Senen Pousa and ProphetMax FX

[Dublivin]

I had also joined IIC as a ProphetMax member through EVG's webinar in February. I did not take the route of opening a managed account, but instead was interested in their Quant software. I am currently running it on a demo account with Alapri, but have not completed a full month of trading to report results yet.

I have been curious about IIC as well, considering it is a members only service, and they have done a good job at keeping a lot of their company information close to the vest. I have come across very little information about them outside what you have already shared, but plan to continue investigating.

One thing that does concern me as a red flag is their affiliate program. If you log into your account and go to the top right corner, next to the My Account link is another link for the Society of Advocates. This Society of Advocates pays a commission for bringing in new people to IIC, which is ironic considering IIC is closed to new membership registrations at this time. It also makes it appear that while Mike Dillard and EVG seem to be promoting sound financial guidance as a good gesture, there may have been a deal in place for them to earn these commissions for every new member IIC gained thru EVG. While this is purely speculation, it does seem to add up as a bit shady in my book. All of that said, my main interest is seeing if ProphetMax is able to live up to its hype and produce profitable results.

 

[Rimmer168]

Well now...

Hi all.

First time post, and it is a doozy.

On May 16/17, a whole lot of hell went down.

I am a member of Prophetmax, and I have a subscription to the Managed FX product. I am also a member of EVG.

We were told via EVG's webinar, that any losses would be very minimal, and that there would be 4-5 trades per month, maximum.

On May 16, no less than 220 trades took place, in a very short space of time. Over two to three hours, if my memory serves me correctly. At one stage, we were up by over 130%, but the nett result was to be basically even with our starting point. We thought this was highly reckless, for such massive gains to be completely cancelled out. Honestly, they could have stopped for the rest of the year, and we would have still been up around 100%, after performance fees.

BUT ...

About 12 hours later, more trades happened. Over the course of an hour or so, 17 trades took place. From our starting position, we and everyone else that we have been able to contact on EVG have lost about 65% of their funds. In one hour.

Where were the stop losses? Where were the guaranteed risk minimization protocols?

Mike Dillard was not immune to this ... he states that he also made similar losses, maybe into 6-figures. Senen Pousa told him that it was a 'glitch', and that further information would follow. Most normal people would assume that a glitch has to do with automated systems. yes? Somehow this glitch is now being called human error, and that the company director has taken full and immediate responsibility for this schemozzle.

There is no way in high heaven that these trades, which often ran for 20 minutes or more, were the result of human activity. Only a computer system could trade with such detachment for each loss.

I admit that I was shocked (I watched the last lot of trades in horror), and that I am now gathering information into possible SEC (US), ASX, ASIC & ACCC (Australia) investigations.

SENEN POUSA SCAM

 

[Pharaoh]

Is this "managed product" at an outside broker or at some broker associated with profitmax? Alternatively, is the account manager in some way your IB? If so, each one of those trades could have been generating profit for the account manager.

 

[Rimmer168]

Sorry Pharaoh, pretty new to this. I will try to explain the setup, without breaching NDAs. I still have some funds there, and don't want to risk losing them outright.

Basically, there are 3 different businesses, I guess for separation reasons.

1. ProphetMax (note the spelling). Owned and run by Senen Pousa, out of Queensland, AUS. He does the big selling spiel, and to access all of this, you need to subscribe to his Buddhist crap, for a mere $2000. None of this is explained beforehand - as far as you know, this is just the gateway to the trading area.
2. IB - in this case, it is based in New Zealand, though you need to wire the funds to a large orange-liveried bank in the Netherlands, with a 3-letter name.
3. Trader - I will withhold the name for now, but I believe they are based in New York.

I'm not sure how close their association is. If they are linked, then there is no disclosure of this.

At the moment, Pousa is hosting a webinar, explaining to everyone how it is all their fault for having negative energy or something. Nothing to do with a rogue trader ignoring protocols, having no S/L or T/P settings for each trade, or for that matter, keeping trades open for upwards of 20 minutes, when BUY trades are going south fast. Also nothing to do with Pousa selling a product, yet his associates delivering something far and away different.



