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Pharaoh, thanks for sending me the heads up. I'd also like to quote what you wrote in another thread...
"I haven't yet seen any US law firm take on a forex case (even against a US broker) on a no win, no fee basis. People also need to read the fine print on the typical ambulance chaser advertisement. There's usually a line about the client covering costs (which are separate from fees collected if there's a winning case). Even in the rare cases of absolutely zero upfront costs, fees, etc., no lawyer will take those for anything other than the easist cases or cases which might result in huge settlements and lots of press coverage. How many US lawyers are going to invest the time and expense to go after Israeli firms hidden behind multiple layers of offshore shell corporations (which can declare bankruptcy or just deregister themselves at a moment's notice). Just finding the best jurisdiction to sue them in would require large amounts of time and effort.
Hiring an international law firm for one-on-one representation is expensive. Most firms don't just whip up a pair of letters in 20 minutes and send them out for vast sums of money. A good firm will want to see evidence and will do some of it's own research on the target company. This can make those letters very expensive. Sure, you could find a lawyer in a strip mall who would write something up for $100, but the broker can take 10 minutes on Google to find that the lawyer handles local cases and is no real threat to them.
On the other hand, if you are lucky and a law firm about to do a class action lawsuit, you can get representation for a lot less money. All the research on best jurisdiction and where the money is likely to be hidden has already been done, so your odds are much better than going out there with just yourself and single lawyer or very small law firm.
Sometimes the law firm's fees are carved out of the winnings of the client(s). Sometimes a major victory can include legal fees (just never count on this). In many cases, it comes down to "How much are you willing to spend to try to get back even some of your money vs letting the scammers walk away with every cent?"
Allow me to add my own experience. A few years ago, a US broker decided to try to sue some traders in Federal Court while claiming the traders somehow forced the broker to accept false prices - and offered to drop the suit if the traders would admit guilt and not file any claims with US regulators. One of those traders was an FPA member. I examined the trading records of this member and believe that he was innocent. It looked like an easy case. I had a contact at a US law firm that had dealt with forex cases. I told them that the trader's money was all tied up in the broker's account and he needed help. I offered to have the FPA cover the case step-by-step as it proceeded through the legal system. I laid out that I'd use FPA resources to make sure that everyone in the forex community knew the broker was the place to go for issued with US brokers.
The lawyer declined. Every other lawyer contacted declined.
If anyone knows of even 1 US lawyer who will take a case against a US broker for no upfront fees or costs, I will make certain that all FPA members know about it.
If anyone knows of a lawyer anywhere ready to go out, find the people behind some of these offshore brokers and file a case for no upfront fees or costs, I'll do the same. The closest I've seen so far was Phoenix Advisors appears to have 1 lawyer who handled 1 case for free. To the best of my knowledge, they are not equipped to deal with a significant number of cases. If this changes, I'll be very happy to spread the word.
A class action lawsuit against major brokers is big news. Check and see how many complaints there are against IronFx, NRGBinary, and the other brokers named in the Giambrone Press Release. If it has even a tiny chance of winning, I'd be harming FPA members by hiding it. Instead, I consider finally having a law firm with the capability and willingness to launch cases like this to be a huge step towards protecting FPA members and traders worldwide.
There is a fee for the class action suits, but I believe it will be less than anyone has reported paying to be a single client being directly represented. The final up-front fee will be at least partly dependent on how many people sign up. If anyone knows of a 100% fee-free class action lawsuit against any forex or binary broker, please post a link to it and I will see that it gets well publicized at the FPA. In the meantime, the only impending class action lawsuits currently active which I am aware of are the ones by Giambrone. I've heard rumors of a couple of such suits in the past, but haven't seen any results or heard any updates.
"I haven't yet seen any US law firm take on a forex case (even against a US broker) on a no win, no fee basis. People also need to read the fine print on the typical ambulance chaser advertisement. There's usually a line about the client covering costs (which are separate from fees collected if there's a winning case). Even in the rare cases of absolutely zero upfront costs, fees, etc., no lawyer will take those for anything other than the easist cases or cases which might result in huge settlements and lots of press coverage. How many US lawyers are going to invest the time and expense to go after Israeli firms hidden behind multiple layers of offshore shell corporations (which can declare bankruptcy or just deregister themselves at a moment's notice). Just finding the best jurisdiction to sue them in would require large amounts of time and effort.
Hiring an international law firm for one-on-one representation is expensive. Most firms don't just whip up a pair of letters in 20 minutes and send them out for vast sums of money. A good firm will want to see evidence and will do some of it's own research on the target company. This can make those letters very expensive. Sure, you could find a lawyer in a strip mall who would write something up for $100, but the broker can take 10 minutes on Google to find that the lawyer handles local cases and is no real threat to them.
On the other hand, if you are lucky and a law firm about to do a class action lawsuit, you can get representation for a lot less money. All the research on best jurisdiction and where the money is likely to be hidden has already been done, so your odds are much better than going out there with just yourself and single lawyer or very small law firm.
Sometimes the law firm's fees are carved out of the winnings of the client(s). Sometimes a major victory can include legal fees (just never count on this). In many cases, it comes down to "How much are you willing to spend to try to get back even some of your money vs letting the scammers walk away with every cent?"
Allow me to add my own experience. A few years ago, a US broker decided to try to sue some traders in Federal Court while claiming the traders somehow forced the broker to accept false prices - and offered to drop the suit if the traders would admit guilt and not file any claims with US regulators. One of those traders was an FPA member. I examined the trading records of this member and believe that he was innocent. It looked like an easy case. I had a contact at a US law firm that had dealt with forex cases. I told them that the trader's money was all tied up in the broker's account and he needed help. I offered to have the FPA cover the case step-by-step as it proceeded through the legal system. I laid out that I'd use FPA resources to make sure that everyone in the forex community knew the broker was the place to go for issued with US brokers.
The lawyer declined. Every other lawyer contacted declined.
If anyone knows of even 1 US lawyer who will take a case against a US broker for no upfront fees or costs, I will make certain that all FPA members know about it.
If anyone knows of a lawyer anywhere ready to go out, find the people behind some of these offshore brokers and file a case for no upfront fees or costs, I'll do the same. The closest I've seen so far was Phoenix Advisors appears to have 1 lawyer who handled 1 case for free. To the best of my knowledge, they are not equipped to deal with a significant number of cases. If this changes, I'll be very happy to spread the word.
A class action lawsuit against major brokers is big news. Check and see how many complaints there are against IronFx, NRGBinary, and the other brokers named in the Giambrone Press Release. If it has even a tiny chance of winning, I'd be harming FPA members by hiding it. Instead, I consider finally having a law firm with the capability and willingness to launch cases like this to be a huge step towards protecting FPA members and traders worldwide.
There is a fee for the class action suits, but I believe it will be less than anyone has reported paying to be a single client being directly represented. The final up-front fee will be at least partly dependent on how many people sign up. If anyone knows of a 100% fee-free class action lawsuit against any forex or binary broker, please post a link to it and I will see that it gets well publicized at the FPA. In the meantime, the only impending class action lawsuits currently active which I am aware of are the ones by Giambrone. I've heard rumors of a couple of such suits in the past, but haven't seen any results or heard any updates.
