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In The Courts

By Juliet Gunev
September 01, 2019

Maryland Jury Convicts Former CEO of Israeli Company for Role In $145 Million Binary Options Fraud

Lee Elbaz, an Israeli citizen and former CEO of Israel-based company Yukom Communications (Yukom), has been found guilty following a three week jury trial in Maryland for her part in orchestrating a global scheme to defraud tens of thousands of investors via the fraudulent sale of $145 million worth of financial instruments known as "binary options." Elbaz, employed as a team leader overseeing sales agents at Yukom in mid-2014 before being promoted to the company's CEO, was convicted on three counts of wire fraud and three counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with the scheme. The trial followed her arrest at New York's JFK airport in September 2017.

The scheme related to sales, marketing and investor retention services provided by Yukom to two Web-based businesses, BinaryBook and BigOption, both of which fraudulently sold and marketed binary options to customers globally, including in the U.S.. Binary options involve speculating on the value of a financial asset such as currency or stock at a certain time of day — essentially betting on whether the price will rise or fall within a set period. In return for investing, option holders were promised that they would receive either a pre-determined amount of cash or nothing, depending on the accuracy of their prediction.

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