David Smith is rumored to have over $1 billion in assets under management. As such he has money squirreled away all over the world. I Trade FX is just one of many brokers Smith has cash at. It is rumored that he has money at all the big FX brokers in the U.S. The folks over at investforlife.wordpress.com have been doing a great job covering the Olint story and today they printed an email from an anonymous source to Oanda asking them if they have any David Smith accounts and if so have they frozen them:
Olint, is it the broker’s fault? « Real Investments For Life
Naturally, Oanda cannot comment on private customer information. But they state in their email responses that regulators can request customer accounts be frozen. Smith is stating that is why he can’t give customers their money back. Olint customers are worried that Smith is playing the slippery eel and that he is using that as an excuse for non-payment.
My hunch is that regulators are swarming all over David Smith’s accounts right now and he most likely is telling the truth. But that being said will there be enough money in all his accounts to pay back his customers? That remains to be seen…