Trading platform owner is benefitting from deep fake ads linked to the historic international binary options scheme.

The controversial Cape Town-based trading platform Banxso has strong links to one of the world’s largest international binary options scams operating between 2010 and 2017.

The scam was Banc de Binary, which financial regulators worldwide banned from operating in their countries. At the same time, the American and Cypriot regulators fined the company record amounts, while an international law firm instituted a class action against the company after it ceased operations in 2017.

Read: Banxso denies links to historic binary options scam, fake ads

A Moneyweb investigation found that Banxso’s owner and director, Harel Adam Sekler, was a director and owner of a company that operated the Banc de Binary scam in various jurisdictions worldwide, including Australia, New Zealand, Belize and Canada.

During numerous interactions between Moneyweb and Banxso, Sekler vehemently denied any involvement or link with Banc de Binary and questioned the authenticity of the documentation indicating his direct involvement. However, Moneyweb sourced three documents from different sources, which prove otherwise. (Sekler’s full communication appears below.)

Banxso

Banxso is registered with the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) and sponsors Bafana Bafana and UFC champion Dricus du Plessis.

However, Banxso is a significant beneficiary of fake ads, through which billionaire celebrities such as Elon Musk, Johann Rupert, and Nicky Oppenheimer supposedly promote what are bogus investment products promising to turn once-off investments of around R4 800 into monthly incomes of more than R300 000.

Read:
Banxso – beneficiary or victim of ‘R4 800’ Musk and Rupert scams?
Banxso is still registering clients who click on fake ads
Massive cyberattack targets Moneyweb’s Banxso articles

Moneyweb interacted extensively with several former employees who described a well-designed process for extracting as much money from those who reacted to the fake ads as possible and ensuring they lost it.

Moneyweb has been contacted by more than 165 victims who reacted to these ads and claim they have lost more than R91 million collectively.

Banxso has denied any links with the fake ads and claims its systems were hacked by third parties who inserted the leads to cause it reputational damage. The company has also refunded many clients who complained about being duped by the fake ads.

Modus operandi similar to Banc de Binary

However, the modus operandi of Banc de Binary is very similar to Banxso’s.

This includes benefitting from fake and misleading advertising, using aggressive upselling techniques that involve offering trading bonuses for additional deposits, and the structure of the onboarding and retention teams.

Banxso also provides highly speculative short-term trading products, which are not suitable for people without trading experience.

Who is Harel Adam Sekler?

Sekler is a 40-year-old German national who apparently lives in Israel.

He has a low public profile, but company reports show he is a director of numerous Banxso companies in South Africa, Cyprus, Israel, the United Kingdom, and Australia. He is also a director and owner of Cyprus-domiciled XF Solutions, where the Banxso group’s ownership vests.

Moneyweb has requested interviews with Sekler on several occasions, but they were either declined or ignored.

Banc de Binary

Banc de Binary was founded in 2009 by Oren Shabat Laurent, who holds American and Israeli citizenship.

It was one of the first of more than 100 binary options platforms that mushroomed in Israel at the time, and at its peak claimed to be the most prominent binary options trader in the world.

The company snowballed, and in 2012 claimed to have attracted 250 000 clients worldwide.

Banc de Binary acquired a financial licence from the Cypriot financial regulator (CySEC) in January 2013. It was one of the first binary options traders to acquire one, and the licence allowed it to trade throughout Europe.

The first cracks in the edifice appeared a few months later, in June 2013, when the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) warned US citizens that Banc de Binary was trading illegally in the country. The SEC also laid charges against the company in Las Vegas in 2013 for operating illegally in the country.

Banc de Binary and Laurent eventually settled the case in 2016 by paying a record fine of $11 million in disgorgement, penalties, and refunds to investors.

The Cypriot regulator also fined Banc de Binary multiple times between 2013 and 2017 for being dishonest, offering services it was not licensed to offer, and for running misleading marketing campaigns.

The regulator fined the company the maximum amount it could in terms of Cypriot law of €350 000 in 2017, following which Banc de Binary renounced its licence and closed its doors.

SpotOption and Option.fm

Laurent’s role in the binary options industry stretches beyond Banc de Binary.

He was also a co-founder of SpotOption, a company that developed a white-labelled binary options trading platform which it claimed 300 third parties used. Banc de Binary was one of the largest of these third parties.

SpotOption was exposed as a massive fraud in the early 2020s, and the SEC sued the company’s leadership (not Laurent) in 2021 for fraud. They were found guilty in 2023 and fined more than $200 million.

Fake and misleading

A central theme of the binary options industry was fake and misleading advertising.

In 2017, Buzzfeed exposed a fake CNN news article containing a video in which Stephen Hawking claimed he had developed a trading algorithm that could earn investors at least $1 455 a day on a $250 “investment”.

Other advertisements featured Bill Gates of Microsoft.

These fake articles and videos are very similar to the fake Rupert, Oppenheimer and Musk ads from which Banxso receives leads.

According to a 2017 article in the Times of Israel, Laurent was also cited in court papers as the former CEO of another entity, Option.fm, but he denied this.

However, Laurent is currently being sued in Israel for alleged fraud related to losses an individual suffered in 2015 at the hands of Option.fm.

The pleadings in the case claim that an Option.fm employee convinced an elderly lady to invest more than $1 million in binary options through alleged lies and deceit.

