Crown Forex - Report any progress here

[Black Knight]

I recommend anyone who is owed money by Crown file their claim IMMEDIATELY.

Just a thought, guys... to be safe, contact one of the attorneys at the nomea.ch addresses to submit your claims - do not use the crownforex.info address just yet; to our knowledge Crown Forex owns a .ch and a .com

I know it is of little consequence to those of us losing money on this, however in my attempt to verify the validity of the e-mail which was sent around (to make sure it is not a phishing attempt to get all our account infos), I was surprised to find that the website belonging to the lawyers hired by FINMA appears to have been been hacked. A screenshot is below.

 

[Stony]

Crown Forex bankrupt

Hi folks,

I just got a message in the forum of WorldTra.de that bankruptcy will be declared shortly on Crown Forex SA by the Swiss authorities. The message is as follows.


Dear clients,

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has rendered on May 18, 2009 a decision opening the bankruptcy of CROWN FOREX SA as of Tuesday May 19, 2009 at 08:00 am (Swiss time).

The decision will be published on May 29, 2009 at 10:00 am (Swiss time).

Philippe von BREDOW and Laurent WINKELMANN have been appointed as bankruptcy liquidators by the FINMA.

Effective immediately, as of the date and time of the bankruptcy opening, the activities of CROWN FOREX SA are suspended, the company, its Directors and officers are forbidden to make or receive payments, and all the clients’ open positions are closed.

We thank you to communicate to the liquidators, until June 30, 2009, in writing the following :

1. Account Number and relevant details;
2. Open positions as of Tuesday 19 May 2009 at 08:00 (Swiss time), together with supporting documents thereof;
3. Any additional claim you may have toward CROWN FOREX SA;
4. Any debt you may have toward CROWN FOREX SA.

Sincerely

Philippe von BREDOW - Laurent WINKELMANN

NOTTER MEGEVAND & PARTNERS
Place Edouard-Claparède 3
1205 Genève
SWITZERLAND
p.vonbredow@nomea.ch
l.winkelmann@nomea.ch


Bad news, but it was to be expected.


Stony

 

[Black Knight]

I just spoke with Mr. Winkelmann, and can confirm the validity of the e-mail sent last night, as well as the legitimacy of the new Crown Forex internet address, which was set up by the legal team to help facilitate information flow during the bankruptcy proceedings. Seems the appeal Crown filed did little to impress the judges, and they issued a decision far earlier than everyone expected, and without FINMA having to file additional arguments.

He told me Crown is being very uncooperative and illusive throughout the bankruptcy proceedings, so they have to do each step essentially by force - which slows the entire process down considerably. The next step is they will go through Crown's records, locate and seize as many of their assets as possible, and hopefully be able to repay as much of the funds owed to clients as possible. I know in prior broker break-ups of this caliber, the process can take anywhere from 6 to 12 months.

Clients should submit their claims as instructed in the e-mail above to liquidators@crownforex.info

My own attorneys have advised that filing additional (separate) claims against the bankruptcy in Swiss civil courts will only serve to slow down the process at this point, and could potentially yield less in a settlement than simply waiting for FINMA. Another alternative would be to file proceedings against the Crown directors themselves in a criminal court, claiming damages. Seems there may already be one case pending to this effect.

 

[Trend Fighter]

Idon't know about bankruptcy laws in Switzerland , do they include some kind of federal insurance to the creditors for a certain Percentage of there funds or not........ in some countries governments do that.

 

[Black Knight]

A broker doesn't qualify as a "bank". Part of FINMA's issue with Crown is that they were claiming to have a banking license, and also claiming that client accounts were segregated. In fact they weren't. So our money is currently considered a Crown asset, to be divided among all credits once all assets and debts are accounted for.

Part of the regulatory reform currently going on in Switzerland is that all brokers and financial firms will be required to seek banking licenses (and therefore also meet banking-level capitalization requirements) in the future. This is why you're seeing all the other so-called Swiss brokers (like MIG Investments and Dukascopy) quickly fleeing the country and establishing operations in other jurisdictions.

I just spoke with Mr. Winkelmann, and can confirm the validity of the e-mail sent last night, as well as the legitimacy of the new Crown Forex internet address, which was set up by the legal team to help facilitate information flow during the bankruptcy proceedings. Seems the appeal Crown filed did little to impress the judges, and they issued a decision far earlier than everyone expected, and without FINMA having to file additional arguments.

