I've posted similar content in another thread to help some here to understand more
https://www.forexpeacearmy.com/forex-forum/scam-alerts-folder/20081-gvf-trade-orbitz-scam-5.html.
I'm a partime fx trader who made some fortune from fx now and in the past, thankfully. I've read some of your statements of the misunderstanding about fx, broker and ib. Though I know GVF's group history, I won't comment much on GVF or trade orbitz, I want to make myself as relevant as providing you a good understanding before you even invest into fx.
To clear some mis-interpretation, a broker is the one that will take your money in and credit to your personal account so you can trade with them. There are many types of broker out there - the dealing desk, non-dealing desk, stp, ecn bla bla, it's none our interest to discuss this, you can find out more from the internet. The bottomline is, they all do 1 thing, take your money, allow you to trade with they platform/software.
An IB, introducing broker, acts like the salesman for the dealing firm for recruiting traders (you are not considered as investors because neither the IB nor the Dealer are managing your fund, they are merely the facilitator for investment to be taken place as a trader/fund manager). Introducing brokers are usually compensated as a portion of the spread on each trade their client makes. The dealing firm, in most cases, has a close relationship with the IB and provides them with multiple perks that are then passed on to the IB's clients - assuming you work with a reputable IB.
In many cases, an IB will try to lock down some part of your money and gradually release it when certain lot size is traded in favor of the IB due to the commission return. Unless you are clear about this as a trader to know that how much you are trading in a month and how many months you need to trade to get back the money, you will feel being cheated once you are told about the locking.
Or in other cases, an IB will lock huge lot size for trading, some are not making any sense as it take years to trade that kind of sizes in order for you to unlock the money and let's bear in mind, the IB earn commission from each of your trade.
Of course if you ask me, they are good IB and bad IB out there, same as brokers. And in any way, no one can ask you to fund them directly, you must directly credit money to the broker's bank account, and vice versa. A direct instruction can be made to broker to return the money, part of your available fund that isn't locked back to your bank account by providing them your account & bank swift code, which usually take several business days using wire/tt.
So I hope this clear some of your thoughts about the fx environment. You should know what you are going after in any kind of investment instrument before committing, don't let greed and the promise of % return blind you. All the best in whatever regards!