2023
Commissioner Travis J. Iles Announces Actions to Stop Two Artificial Intelligence Schemes
An action was filed against 9xProfits Limited, Lucas Morris and others that allegedly offered investments that purportedly paid fixed, lucrative returns – in some cases, as high as 1.5% per day. According to the order, the parties were claiming they generated returns using artificial intelligence to trade forex, commodities and cryptocurrencies. 9xProfits was also allegedly using a multilevel marketing program that paid considerable sales-based compensation to incentivize the recruitment of new clients.
“Artificial intelligence investments may appear safer and more lucrative than traditional offerings because they use sophisticated technologies,” said Commissioner Iles. “Unfortunately, artificial intelligence does not prevent fraud. Instead, bad actors are actually leveraging the hype around artificial intelligence to perpetrate frauds. Investors need to continue to remain vigilant.”
9xProfits.com encouraged new clients to purchase its investments by claiming it was trustworthy, transparent, and compliant with the law. The order alleges that the firm represented that the government records published to its website support its claims of compliance. According to the order, regardless of representations made by 9xProfits, these government records did not show it was legally offering and selling securities. Instead, the government records were allegedly mere organizational documents filed with agencies in the United States, United Kingdom, Ontario and New Zealand. The New Zealand Companies Office recently issued a scam warning against 9xProfits and warned New Zealand investors to exercise caution in dealing with 9xProfits.
“It’s important for investors to independently verify the registration of online promoters,” said TSSB Enforcement Director Joe Rotunda. “The records allegedly published by 9xProfits do little more than memorialize the organization of a company. They do not, in any way, show the firm is complying with important laws that protect consumers from misconduct.” He encouraged Texans to contact the Texas State Securities Board to verify the registration of firms.
Commissioner Iles also filed an emergency action against BitSports.AI, Henry Rodriguez Saldago and others accused of selling Arbitrage Memberships alleging the products were not a fair bet. These products purportedly permitted investors to share in profits generated by BitSports.AI’s sports trading business. The parties were allegedly touting their use of an artificial intelligence platform to analyze and execute profitable trades in various sports markets.
The order also names Berman Investment Group, Josh Berman and Sean Kelly, alleging they are multilevel marketers for BitSports.AI. According to the order, Kelly is claiming to be a retired police officer that used his law enforcement experience to determine Saldago “has a heart to help people and change people’s lives.” Berman Investment Group and Berman are allegedly touting their “100% success rate” with “every team member making money” and “no losses” incurred by a team member.
According to the order, BitSports.AI recently claimed it was the victim of a cyber-attack that supposedly resulted in the theft of assets and impacted nearly 55,000 users.
Kristen McCourt, TSSB Enforcement Attorney, and Seth Oufnac, TSSB Financial Examiner, led the case against 9xProfits and are handling the case against Bitsports.AI. Commissioner Iles recognized their exceptional work and proactive efforts to protect Texans.
Contact: Joe Rotunda, TSSB Enforcement Director, at jrotunda@ssb.texas.gov
Seth Oufnac, TSSB Financial Examiner, at soufnac@ssb.texas.gov
Kristen McCourt, TSSB Enforcement Attorney, at kmccourt@ssb.texas.gov