Crown Forex loses control

[Scam Investigations Committee]

Is there any chance of getting the money back?

Yes. The SFBC will recover some or even all of the money. Depending on how their investigation progresses, they may even restore control to Crown Forex's management.

The FPA never could determine exactly what the core problem was. We are confident that the SFBC will retain control of Crown Forex until the problem is fixed.

 

[Gallant1]

Gday fron Australia

Gday FPA Members,

This is my first post here, nice to meet you all.

Couldn't help but read about Crown FX. Unfortunately, this reads so very similar to another saga - Tradex - and I am compelled to share my experience.

Though there may have been some genuine issues with Tradex, its been my experience with the SFBC that traders with money in Crown should be very worried about their appointment - VERY.

Make no mistake, the SFBC and the Laywers they assign to bankruptcy (its coming, I can tell) proceeding are voracious predators. In their last botched effort (much apparent incompetence), they managed to destroy Tradex.....and make no mistake - the lawyers fattened their fee as much as they could (typical). Even the US court system was used to protect the US assets of Tradex from being "redeemed" by the Swiss.

It could be there's not that much wrong with Crown (maybe there is) but make no mistake - if the SFBC are involved I would withdraw what you can ASAP - because there's now DEFINITELY seriously up with Crown...and its the pungent odour of the SFBC wafting evidently in the breeze.

Friggen "regulators"...there to protect us, just like big gov (thanks, but no thanks) Shortly, if not already, there will be no further redemptions, you can earmark remaining capital for the SFBC and its team of vultures.

The Swiss have such a high standing for the most part, but, I've heard a general slight echoed against them from more than one senior/older trader buddies of mine. Lets just say that once assets are in the Swiss Jurisidiction, no-one from another jurisdiction can get em if they say so - including, at times, the rightful owners....its akin to theft.

Call me Jaded, but I was just absolutely appalled at how the SFBC operates...no offence to the good Swiss folk reading this. They have no regard for the protection/preservation of investors funds.

To the fellow who commeneted on staying in the US...well, I'd sooner trust their system of bankruptcy. The US operates with far more accountability...the SFBC are a closed shop. In the end....in either case, you can be sure there's:

a) Not going to be much capital left AND
b) You'll be waiting a year or two, at least, and go through whole load of legal buggery to pick up the scraps (like I have been for the past year).

As if trading wasn't challening enough. To traders at Crown, submit your withdrawal request NOW and forget about it for the next year or two. You might get some luck..you gonna need it!

Kind Regards, Adam

 

[juangecko]

I tried to withdraw on the first week of december and they ignored my requests of withdrawals not even knowing what was going on with Crown. Finally on the 11th they changed the balance of my MT4 but the money never arrived.
Now, you cannot withdraw, they are under investigation.. too late.
I hope we will get the money back soon...but things look bad.
Any other recomendation?

 

[Joa]

Crown and SFBC

There is indeed ONE way open to ALL who have money at Crown and to those where Crown refused to pay back:

It is called

ZAHLUNGSBEFEHL
(order to pay, which will be issued by the government's bankruptcy office, based on your demand)

All this to be filed with the local bankruptcy office at the seat of the company in Bassecourt.

You must prove that you requested to get paid and did not receive your funds and
any attorney or auditor, maybe a trustee can file such paper on your behalf.

THAT action will cause instant response and you be the first ones in line to get paid - if there is something left at all.

I do not agree fully with our Australian friend. You can not simply blame the Swiss authorities when someone operates an entity illegally. First they need to hear about it, THEN they can act. Sadly enough, that mostly happens when it is already too late and no funds can be recovered. When there is no complaint there won't be a judge...... Once the complaints start pouring in, such ventures are already in the last stages of the scam.

I only refer to those misleading statements by some in this forum who painted a bright picture of Crown when it was already under investigation.

You simply can't do business based on belief - do it on facts that your own due diligence provided.

 

[travpip]

how stupid

:unhappy:

Spend one year of my life devoted to forex. I have accounts with GFT, fxsol and FXCM for the past year....basically depositing money and slowly loosing it - fair enough - it was the learning curve - learning by making my mistakes. My wife and family and friends who have no idea about forex had been growing impatient with me wondering why i was spending so much time on it.....alot of effort with no reward just losses..
So i continue demoing, perservering now with the metatrader platform and i seem to be getting my act together and i am determined. I look for a broker that uses the MT4 platform as i see that will help me as that is how i have been doing well demoing.
Sign on with crown early novemeber (OK no proper due diligence on my part - they where advertisinf in forexstreet and there webpage and everything looked and sounded legit and said the funds where secured by swiss regualtions and some ARIF thing...so OK away i go and sign up)...All good ...deposit funds ....all good....start making a profit..looking good....early December go to make my first ever forex withdrawal....feeling good....as i am sending the request (before i know any of this)my wife who is sacarstic says i bet all this forex is a Nigerian Scam...I say shut up "you dont know what your talking about"....i have been devoting myself to this ****....i even say at that stage if it is a scam i will jump of a bridge. I have been working my 'real' job 10 hours a day and trading from late afternoon to early morning 7am is when new york closes for me and 6pm is about when london gets going.. I had alerts to wake me up at points of interest. i was working around the clock..I was desperate we need the money.
NOW THIS!!!!!.......****ing Crown Forex have all my funds locked up and getting no where with this initial request for withdrawal.
My wife hates seeing me even on the computer now.....she thinks they all scam the whole bloody forex.
All i can see is a long drawn out process with no certainty of any outcome.
my wife says give up travis in is all SCAM....what can i say!!!!!!
i should done this and could of done that