SENEN POUSA SCAM

 

[Rimmer168]

Word on the wire (I wasn't in the webinar) is that Senen Pousa has threatened people with all levels of nastiness, if they try to bad-mouth ProphetMax online. Apparently, this zen yogi-bear is threatening everyone, being aggressive and threatening to get "friends in the intelligence service" to profile people, in order to flush out dissenters.

<sarcasm> Very Buddhist, and not at all sociopathic.</sarcasm>

If you do a Google search on his name, you will see that he is big on self-promotion, even with negative phrases such as, "Senen Pousa Scam" leading to his advertorials. It wouldn't surprise many people, if it were discovered that he has a legal team, threatening anyone who posts negative things about him online.

This one's recommendation - Steer clear at all costs, unless you like the thought of using breathing techniques to enhance your sexual prowess (it really was said). Not sure how this helps with your FX trading though.

 

[Pharaoh]

Apparently, this zen yogi-bear is threatening everyone, being aggressive and threatening to get "friends in the intelligence service" to profile people, in order to flush out dissenters.

Not very intelligent of him. People who really have friends like that who can solve problems for them don't brag about it.

It wouldn't surprise many people, if it were discovered that he has a legal team, threatening anyone who posts negative things about him online.

Other than large brokers, most companies in forex have a "legal team" consisting of one person who makes really pathetic attempts at sounding like a lawyer while demanding that negative information be removed.

 

[Rimmer168]

Other than large brokers, most companies in forex have a "legal team" consisting of one person who makes really pathetic attempts at sounding like a lawyer while demanding that negative information be removed.

Yeah, that's my take on it too.

I'll post more info as it comes to hand.

 

[pipsbuster]

How much time will it now take you to recover your 65% loss if you stay in this? You money would now need to triple for you to break even on your initial investment.

 

[carel pieters]

Beware of Prophet Max --stay clear.

I joined the ProphetMax system more than 6 months ago. I was told to expect 70-100% capital growth over 1 year with very low risk and that only 2% of my account will be traded at any given time. All sounded great and joined up paying a joining fee of about $2000. Over a period of 6 months trade were relatively few and conservative, but I was happy with staying in as the losses were low and I thought they did their risk management well. The nett growth in my account (after deducting their 25% fee) was 16% over the 6 months....not really what they made me to believe, but its still much better than the bank offers. As described below, on 16 May everything came crashing down and all of a sudden 65% of my account was gone. I withdrew my remaining funds (since I lost all confidence in the service) and asked for a refund of my membership fees. This was not entertained and I was told in an e-mail reply about 2 weeks later that no refunds will be made.

I find it really pathetic that an institution like Investment Intelligence would not take some responsibility for their loyal members. From their point of view it is great to gain new members who pump in big coin in joining the program, investing their money, while Senen Pousa and Investment Intelligence Corporation sit back collecting performance fees while the investor is the only party exposed to the risk of loosing his funds. I agree that Prophet Max's clients have been misled by the expectation of doubling their accounts in a year and that all trades are done manually by professional traders. The system did not deliver in my expectation with regards to growth AND lost 65% of my funds due to a problem with an Automated Trading System, or EA/robot. After the first evidence of a problem on 15 May I e-mail Support to bring the matter under their attention. At that time there were much more than the normal amount of trades with much more risk than 2%. I did not receive a reply in time and the next day this scenario repeated with 65% account loss. Had ProphetMax or Investment Intelligence Corporation took my e-mail seriously and responded to it (stopping trading until the problem is sorted) we would not be in this mess!

To me it is clear that the ProphetMax system puts client's funds at risk by not exercising proper management. They say once bitten, twice shy....so I would advise people to rather stay away from Investment Intelligence, Senen Pousa and in particular ProphetMax. Invest wisely and learn from the experience of others like me.

