Group of Investors File Charges against Greek Madoff and Defunct US Broker

An Illinois court accepted a case against George Daskaleas, known as the Greek Madoff for orchestrating a massive, $500 million Ponzi scheme. The case also files charges against Ikon Global Markets Inc and its managing director Diwakar Jagganath.

The charges brought to the court are seeking damages to the tune of $23 million. Based on the affidavits of Iacovos Ghalanos, Victor Resti and Bella Resti, the circuit court has accepted the case. A similar effort which was filed in the UK by the same group of investors has not yielded any results for the plaintiffs.

Commenting to Finance Magnates a company representative stated: “Ikon Global Markets will take proactive steps to protect its interests by applying to appropriate courts to have this matter vacated or otherwise set aside. We are confident that such courts will validate Ikon Global Markets’ position against any and all meritless assertions made against it which we reject in full. All such allegations are utterly baseless.”

The charges allege that the defendants knowingly assisted Daskaleas in setting up his multi-million scheme. Greek authorities stumbled upon his Ponzi effort at the end of 2015.

The pyramid scheme was run as a hedge fund by Dassaleas for years. The fund was established in 2013. At the time, the operations of the intermediary Ikon Global Finance had already been shut down as the impact of the Dodd Frank regulations forced a number of brokers to exit the US market.

George Dassaleas claimed to his clients that he had expansive knowledge in trading the exchange market. The initial capital of the hedge fund is stated to have reached $254 million. Promising “guaranteed returns of up to 60%”, he managed to accumulate over $500 million at one point.

In May 2015 it was discovered that while the hedge fund’s value exceeded $500 million, the bank account balances held by the management company were at zero. The headquarters of Mr. Daskaleas’s investment fund was in Belize. According to Greek media reports at the time, he allegedly solicited funds from Greek, European and Ukrainian individuals and businesses.

The Greek Securities and Exchange Commission inspected and fined Mr. Daskalas in 2010 for providing investment services illegally. According to the regulator he was providing investment services to a large number of clients in Greece without having the appropriate license.