The plaintiff subsequently lost her money and alleges Laurent, as founder and CEO, was the “architect of the fraudulent scheme” and the ultimate beneficiary of the money she lost. Laurent is defending the claim.

Sekler and BDB Services (Belize)

Banc de Binary consisted of numerous companies registered in different jurisdictions.

One of these companies was BDB Services (Belize). It was incorporated in Belize in 2014 and operated the website www.bancdebinary.com.

The company obtained a financial licence in Belize and operated in various countries around the world, including Australia, New Zealand, Belize and Canada. These countries soon warned citizens against Banc de Binary and banned it from operating in their jurisdictions. The Belizean regulator later withdrew BDB Services (Belize)’s financial licence in 2016.

Moneyweb’s investigation found official documentation naming Sekler as the owner and sole director of BDB Services (Belize). The documents include the company’s incorporation filing in Belize and two company reports from the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC).

Vehement denial

In several communications between Banxso and Moneyweb, Sekler and his lawyer, Darren Hanekom of Hanekom Attorneys, vehemently denied any link or involvement with BDB Services (Belize) or Banc de Binary.

They also questioned the authenticity of Moneyweb’s source documents.

“Mr Sekler reaffirms his previous statements, emphasising that he is not affiliated with Banc De Binary (“BDB”) in any organisational capacity whatsoever. Moreover, and in any event, BDB is furthermore wholly unrelated to Banxso, and any conclusions purported to be drawn to the contrary are vehemently denied,” Hanekom wrote in response to questions.

“Furthermore, Mr Sekler has also never owned any corporation in Belize that operated under the guise of BDB, alternatively, purported to have any relation with BDB, an entity that, to our knowledge, nevertheless ceased operations nearly a decade ago. In any event, it is unclear how this line of questioning relates to Banxso, whether directly or indirectly.

“As a corporate structure attorney, Mr Sekler has established and sold numerous corporations worldwide, some of which may have appeared in the searches conducted by your offices. Moreover, where there is an overlap of this nature, these matters would invariably fall under attorney-client privilege.” (Read Hanekom’s full response here.)

Aggressive response

After receiving this response, Moneyweb sent follow-up questions asking on what basis Sekler denies involvement, as the documentary proof suggests otherwise.

This resulted in a very aggressive response from Hanekom, alleging that the author was harassing Sekler and acting in an “aggressive, hostile and unprofessional” manner. Hanekom also laid an official complaint with the board of African Media Entertainment, Moneyweb’s owner.

Read a full account regarding Hanekom’s response here:
Sekler accuses Moneyweb editor of being ‘hostile, aggressive and unprofessional’

In the response, Hanekom questions the authenticity of the documents.

“Mr Sekler, and in turn, our offices, question the authenticity of the documents you have presented, purporting to be probative of your undue claims. Regarding the ASIC corporate documentation, Mr. Sekler maintains that any documentation suggesting his involvement with BDB Services are (sic) inaccurate. Again, Mr. Sekler denies any affiliation with Banc De Binary and/or BDB Services, and any such claims remain entirely unsubstantiated.” (Read Hanekom’s full statement here.)

Documentary proof

Moneyweb found three documents showing Sekler was a director of BDB Services (Belize), with one stating that he was the sole owner.

The first – scans of various documents included in the company’s incorporation filing with the Belizean regulator in 2014 – lists Sekler as the owner and sole director of the company.

Following Sekler’s initial questioning of the document’s authenticity, Moneyweb sourced an ASIC company report through an Australian journalist confirming Sekler’s directorship of the company.

Following Hanekom’s aggressive legal letter and additional questioning of the authenticity of the ASIC document, Moneyweb briefed an Australian law firm that sourced an official ASIC company report, which also confirmed Sekler’s directorship of the company.

Sekler’s full name and birth date on these documents are identical to the information disclosed in Banxso’s Windeed’s company report in South Africa.

Similarities between Banxso and Banc de Binary

Banc de Binary and Banxso have several similarities in their business models.

The most notable are:

• Attracting leads from fake and misleading advertising.
• Operating highly speculative trading products. Banc de Binary operated binary options and Banxso contracts for difference. These are bets on the short-term movement of asset prices and should only be used by highly experienced traders, not people without any trading history. Such investors are bound to lose their money.
• The use of an aggressive “upselling” focus to incentivise clients to invest additional amounts to the minimum investment amount of $250. One of the techniques is to offer large trading bonuses for further investments.
• The use of two teams – a team of “conversion employees” (onboarding agents in Banxso’s case), and once “investors” have signed up, a team of “retention employees” (Banxso: success managers) to convince investors to deposit additional funds.

Any investors who have lost or made money on the Banxso platform are welcome to email the author.

Response from Laurent

During the investigation, Moneyweb reached out to Laurent on various social media platforms and email addresses. However, he did not respond.

Less than an hour after the publication of the article, Laurent sent the author the following email:

Hello Ryk,
Your article triggered a Google alert for my name.
I have a straightforward request: within 24 hours, please remove my image and any references to me from your article. If not, I will take action to have them removed. I guarantee my resources exceed yours.
I have no connection to the content of your article. I have not been to South Africa in years and have no involvement in the subject matter you wrote about. I don’t know you. You most definitely don’t know me. Do some professional research before printing my name again or referencing the word associated with my name. Disgraceful.
Best Regards,
Oren