Overseas Firms to Pay $451.6 Million in US Bogus Options Case

Three Israeli citizens and their offshore businesses were ordered by a federal judge to pay $451.6 million in connection with an international binary-options fraud case brought by a US derivatives watchdog.

The penalty was imposed by Judge Jeremy Daniel of the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois after the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission in 2019 accused the firms and their leaders of peddling illegal, off-channel options trades that led to customers losing millions of dollars.

The businesses, including Yukom Communications Ltd. and Linkopia Mauritius Ltd., and three individuals — Lee Elbaz, Yossi Herzog and Shalom Peretz ...