He told me Crown is being very uncooperative and illusive throughout the bankruptcy proceedings, so they have to do each step essentially by force - which slows the entire process down considerably. The next step is they will go through Crown's records, locate and seize as many of their assets as possible, and hopefully be able to repay as much of the funds owed to clients as possible. I know in prior broker break-ups of this calibre, the process can take anywhere from 6 to 12 months.

Clients should submit their claims as instructed in the e-mail above to liquidators@crownforex.info

My own attorneys have advised that filing additional (separate) claims against the bankruptcy in Swiss civil courts will only serve to slow down the process at this point, and could potentially yield less in a settlement than simply waiting for FINMA. Another alternative would be to file proceedings against the Crown directors themselves in a criminal court, claiming damages. Seems there may already be one case pending to this effect.

 

[Scam Investigations Committee]

We can now confirm that Crown Forex is being liquidated. The details are here...

https://www.forexpeacearmy.com/forex-forum/scam-alerts-folder/4779-big-swiss-bankrupt.html

 

[Black Knight]

Update on Crown Forex

Hi folks,

I have some news on the Crown Forex fiasco, and regrettably it's not good. This information is not yet verified, but at least one major newspaper is saying Crown has "no assets". Since our accounts were never segregated by the broker as they claimed, they are legally deemed "Crown assets", meaning there may well be nothing left to be returned to us.

2 charged with running $190M Ponzi scheme | StarTribune.com

Francesc’s Weblog » Major Investor of Crown Forex S.A a U.S. Scammer and its CEO a liar… What’s next?

As sad as this news is, I at least have some small comfort in understanding (finally!) what went suddenly so wrong with a company that had been so good to our clients and so reliable for so long. It seems that in December of 2008 two men by the names of Trevor Cook and Patrick Kiley bought a 51% stake in Crown. These men, it turns out, were running a $190 million Ponzi scheme since 2006, and needed a broker to clear their transactions through so it would look to their clients like they were actually trading their money (instead of spending it on 7 luxury cars, a hotel and a casino in Panama, a historical mansion in Minneapolis, several financial firms in Switzerland and the British Virgin Islands, and even a submarine). FINMA's investigation was hampered it seems (though I still completely disapprove of how they kept us all in the dark for the past 13 months), by the fact that Cook and Kiley had claimed that Crown was prohibiting withdrawals and that's why they couldn't pay back clients, when in fact it was the other way around!

So... what will become of our funds (IF anything is left)? The liquidators appointed by FINMA keep saying that any info will be posted at CROWN FOREX SA when it becomes available.

Wish I had better news for everyone,

-=Andrei

 

[travpip]

Trevor Cook Jailed

Today: Alleged Minneapolis-Based Fraudster Trevor Cook Jailed for Failing to Surrender Assets in SEC Case

Washington, D.C., Jan. 25, 2010 — A federal judge today ordered Minneapolis-area resident Trevor G. Cook jailed for failing to surrender more than $35 million in assets as a result of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s fraud charges and asset freeze against him.

The SEC filed a motion last month in U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, alleging that Cook had violated the court’s order freezing all of his assets. In a court hearing that concluded today, Chief Judge Michael J. Davis found Cook in civil contempt and U.S. Marshals escorted Cook from the courtroom to jail. Chief Judge Davis ordered that Cook remain in jail until he is in compliance with the court’s orders.

“Mr. Cook has elected to disregard the court’s orders and will now be a guest of the federal correctional system until he mends his ways,” said Merri Jo Gillette, Director of the SEC’s Chicago Regional Office.

Chief Judge Davis ordered Cook incarcerated until he, among other things, surrenders $27 million located in offshore accounts, a BMW and two Lexus automobiles, a submarine, a houseboat, a collection of expensive watches, a collection of Faberge eggs, Bon Jovi concert tickets, and $670,000 in cash.

 

[travpip]

Another significant fact that has gone unnoticed is that the same Trevor Cook appears to own 35% of JDFX – a well known Swiss forex liquidity provider.
These crooks still got the money and there still laughing even behind bars!

 

[travpip]

www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2009/comp21313.pdf

122.
Between December 1, 2006 and December 12, 2008, Cook sent $15 million to JDFX Holdings, Inc, (“JDFX Holdings”), a British Virgin Islands company headquartered in Switzerland, to purchase 35% of the company.
123.
In November 2008, Cook sent $3 million to Crown Forex, S.A. as an equity investment in the company.

surely JDFX should be liquidated and these funds returned to investors!