 

[PipStar]

I suppose you can call me one of the lucky ones. In october this year, Crown decided to close my account without giving any reason so I assumed it was because I was being profitable. I withdrew and received my 14k profits. Shortly after that some traders started having withdrawal problems with Crown.
In November, my wife decided to open an account with Crown. She traded there for 2 weeks but when I looked at Crown data feed, I didnt like it as it had changed and had become very jumpy making it hard to get a fill. Rumours had also started over the web about Crown so I advised my wife to withdraw all her money from Crown and it was deposited in her bank account. When I look back at it, it may well have been a lucky escape for us both.

Spend one year of my life devoted to forex.

Hey Trav, sorry to hear about your situation. But I can tell you that one year is nothing in forex. There are so many things to learn. I spent my first 3 years losing or earning barely nothing from it but now I have been profitable for the last 5 years. There is hope my friend. If you can make profits with Crown, then it's also possible with one of the 3 brokers you mention above. Don't give up.

 

[Black Knight]

Investigators

We have been in direct communication with the EBK in Geneva, and have learned that the attorneys in charge of the investigation (and therefore currently in charge of Crown Forex itself) are Laurent Winkelmann and Philippe von Bredow. Mr. Winkelmann has advised us that all funds are currently frozen, and more information should become available after Jan. 30th.

The investigation centers around Crown's compliance with Swiss regulations, and not anything (yet) related to financials or solvency. Ironically, it may well have been FPA's raising a panic at the beginning of the month which led to the EBK to turn what started as a routine audit into an all-out seizure of assets. In such cases, a regulator typically moves to protect ALL creditors (which means more than just the account holders).

As we learn more, we will post the info at http://fx-knight.com/smForum/index.php?topic=395.0

 

[Black Knight]

Update from the Swiss Authorities

I've just received some additional information from Christina Bürgi of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) - they are the new "super regulator" formed as a result of banking, exchange, and insurance regulation coming under one roof and are replacing the SFBC / EBK:

FINMA is undertaking an investigation to screen the activities of Crown Forex SA and that until this investigation is completed the company’s activity is suspended. During the investigation no withdrawal from the company’s accounts are possible. FINMAs interest is to protect all investors.

In regards to the question of how preventing me from withdrawing was "protecting my interests", and as to which "creditor" would be paid first if the company were forced into insolvency (account holder balances vs. investigating attorney billable hours):

Your serious accusations against the work of the Swiss Supervisory Authority are rejected as improper.

Oops... I struck a nerve. oh:

 

[Joa]

withdrawing money from Crown

You need to know a little bit about the law, too.
Once such an investigation is under way, and all "assets" are frozen, only the final result can determine who is who and who paid what - and more important where it was held.
Again, if it was in a "customer segregated account", the investor is probably safe and will get his money back. Allow me to doubt that Crown kept it correctly in such accounts and that makes it complicated. Crown might have pretended to do so and you'll only know after the investigation that is under way.
More likely is that those "non-segregated" monies are now in one pot and the law requires that ALL creditors of that class be treated the same way. If Crown did something illegal and some funds vanished, then the remaining monies are equally distributed among that same class of creditors. That is the reason you cannot withdraw any monies right now. If they were to allow ONE person to withdraw his full investment, others might get stung and that is not allowed by law here. The law demands that ALL same class creditors be treated equally.
So don't blame the Authorities for treating every creditor in the same fashion. If you guys get lucky, you're getting your funds back 100%, if you're less lucky you all get the same percentage applied to that class of creditors, and if you're out of luck, you simply get nothing.

 

[Joa]

demand payment from Crown

I refer to my previous posting
I strongly recommend that anyone having an account with Crown immediately withdraw ALL funds according to the last known account statement or balance.
If the trades were faked by Crown, you are no matter what entitled to the money based on the last statement. If you do not demand payment in full, your account might be only valued at the money you actually paid in, while you had profits (even when faked by Crown) and demand payment based on the last statement, you're entitled to that sum.
If there is a settlement, say 50% and it's based on your paid in capital, then thats what it's going to be. If you had doubled your money, and you get 50% settlement, you get ALL your money back