This discussion is about:

1. Senen Pousa
2. ProphetMax
3. myprophetmax.com
4. ProphetMax Managed FX
5. ProphetMax Quant
6. Investment Intelligence Corporation

I would like to share my experience and ask for guidance as to anything I should be on the lookout for.

I joined EVG (elevationgroup.net) back in February on the suggestion from a close relative. Shortly after becoming a member, Mike Dillard (founder) introduced me to Senen via his trip to Australia to produce his interview of Senen in his office. Accessible thru the EVG website. Senen then came to Austin, TX for a live webinar (1.5 hours). Senen took nearly three hours of live questions via facebook after the presentation.

Afterwards, I joined ProphetMax. Keep in mind, at this point there was no NDA needed to join the group.

Once a member, it took nearly three weeks of psychological exercises I needed to complete thru their website (myprophetmax.com) before I was even presented with the documentation to invest my Capital (Level 3). During that time, Senen held weekly, and one time on a Saturday as well, group meetings. He spent countless hours answering dozens of questions from new members. Afterwards, I signed all the necessary paperwork and wired Capital to his company.

Funds are wired to a bank account in the name of (withheld until verified ok to release), located in NZ. The bank is an internationally recognized name -- located in Europe. It is from that account that trades are pooled and made to the broker.

When a client wires funds, the funds do not go to IIC. The funds are deposited into an account registered in NZ. That companies website states that they are a licensed financial service provider.

The website to the company where the funds are wired to has its broker registration number posted. Available for verification. The NZ Dispute and Resolution website, Financial Dispute Resolution, has no disputes posted.

1. Investment Intelligence Corporation (IIC) is located in Australia

2. Members funds are deposited into an account in EU, under the account name located in NZ

3. ProphetMax and their affiliated trading brokers websites are reg. in the US

4. IIC\ProphetMax\Trading Broker date of registry dates back just a few weeks before Senen's webinar with EVG back in Feb 2012

 

[carel pieters]

I joined the ProphetMax system more than 6 months ago. I was told to expect 70-100% capital growth over 1 year with very low risk and that only 2% of my account will be traded at any given time. All sounded great and joined up paying a joining fee of about $2000. Over a period of 6 months trade were relatively few and conservative, but I was happy with staying in as the losses were low and I thought they did their risk management well. The nett growth in my account (after deducting their 25% fee) was 16% over the 6 months....not really what they made me to believe, but its still much better than the bank offers. As described below, on 16 May everything came crashing down and all of a sudden 65% of my account was gone. I withdrew my remaining funds (since I lost all confidence in the service) and asked for a refund of my membership fees. This was not entertained and I was told in an e-mail reply about 2 weeks later that no refunds will be made.

I find it really pathetic that an institution like Investment Intelligence would not take some responsibility for their loyal members. From their point of view it is great to gain new members who pump in big coin in joining the program, investing their money, while Senen Pousa and Investment Intelligence Corporation sit back collecting performance fees while the investor is the only party exposed to the risk of loosing his funds. I agree that Prophet Max's clients have been misled by the expectation of doubling their accounts in a year and that all trades are done manually by professional traders. The system did not deliver in my expectation with regards to growth AND lost 65% of my funds due to a problem with an Automated Trading System, or EA/robot. After the first evidence of a problem on 15 May I e-mail Support to bring the matter under their attention. At that time there were much more than the normal amount of trades with much more risk than 2%. I did not receive a reply in time and the next day this scenario repeated with 65% account loss. Had ProphetMax or Investment Intelligence Corporation took my e-mail seriously and responded to it (stopping trading until the problem is sorted) we would not be in this mess!

To me it is clear that the ProphetMax system puts client's funds at risk by not exercising proper management. They say once bitten, twice shy....so I would advise people to rather stay away from Investment Intelligence, Senen Pousa and in particular ProphetMax. Invest wisely and learn from the experience of others like me.