Why is this scam
For the normal man on the street, the name “Joe Louis” immediately conjures up thoughts of a great boxer. The one that established his reputation in the ring using nothing more than his fists.
But, in the trading world, Joe Lewis is entirely another story.
This one is known for accumulating millions in the “trading” ring. This other Joe Lewis definitely has “name cache”.
That, in the marketing world, can mean global brand power.
When a new forex broker by the name of “Joe Louis Trading” sprang up in Turkey, it was not that difficult to guess that many in the trading community were impressed, attracted, and then confused.
That was a sure sign of a scam in the making.
According to a popular Internet information website, “Joe Lewis (born 5 February 1937) is a British businessman who currently lives in New Providence, Bahamas.
Lewis’ total wealth is estimated at $4.2 billion, and he is listed as the 308th richest person on Forbes’ List of billionaires (2013).
Forbes reports that Lewis is the ninth wealthiest person in the UK. After selling the family business in the late 1970s, Lewis moved into currency trading in the 1980s and 1990s, resulting in his move to the Bahamas where he is now a tax exile.
In September 1992, Lewis teamed up with George Soros to bet on the pound crashing out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. The event, which was dubbed Black Wednesday, made Lewis very wealthy, and some say he made more than Soros. Lewis is still an active FX trader.”
The Bahamas is a far cry from Istanbul, and, as the JL Trading website now professes, ”Neither JL Trading nor any of its investments are associated or affiliated with the Bahamas-based investor Joe Lewis or the Tavistock Group.”
Official website: http://www.jltrading.com/
The signs of confirmation
Wealthy people were introduced to JL Trading through word of mouth with the promise of FX investing on their behalf, resulting in profits of 1%-3% a month. They were also lured in by Mr. Lewis with opening bonuses such as golf vacations in Thailand and more.
Since about 2011, only investors with a minimum of $25,000 were allowed to join his “investment club.”
In an email sent to clients, Joe Lewis confessed that his firm, JL Trading, had, in reality, stopped trading FX in 2009 after suffering disastrous losses.
He further admitted in the email that he continued attracting investors for the next five years so that he might somehow recover the business, but he has failed in that.
Let’s see the other signs.
Joe Lewis of JL Trading is reputed to have recorded foreign exchange trading losses approaching £100 million by 2009. And then went about attempting to recover his losses via a private investment club.
He primarily solicited high-net-worth individuals, starting in 2011. These investors were promised annual returns of up to 36 percent.
It now appears that all of these funds were lost, as well, but the source of the losses is not understood.
Lewis has admitted his inability at making his investment strategies pay off, the assets are gone and there was very little to speak of. Lewis’s son, James, is one of the people that is confused by the entire affair:
“He didn’t live extravagantly. I don’t know where the money’s gone. I am happy to share information with the legal entities. Everything he had is ruined. There are no assets at all that I am aware of.”
Where the money went is still a mystery. It was one of well known Ponzi schemes, that’s for sure. And it is obvious that Joe Lewis tried to cover investors losses.
Otherwise, he would end as a very rich man. But, who knows, maybe he is still but his investors are not.
Recommendation
Be sure you know with whom you are dealing with before handing over your life’s savings!
UPDATE:
We keep getting emails regarding this scammer, most recent wrote us:
“Yes we know he “might” be rich still and we are not. Thanks for pointing that out.
I lost 1,079,000 usd to that con artist
He is out of prison next week by the way
How would you suggest we find out if the 68 year old Lewis is living off the spoils of our lost life-savings?
Do you have any tricks?! I am willing to even travel to Turkey to spy on the bastard and what he’s up to. I presume he will go back there to his “divorced” wife Ayse Ucok Lewis. And of course the ever-so-innocent James Lewis (of COURSE he’s going to plead ignorance).
Lewis just about killed my wife and I and many others too. I am not joking when i liken this fraud and others of its type (Madoff etc) as akin to murder”
Here in Traders-Paradise.com we take these kind of messages seriously. Many scammers out there, please be careful.
If you’re not sure if you’re dealing with a scammer, please contact us and we’ll figure it out for you.