Broker Responds to Police Raid

[AsstModerator]

On Thursday, April 2nd, 2009, a large group of police from the Swiss Financial Guard, along with 4 judges, raided the offices of ACM (Advanced Currency Markets). One computer and a number of financial documents were seized. After an initial review of the evidence and interviewing many of the employees, no charges have been filed yet.

This action was triggered by a complaint filed by a Mexican institutional investor who complained that AC Markets had manipulated prices. I've got a translated version of an article in French. ACM has filed its own complaint against this person, accusing him of blackmail, defamation, and forgery.

I thought this story was something that FPA members should know about. I held off for one day so that ACM would have a chance to respond. I am very happy that they did.

This is the official statement from ACM...

Firstly, we would like to thank you very much for giving us the opportunity to present our official response which you can find below:
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On Thursday the 2nd of April, on the basis of counterfeit documents produced by a former client, the authorities in Geneva visited ACM's offices.
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Collaborating in a transparent and active way, ACM delivered all information required.
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All elements prove ACM's good faith and it remains clear that the company has fallen victim to a former client bent on malicious intent.
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In return, ACM has lodged a complaint against this former client with accusations of blackmail, defamation and forgery of documents.
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The activities of the company have naturally continued as normal.
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Since its creation, ACM has constantly experienced strong growth and has offices in Geneva, New York, Dubai, Montevideo and has recently opened an office in Zurich.
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At end of March 2009, the company submitted its official request for a banking licence to FINMA.

I'd like to thank Patrick Bänziger of AC-Markets for replying to my inquiry. I'd also like to thank FPA member Ilya Paniotov for posting about this in the forums. There have also been a number of people who submitted links to the news stories in the FPA's reviews.



Original article in Swisster

Another article, in French
English Translation

One more article in French
English translation


This story is not over yet. Please post any links to any updated news stories in this thread.

 

[charlyt]

Do we know more information about this guy in Mexico? I can help.

 

[Ilya Paniotov]

ACM Busted by Geneva Police

I would like to THANK YOU -- Forex Pease Army to maintain this webside,
it is critical for traders to post they trading expirience with brokers.

 

[SAMMYFX]

Much information is needed from this mexican. His claim might be right. One can never know.

 

[Oohrhii]

this is actually the first post am going to give here..so ill just use this opportunity to commend this site..of the great work and the updates..i think its really making the diffrence....knowing that atleast somepeople do care out there.
more grease to ya'll elbow
.....Oohrhii...professional...chartist and analyst..

 

[Ilya Paniotov]

This scandal with ACM may change Swiss regulations about Forex industry

this is actually the first post am going to give here..so ill just use this opportunity to commend this site..of the great work and the updates..i think its really making the diffrence....knowing that atleast somepeople do care out there.
more grease to ya'll elbow
.....Oohrhii...professional...chartist and analyst..

As far as I know, this is HUGE development about ACM for Geneva, and also will have some major impact on Forex trading regulations.

The best way to find out about ACM dealing desk trading - is to see actual screenshots.

 

[leesystems]

Question on ACM

Perhaps I am not reading everything clearly....Somebody had a complaint, the Swiss authorities took strong action, the company responded, as yet, no charges against the company, and the company is filing charges against the complainant....

So, who actually committed the 'wrong'? Everyone here has experienced a person unrealistically complaining about a company. Is it an unsophisticated trader with more money than brains? Is it a slick company who has continued to evade the authorities? Or, what? Do we have to wait for the authorities to finish their investigation and charge either party? How will this change how Forex is regulated in Switzerland?

Regards,

 

[fanninson]

fanny

....Since ACM's creation it has constantly experienced strong growth and has offices in Geneva, New York, Dubai, Montevideo and has recently opened an office in Zurich.....we should ask ourselves - where do these resourses comes from? these forex brokers nowadays are richer than I think they should. bye for now

 

[bamcoti]

Brokers and the amount of money they make

One of the replies was that Brokers are making too much money. This insinuates that they are all crooked. I trade some very aggressive EAs on several accounts. I'm in the process of getting my CTA license. My IB rebates my accounts on my pip spread. I was astounded as to the rebates I could get because of my volume. I do over 1000 Round turn lots per month. Now when you consider that pip spreads are between 2 and 9 on the pairs I trade with the average of 6 or so ( a guess based on my trading) and the average tic value between $8.00 and $11.00 USD lets say ave. $10. They were earning $60k from my trading per month. That is with no dealing desk. So it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that there is a lot of money in this for a broker. That is why the stock market and futures are such a rip. They add a fee on top of that. Since this is the least regulated investment with the largest leverage and potential for loss or gain, I do not think we should come down on all the brokers. Just the bad ones. They carry the risk of the traders abusing the margin and leverage. If that is not enough money for them do do a bit of pass through book keeping and then they do something bad on top of that, I say then hang them out to dry in the sun by their privates. As far as our regulators they have very little power since they did away with the NASD. Now we have self regulated private regulators that have very little authority and answer to other non government self regulated agencies. Go to the NFA, CFTC, SEC, or FINRA web sites. It will not take to much reading to figure out that even with all the talk of regulation, We are dependant on our Broker being his own self regulator. So pick a good one, that you can trust.

 

[betino]

Are we close to the truth?

An ex-employee of ACM who could bring some proofs, molested by an ACM "body guard" in a hotel of Geneva ??
Threats and intimidation, strange practice !


Ilya Paniotov is named in this article.

http://www.letemps.ch/Page/Uuid/274f0db4-23b5-11de-bf8f-7af81e322a28|0