantor said he had no involvement with binary options since August 2013.
“Kantor defrauded investors to enrich himself and then tried to cover his tracks by lying to the federal agents investigating the scheme,” stated United States Attorney Donoghue.
— US Attorney EDNY (@EDNYnews) November 19, 2018
The United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York further added:
“We will continue to protect the integrity of the financial marketplace by prosecuting to the fullest extent those who deceive the investing public and obstruct the pursuit of justice.”
In an attempt to cover their tracks, Kantor encouraged investors to convert their binary options into the cryptocurrency ATM Coin, which the agency describes as “a worthless cryptocurrency that he misleadingly told investors was worth substantial sums of money”.