The Collective FX Recovery Effort | Forex Factory

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The Collective FX Recovery Effort

  • #1
  • First Post: Oct 5, 2014 5:08pm Oct 5, 2014 5:08pm
Greetings.

I am a member of a group of traders / investors with significant funds deposited with The CollectiveFX, aka The Collective FX Global, aka BDG Financial Services LTD, aka CFX.

As of June 1, 2014, we were informed of the closure of the brokerage. Ostensibly, the reasons given by the operators of CFX were pending investigations by authorities regarding a so called 'white label' trader operating capriciously through the brokerage.

The operators of CFX directed us to request a withdrawal of our funds through their website, following specific procedures. We were assured of the return of our funds within 90 days. We requested such a withdrawal.

To date, no one that we are aware of has received any refund of monies on account and all operators of CFX that we are aware of have disappeared and have offered no communications to us whatsoever. Their website no longer exists.

Furthermore, we are unable to access CFX administrative records in order to document our account balances / trade records for tax and other purposes.

It is our belief that the operators of The CollectiveFX are displaying bad faith and have no intention of refunding our monies.

Our goal, simply put, is the complete return of our funds.

We are requesting any and all members of the CollectiveFX who have funds at risk, to contact us as we are currently considering ‘civil’ court actions and other legal options.

If you also had funds with The CollectiveFX, we urge you to contact us and join our group, whether you have been paid or not. Please contact me
If you are someone with the skills and resources to help in this endeavor, please write to me as well.
  • #2
  • Oct 5, 2014 7:19pm Oct 5, 2014 7:19pm
Sounds a lot like the PFG theft. Good luck. So far most FX clients have gotten nothing back and futures traders have managed to get 37% back. The courts are still grinding away the time and money, so who knows where it will end up.

Sounds like these folks will have to be hunted down like the dirtbags they are. When they are caught I hope they get treated as they deserve. I'll leave that to everyone's imagination.
  • #3
  • Oct 6, 2014 5:30am Oct 6, 2014 5:30am
I am not sure what the rule is about posting the names of the individual principals that were involved. If it is allowed I will be happy to out the names of these scumbags.
  • #4
  • Oct 6, 2014 5:55am Oct 6, 2014 5:55am
"Regulated" in Belize. They will get away with it.
  • #5
  • Oct 6, 2014 6:53am Oct 6, 2014 6:53am
To quote you from 2009:

Quoting Dewey McG
{quote} Collective does not require 10k and they do trade microlots. I have been very happy with them so far. They have an unusual setup which they claim makes them exempt from the new regulations.
Well, maybe now you understand why they didn't want to be regulated

You traded with a broker that you knew that it seek to avoid regulation, and who tried to illegally offer Forex in US, so you should not be surprised that they also illegally took your funds. If they were not afraid of going against the US authorities, why would they fear you?

You have no one to blame but your greed and lack of due-diligence.
  • #6
  • Oct 6, 2014 7:17am Oct 6, 2014 7:17am
Quoting Adal
To quote you from 2009: {quote} Well, maybe now you understand why they didn't want to be regulated You traded with a broker that you knew that it seek to avoid regulation, and who tried to illegally offer Forex in US, so you should not be surprised that they also illegally took your funds. If they were not afraid of going against the US authorities, why would they fear you? You have no one to blame but your greed and lack of due-diligence.
  • #7
  • Oct 6, 2014 8:05am Oct 6, 2014 8:05am
The unfortunate fact is that all the money has gone & the courts will not help at all.

That is why you should only deal with a broker that has segregated client accounts or fully authorised with strict compliance.

It is a sad state of affairs and word is getting around that Collective FX are fully down - phone lines off, emails bouncing back. The website coming down months ago, should of raised some flags!

Best of luck to all!
  • #8
  • Oct 6, 2014 8:42am Oct 6, 2014 8:42am
Hi,

Sorry to hear about the issues people are facing with this firm, would you be interested in sharing your information for me as i am investigating the matter, i am a reporter.

You can send me a private message.

Regards
  • #9
  • Oct 6, 2014 8:54am Oct 6, 2014 8:54am
Quoting michaelfx1
The unfortunate fact is that all the money has gone & the courts will not help at all. That is why you should only deal with a broker that has segregated client accounts or fully authorised with strict compliance. It is a sad state of affairs and word is getting around that Collective FX are fully down - phone lines off, emails bouncing back. The website coming down months ago, should of raised some flags! Best of luck to all!
They closed off the website and communications after they stole the funds.
  • #10
  • Oct 6, 2014 8:57am Oct 6, 2014 8:57am
Quoting adilfx
Hi, Sorry to hear about the issues people are facing with this firm, would you be interested in sharing your information for me as i am investigating the matter, i am a reporter. You can send me a private message. Regards
Will do so tonight when I get home
  • #11
  • Oct 6, 2014 9:01am Oct 6, 2014 9:01am
Quoting Dewey McG
{quote} They closed off the website and communications after they stole the funds.
sad thing is some americans are still looking for offshore/unregulated brokers because they want more leverage/margin. good luck with that
  • #12
  • Oct 6, 2014 9:29am Oct 6, 2014 9:29am
Sounds a lot like the PFG theft. Good luck. So far most FX clients have gotten nothing back and futures traders have managed to get 37% back. The courts are still grinding away the time and money, so who knows where it will end up.

