New South Wales, Australia Supreme Court decision: IronFX was wrong to challenge AFAC’s jurisdiction

Mikov & Attorneys has created the Financial Fraud Lawyers network to help traders against possible broker scams. Our lawyers have extensive knowledge of forex, CFDs, binary options and cryptocurrency trading platforms. In this article, we shed light on the decision of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, Australia (“Supreme Court“) regarding IronFX and the AFCA (Australian Financial Ombudsman). Note that the Supreme Court cited our Law Firm’s name 3 times and took into account our legal arguments regarding the case of our client Mr. Pasquier.

A supposed correlation between the La Maison du Placement and IronFX Australia

For some time now, the lawyers of the Financial Fraud Lawyers network have been able to demonstrate an alleged fraudulent scheme between the broker IronFX and La Maison du Placement. Both organisations appear to be complicit in defrauding the victims. To elaborate on this, one of our clients told us that he wanted to invest with LA Maison du Placement. However, our client was redirected to the IronFX website in Australia. This broker is not registered in Europe.

Note: IronFX Australia should not be confused with IronFX EU, which is regulated and registered in Europe.

You can find the full story of our client in our previous article.

By understanding this alleged fraudulent scheme, the lawyers of the Avocats Litiges Financiers network deduced that La Maison du Placement, acting through the offshore company Nextrade, was nothing more than an Introducing Broker (IB). Note that an IB is a person or an organisation whose objective is to solicit to invest in one or more brokers.

As a result, the Investment House/NEXTRADE appears to be an intermediary between the victims and the broker IronFX Australia. They lead the victims to invest outside European regulations.

This story seems to be the introduction to the following ones, as our lawyers continue to handle victims’ cases against this same broker IronFX Australia. In total, Konstantin Mikov, founder of the Financial Litigation Lawyers network, has 13 clients who have been victims of this broker’s malpractice. We count an approximate loss of 1.6 million euros for the 13 victims.

The Supreme Court’s decision in favour of our client

In this case, Mikov & Attorneys and the Financial Litigation Lawyers network did not participate in the Supreme Court’s decision. Indeed, IronFX took AFCA to court for lack of jurisdiction and lack of impartiality. The broker decided to take this action following a first decision by AFCA in which the broker IronFX was responsible for the losses suffered by our client.

In this first decision, we focused on a single client, Mr Pasquier, who was a victim of the broker IronFX Australia. Indeed, on 3 June 2020, Mr. Pasquier filed a complaint with Notesco whose brand name is IronFX. Indeed, without any trading skills, he seems to have been the victim of a trading fraud as he lost his entire retirement savings. Nextrade, which appears to operate La Maison du Placement, was the intermediary between Mr Pasquier and IronFX.

Our client, Monsieur Pasquier is an 83 year old French man looking for additional resources in 2019. Therefore, while searching the internet, he came across a website operated by Nextrade and sought further information. This website advertises itself as acting on behalf of Notesco.

Subsequently, Mr Pasquier was contacted by Nextrade representatives, who made various representations to him, including the promise of a guaranteed profit.

Confident, he then entrusted his investment to professional people, but unfortunately he lost everything.

Mr Pasquier entrusted the management of his investment to Nextrade, which created an account on the Notesco trading platform and managed his trading accounts. Indeed, Nextrade made direct transfers to all three trading accounts. Mr Pasquier lost all his savings.

Notesco should never have allowed Nextrade to illegally solicit French clients and offer highly speculative services to elderly people with absolutely no experience.

As a result of this case, AFCA then decided on the basis of the reasons that Notesco should be liable without deduction for Mr. Pasquier’s losses.

However, Notesco (IronFX) appealed this decision against AFCA (Australian Financial Complaints Authority) for lack of competence to handle Mr. Pasquier’s case and lack of impartiality. In the Supreme Court decision, our firm has been cited 3 times to prove the legal failings of Notesco that led to the AFCA decision. We are proud to be named in Australia, and this demonstrates our international credentials. We are proud to be able to help victims of financial scams.

On this decision of the Supreme Court, it has been proven that AFCA is competent to handle our Client’s case contrary to the claims of Notesco.

However, the AFCA must re-judge Mr. Pasquier’s case in accordance with the principle of impartiality.

IronFX has since relinquished its licence in Australia. Is it because of our actions?

IronFX is a well-known name in online forex trading. The broker has offices in Cyprus, London, Johannesburg and Sydney, and is licensed by CySEC in France via its European passport. It has committed wrongdoing in the past, which has been investigated by the authorities. In December 2017 and November 2015, CySEC ruled against IronFX for allegedly breaching its regulations. As a result, after conducting an investigation, IronFX paid €335,000.

In order not to arouse further suspicion, we believe that IronFX was forced to relinquish its licence in Australia as a result of our work and evidence of a possible link with The Investment House and Nextrade. In fact, with our actions in Australia, IronFX Australia or Notesco PTY appear to have been damaged.

For more information on the discontinuation of the IronFX licence in Australia, you can read this article.

In conclusion, our lawyers are determined to help their clients and get their money back whenever possible. We ask you to be extremely vigilant against the broker IronFX and its alleged scams. If you are interested in trading, we advise you to check with the Financial Markets Authority (AMF) beforehand. If you feel you have been scammed, you can contact us or fill in the contact form here.