I do not believe that the absence of the agreement between the client and Pepperstone from the evidence submitted by the prosecution can lead to the acquittal of the defendant, since the court has sufficient evidence at the level required to convict the defendant of the offense attributed to him. This is especially true in light of the defendant's claim regarding the potential force of the agreement, which in his position was to prove that the client is the owner of the account, that the client controls the money, and that he (the defendant) is not a party to the contractual relationship. Indeed, the defendant is not the owner of the account and is not a party to the agreement, but these assumptions do not omit the argument under the misleading representations. The indictment attributed to the defendant concerns the presentation of representations to customers on a number of levels, including the level of risks. The argument is not what representations were made by Pepperstone, but rather what representations the defendant made to the clients. Even if I assume in favor of the defendant that the agreement included warnings regarding the risks in the account (as the questionnaire presented, for example), this does not detract from the liability with respect to the representations made by the defendant himself.
- The second charge - managing investment portfolios without a license
- In the second indictment, the defendant is charged with offenses of managing cases without a license under section 2(b) combined with section 39(a)(1) of the Counseling Law, as well as offenses of offering to provide case management services without a license under section 3A combined with section 39(b)(12) of the Counseling Law.
- The offenses of which the defendant is accused are under the Counseling Law. Before reviewing the relevant provisions, we will discuss the purposes of the law:
"In light of the development of the capital market in Israel, the proposed law is intended to regulate the practice of portfolio management and investment advice, both in terms of the qualifications of those who will be allowed to engage in consulting and portfolio management, and with regard to the relationship between the advisors and portfolio managers and their clients, including the methods of action in the field of practice, the duty of loyalty, the duty of care and the prevention of conflicts of interest" (the proposed law regulating the practice of investment advice, investment marketing and investment portfolio management, 5755-1995, H.H. 2320, p. 92).