When Team Trading folded, two traders organized a Yahoo group by posting messages on these boards, and many traders who they didn't have contact information for ended up joining the group (around 80+ traders, myself included).
If you do end up creating a Yahoo group then you can organize privately and discuss what steps to take in order to resolve your dispute with the firm.
The op mentioned class action. It depends on how many traders have been affected and what kind of money is at stake. Again, with Team Trading, approximately $2 million was owed among 500 traders. It was enough for a law firm to look into it, however they did not find any assets under the LLC or the owners' names, and thus did not pursue the case.
Another post mentioned the Ontario Securities Commission. While that's a good start, I'm not sure if the regulators will help you recover funds from an unregistered firm. However, they may look into the broker/dealers associated with Globus, so at least you may be able to locate where your funds were held.
If you are unable to collect directly from the owners or their brokers, then the cheapest route to take is small claims, but for that you'll need a correct address to file the official notice, and you'll probably need more proof than just some receipt you gave to the Montreal office. Team Trading had a very specific clause in their contract which clearly stated that 100% of any remaining deposit would be returned within 45 days of written notice. This was in plain black and white. Hopefully you have such a written agreement of some sort.
Many of us former Team Trading customers eventually got paid, however it was a collective effort and took about a year to resolve. Unfortunately, many did not and are still using their various options to resolve their individual claims.
So it really depends on how much time, energy and effort you are willing to put in, and whether you find enough traders who are in the same boat and can help you with the necessary legwork required.
For us it was not just about the money, it was a matter of principle. Most were owed less than $5k each, some even less, some a lot more, from 10k up to 80k. Trading is a tough business as it is, and we all lose money to the markets, but getting funds outright stolen is an entirely different matter.
Our attitude in the Yahoo group towards the owners of Team Trading was simple: You're not walking away from a $2 million dollar scam, file new LLC's in a different name, and expect people to just sit back and do nothing!
If you do end up creating a Yahoo group then you can organize privately and discuss what steps to take in order to resolve your dispute with the firm.
The op mentioned class action. It depends on how many traders have been affected and what kind of money is at stake. Again, with Team Trading, approximately $2 million was owed among 500 traders. It was enough for a law firm to look into it, however they did not find any assets under the LLC or the owners' names, and thus did not pursue the case.
Another post mentioned the Ontario Securities Commission. While that's a good start, I'm not sure if the regulators will help you recover funds from an unregistered firm. However, they may look into the broker/dealers associated with Globus, so at least you may be able to locate where your funds were held.
If you are unable to collect directly from the owners or their brokers, then the cheapest route to take is small claims, but for that you'll need a correct address to file the official notice, and you'll probably need more proof than just some receipt you gave to the Montreal office. Team Trading had a very specific clause in their contract which clearly stated that 100% of any remaining deposit would be returned within 45 days of written notice. This was in plain black and white. Hopefully you have such a written agreement of some sort.
Many of us former Team Trading customers eventually got paid, however it was a collective effort and took about a year to resolve. Unfortunately, many did not and are still using their various options to resolve their individual claims.
So it really depends on how much time, energy and effort you are willing to put in, and whether you find enough traders who are in the same boat and can help you with the necessary legwork required.
For us it was not just about the money, it was a matter of principle. Most were owed less than $5k each, some even less, some a lot more, from 10k up to 80k. Trading is a tough business as it is, and we all lose money to the markets, but getting funds outright stolen is an entirely different matter.
Our attitude in the Yahoo group towards the owners of Team Trading was simple: You're not walking away from a $2 million dollar scam, file new LLC's in a different name, and expect people to just sit back and do nothing!