Sounds like these folks will have to be hunted down like the dirtbags they are. When they are caught I hope they get treated as they deserve. I'll leave that to everyone's imagination.


PFG was regulated and located in the U.S. right? I am amazed every day how people are on here telling others how this makes any bit of difference. I will say it over again

YOUR MONEY IS NO MORE PROTECTED WITH A REGULATED U.S. BROKER THAN WITH A NON-REGULATED OFFSHORE BROKER. THE ONLY DIFFEREENCE BEING IN THE U.S. YOU HAVE 10 TIMES THE MONEY AT RISK BECAUSE OF THE RIDICULOUS LEVERAGE REQUIREMENTS
  • #13
  • Oct 6, 2014 9:34am Oct 6, 2014 9:34am
Quoting PoundTrader
{quote}sad thing is some americans are still looking for offshore/unregulated brokers because they want more leverage/margin. good luck with that
Seeking more leverage only requires me to put up less money to execute the same trade. I trade with 500:1 , it costs me $100 to execute the same trade requiring $1,000 here in the U.S. The other $900 is kept in my FDIC insured personal bank account, not with any broker. I still only risk 1-2% per trade of my account balance in my FDIC "forex" account held at my bank.
  • #14
  • Oct 6, 2014 9:45am Oct 6, 2014 9:45am
The difference is that in the U.S. people are likely to be prosecuted. Mr. Wasendorf was sentenced to 50 years in jail. There is an incentive not to do it. Whereas sending the money to Belize is basically an invitation to be scammed.
  • #15
  • Oct 6, 2014 9:50am Oct 6, 2014 9:50am
Quoting shrike
The difference is that in the U.S. people are likely to be prosecuted. Mr. Wasendorf was sentenced to 50 years in jail. There is an incentive not to do it. Whereas sending the money to Belize is basically an invitation to be scammed.
Yes, you would think so. However, being prosecuted does not get the money back. Without mentioning any names, the biggest broker here in the U.S. has been fined how many times? I am sure the money they make on what they are being fined for far exceeds the fines themselves and I do not see anyone being prosecuted. It looks like they have definitley cleaned up their act, but would they have done so without being fined?
  • #16
  • Oct 6, 2014 11:11am Oct 6, 2014 11:11am
Quoting shrike
The difference is that in the U.S. people are likely to be prosecuted. Mr. Wasendorf was sentenced to 50 years in jail. There is an incentive not to do it. Whereas sending the money to Belize is basically an invitation to be scammed.
I really want to use this to reach out to those who had funds with TheCollectiveFX as there are some efforts being made to go after these crooks. Just to address a couple things:

This was a US broker that MOVED to Belize. Since membership agreements were executed in the US and funds were sent to a US bank the principals would be subject to US law.
  • #17
  • Oct 7, 2014 6:44am Oct 7, 2014 6:44am
This is probably the biggest thing any trader should worry about....... Your broker running away with your money!

This is not the first time and certainly not the last time something like this will happen. The more brokers get away with this, the more it will occur.

I have a theory. The stranger the brokers name the further one should stay away from it. More red lights when they offer high leverage and are registered somewhere on an island or small country.............

Registration in some cases does not really protect your money. Registration does not mean that the authorities will safeguard your money by having co signature rights on clients trading capital. The broker can still one day wake up and transfer all the monies into his own account or anywhere else where it would be hard to get it back from. Consider this. The corrupt broker opens up an account with the help of other corrupt people somewhere in the world. Transfer all the clients funds to that account. Withdraw it in cash in that country and just disappear. So easy.... This can all be done before any investigation even starts or before the first client complaint reaches the authorities.

I think this serves as a lesson to many of us. It seems just way too easy to open a FX brokerage to me. There are just too many brokers in this business! They are competing against each other for business by offering all sorts of benefits. If they do not make it there is the option of cleaning out all client accounts and disappear from the radar.

Trading with ones own Bank where you have low leverage and big spreads might be the only secured way going forward in this industry.

Sorry to those who have lost their money.........
Never Ever Give Up!
  • #18
  • Last Post: Oct 7, 2014 8:24am Oct 7, 2014 8:24am
Once again, this is exactly why I trade with a high leverage broker. I feel my money is even less at risk as I only have 10% of what would be required at a "regulated" U.S. broker. The rest sits in my insured personal account. If any broker can just run away with your money, what exactly are the U.S. regulations protecting us from? Doesn't it make sense to trade somewhere which only requires depositing 10% of what you would need to in the U.S.? I've also brought this point up before as well, nobody stands at the doors at the Las Vegas casino and asks "How much of your net worth are you bringing in?" "Where did the income come from?"" You can only risk 2% per bet." This is a known losing proposition, you cannot beat the house, yet nobody cares if someone walks in with their life savings and puts it all on black, yet I can't trade forex where I want and with the leverage I want. It's a total joke. It is only there to control us, not protect us.
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