LeapRate Exclusive… LeapRate has learned from court documents that about two weeks ago a US judge in Illinois entered a $22.9 judgement in favor of several plaintiffs which had sued Retail Forex broker IKON Global Markets for fraud, as well as its former principals Diwakar Jagganath, Ioannis Litinas and George Daskaleas.
IKON Global Markets was the NFA-licensed subsidiary of the IKON Finance group, controlled by Turkish businessman Engin Yikilmazoglu, which at one point was a leading Retail FX firm with global reach. IKON exited the US retail forex market earlier this decade when US regulators tightened capital requirements and other rules around retail forex trading. Before exiting the US, IKON Global was hit with a $320,000 fine related to charges that it engaged in asymmetric price slippage practices on its MT4 platform that were favorable to IKON and caused disadvantageous trading conditions for certain customers.
LeapRate had reported earlier in March that, due to restrictions placed by the FCA on IKON Finance, the UK arm of the group, IKON Finance decided to exit the retail side of the business by selling its client base to Hantec Markets.
Back to the current court ruling… Illinois Circuit Judge the Honorable Diane M. Shelley issued a ruling dated August 14, 2017, issuing a judgement in favor of a number of plaintiffs against IKON Global and its aforementioned principals for a total of $22.9 million.
In her ruling, Judge Shelley ruled that:
- IKON and Jagganath made representations to induce the plaintiffs to invest money, including that there was no risk to the plaintiffs’ principal.
- They represented that there would be a substantial return on investment within one year.
- Daskaleas represented that he was a highly successful commodities trader.
- The individuals misrepresented their backgrounds, knowing them to be false.
- No trading of commodities actually took place, with the plaintiffs demanding the return of their funds to no avail.
- IKON as well as Jagganath and Daskaleas engaged in fraudulent behavior.
The plaintiffs are listed as being BSR Fund SA, United Capital Trust Inc., Volterra Investment Inc., B. Angel Investment Corp., Galactica FX Trading Corp., and Mrs. Bella Resti.
It is unclear if the plaintiffs will ever see a dime of their judgement. IKON itself is long gone from the US. And both Litinas and Daskaleas are dealing with separate criminal charges in Greece, where they are suspected of having run a separate multi-million dollar fraud and money laundering scheme.
A copy of the court’s decision can be seen here (pdf).