A Ferrari driver was detained in Pulkovo at the request of the United States. He is accused of a $233 million fraud Israeli blogger Joshua Karta was detained in Pulkovo at the request of the United States 08/21/2024, 00:21

A Canadian citizen and an Israeli citizen suspected of committing a major fraud were reportedly detained at St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport. TASS Citing a law enforcement source.

“The day before, employees of the NCB Interpol department of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, together with employees of the Line Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, detained the Israelis. The message states that citizen Joshua Kartu was born on March 11, 1979 at Pulkovo airport.

An agency source said that the US has put this person on the international wanted list for committing a major fraud using electronic means of communication. He is currently under arrest. Russian police have informed their American colleagues about the detention of Joshua Cartu.

$233 million plan

Magazine in 2022 Living in Toronto He published an investigation into Joshua Cartu and his brothers. Thus, the company associated with them, Glenridge Capital, advertised on the Internet promising to show its clients the way to the profitable world of binary options trading. (when betting on whether an asset will increase in value).

According to the promises, with such investments, if the investor’s prediction is correct, $500 can easily turn into $850 in a few minutes. The company warned about the risks, but assured customers that its employees would help solve the problem and receive up to 40% of the profit within three months. There were several similar companies in different countries, all of them worked for Sandbox Cartus and earned the brothers about $233 million.

Managers motivated their clients to deposit more money into their accounts by giving them bonuses, but the fine print of the agreement stated that they could not withdraw their funds until they had made more than 1,000 high-risk trades. When people tried to get their winnings back, managers came up with various excuses. One managed to get a small portion of the money back, but then the Glenridge Capital website that reflected customers’ balances stopped working. The firm did not answer calls.

According to the article, Glenridge Capital was not even licensed to trade binary options in the United States, so investors’ money never reached the exchange. It was transferred to offshore accounts used by the three Cartu brothers (Josh, Jonathan and David). They lived a luxurious life with this money: they flew on private jets, communicated with celebrities, bought expensive cars and luxury homes. Thousands of their customers were deceived.

From car washer to millionaire

With nearly 750 thousand followers on social networks, Joshua Cartu introduced himself as an experienced racer and a successful entrepreneur. He was constantly traveling, had luxury real estate, expensive cars and a private jet for which even the toilet seat was designed. His account also featured photos of celebrities such as actors Robert De Niro and James Marsden, as well as director Martin Scorsese.

An investigation by Toronto Life revealed that the man was not a real racer. He bought himself a place at the Ferrari driving school and then began competing with other wealthy luxury car owners on special toll roads. In fact, he and his brothers grew up in a middle-class car dealer family in Canada. At the same time, the young man dropped out of high school and got a job as a car washer at his father’s salon.

After his failed attempt at becoming a film director, Joshua Cartu immigrated to Cyprus, where he worked for an Estonian gambling software company. He soon used his experience to create a rival platform and began making money from it. In 2008, Josh found a job at another gambling company. Although the position brought him a good income, Toronto Life wrote that the man “stealed much more.” In reviews of the platform, people noted that the company was involved in fraud. Joshua Carta was accused of pocketing players’ winnings and depriving them of large jackpots. In 2013, investors began suing the company, but the allegations were later dismissed due to unproven allegations.

In 2013, the man started earning money and bought his first three expensive cars, moved to Budapest and started living the life of his dreams.

“When I was a kid, I had three wishes. I wanted $1 million, a Ferrari, and a big house. So you earn $1 million, you buy a Ferrari, you live in a big house, and you think, “Well, what do we do now?” – Joshua Cartu said in an interview.

The article states that the man owns 12 Ferraris and his favorite part of the day is deciding which one to drive.

Joshua Cartu later stated that a new form of high-risk online trading had emerged in Israel. The man, along with his brothers, founded the Sandbox Cartus binary options trading business in the country, which also includes Glenridge Capital and at least 19 other companies. The court found that employees who were supposed to help customers select the right documents did not even have the necessary training and experience. They said they were taught to deceive and pressure people to make more money.

The brothers used programs that masked phone numbers and contacted customers under false names to avoid being legally associated with the companies. The software also contained fraud: Even if the customer actually guessed the correct paper and bought it, the program showed that he had lost, and the money went into the pockets of the business creators.

Hard to Find Tycoon

The scam victims, including retirees, disabled veterans, struggling parents and young career beginners, came together to launch their own investigation. Together, they discovered that the same company was charging their credit cards. During this time, authorities from Canada, the United States, Spain, the United Kingdom, Ireland and the United Arab Emirates also began to take an interest in the brothers’ business. At the same time, there was talk of banning the binary options industry in Israel, so the brothers decided to shut down the business.

Against this background, David Cartu filed a lawsuit in Ireland under his real name, requesting that one of the 20 companies be declared bankrupt. This helped investigators connect the brothers to the business. However, Cartu soon stopped using social networks and disappeared. According to the article, despite numerous lawsuits filed by victims, the brothers managed to avoid responsibility for a long time, as their crimes could not be proven. However, their assets are difficult to detect and seize, because they are not under the jurisdiction of a single country.

“Even if the courts order Cartus to pay compensation to his victims, there may be nothing left to recoup,” the authors of the investigation concluded.

as I wrote “Kommersant”Jonathan and David were detained in the UAE in 2022, and Joshua Carta was recently living in one of the towers of the Moscow City complex.