Francesc Riverola,
NFA takes emergency enforcement action against Dallas firm, Profitstars Intl and its principal
December 8, Chicago - National Futures Association (NFA) announced that it has taken an emergency enforcement action against Profitstars Intl Corp. (PSI) and its associated person and listed principal, Ulysis Starling. PSI is a Commodity Trading Advisor and Commodity Pool Operator located in Dallas, Texas.
NFA has taken this action because it believes that PSI is doing business with an unregulated forex counterparty. Although PSI listed a forex commodity pool, Profitstars, with NFA, it appears that Profitstars is not a pool and is in fact a fiction designed to allow an unregulated entity to act as a counterparty to retail forex accounts and another unregistered firm to act as solicitors for those accounts.
In addition, Starling and PSI have been unable to produce adequate books and records regarding their forex business to demonstrate that PSI is in complete compliance with NFA Requirements. Furthermore, PSI has not provided their customers with a disclosure document approved by NFA. Finally, although PSI filed an exemption notice with NFA for its CTA business based on its contention that all of its customers were Qualified Eligible Participants, neither PSI nor Starling has been able to substantiate these claims.
I am one of the investors that per the recommendation of Joey Miller, who runs a seminar series through his business called Traders Edge Live, invested into this pool. The process has been absolutely rediculous, in that NFA is requiring documentation from ProfitStart, ProfitStar has shown nothing for the past four months, Joey Miller is naturally distancing himself from the whole affair, even though he was aggressively holding webinars promoting this product to his constituency, and in the end, the investors are the only ones that are losing money by not having access to their original capital. NFA says it can’t do more, Profitstar is conveniently sitting on our capital, and Joey Miller, who must have had a business arrangement with ProfitStar to bring his clients into this trading pool, is acting and speaking as if he too is a victim, because he also placed some money in the pool. This needs to get resolved before this whole ordeal gets uglier and it blows up in the face of all involved.
@ Concerned Investor. I am in the same boat with you. The distressing thing is that I set my account up and sent my initial deposit that was deposited two days after the NFA / MRA action. Literally received the email right after sending them a substantial deposit. I’ve argued with the NFA that they should not have allowed them (Profitstars)to fund the account and they say their hands are tied until Profitstars provides accounting and account information. Ulysis Starling sends these “update” emails that sound like everything is routine and that they are diligently working with the NFA until the most recent update sent in January. I thought I did my due diligence by checking out the company but now wish I’d steered clear. I was referred by Joey Miller. This is utterly UNACCEPTABLE.
This guy Joey Miller is scam artist. It sounds like he is a feeder on these scams and I bet he is getting illegal kick-backs to refer these peoeple into these investments. Does anyone know if he is being investigated by any of the regulatory agencies?
I’m also an investor that bought into Joey’s pitch early on when the system was referred to as “TradeStar”. Honestly, the thing seemed to handle trade management as advertised, but it was PLAGUED with legal/administrative/regulatory issues. I concur with Joey playing the victim card though. He always presented himself as having inside knowledge of the system, saying he’s on the board of the company that owns the software…though never revealing his compensation, nor the name of the company that owns Tradestar, nor the names of anybody else involved. And now, you ask Joey what’s going on and he responds with “Hey, I’m in the same boat as you, we just have to wait for more information from ProfitStar and the NFA”. Very disappointing and nerve-wracking. I spoke with the NFA and they confirmed that they are aware of Joey’s role with soliciting investors, but I don’t know what they can really do to him. Besides talking the system up, he never took any money directly, nor did he make any guarantees about performance that I’m aware of. So unless fraud was involved, e.g., with the statements/graphs he showed in his presentations, I imagine he’ll simply continue on his way and simply focus on selling DVDs, seminars, and mentorships.
I am also a concerned investor in the fund. I’m not happy about how this whole thing is handled by ProfitStars or the NFA. It certainly is frustrating as there hasn’t been much response from ProfitStars and the NFA is also very vague when we get a response from them. At this point, I just want my funds returned, which the NFA assures they will do when the audit is complete. I really hope they do this soon! I’m glad that I didn’t put all my money into one investment. It’s kind of a shame, because my account has been up from the actual trading. As far as Joey Miller, I have limited experience with him through classes, but he seems sincere and his strategies have worked for me and my account.
I’ve made it a habit of at least contacting the NFA monthly to see if there is any progress or update and usually get:
To date, there are no new updates since our prior conversation. NFA has not received any of the requested accounting records from Profitstars Intl. and until these records are provided, NFA is not authorizing the transfer of customer or firm funds.
If you have any further questions or would like to discuss further, please contact me at the information listed below.
Thank you,
Diane
Diane M. SpreadburyManager, ComplianceNational Futures Association300 S. Riverside Plaza, Suite 1800
Chicago, IL 60606Office: (312) 781-1573Fax: (312) 559-3365Email: dspreadbury@nfa.futures.org
Last week I sent a request and they aren’t responding at all now. I bet if it were their money they would be a little more inspired to resolve the matter. Anyone have ideas?
Should we think about seeking council? I’ve heard someone say “Class Action Lawsuit” regarding this matter but as we all know the only winner would be the attorneys.
Update: I just received an email response from NFA (Diane Spreadbury)
“To date, there are no new updates on the Profitstars case. Mr. Starling has not provided the requested accounting records and therefore NFA is not in a position to allow Profitstars to honor client withdrawal requests”
Is anyone else feeling that this could go on indefinately? What if Profitstars decides not to ever provide the information for fear they might incriminate themselves?
I’m feeling a bit like a mushroom and I don’t like it.
Has anyone heard anything regarding the Profitstar issue? I heard that Ulysis requested Paragon to send all accounting to a NFA registered entity and that they refused.
No news from my side… sorry
For what it’s worth, I received a letter back in May from an attorney working with ParagonFX, basically saying “sign this waiver to release us from liability and we’ll wire your money back ASAP”, which they did. I know a few other ProfitStars investors that also got their money back by the end of June, one had a small net loss (~6%), the others had small gains. We’re all very relieved to have this behind us.
good to know.. thanks