Complaint Review: SCHOOLOFTRADE.COM Joseph James - Internet Internet

Is this your employer?

Washington DC — The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) obtained a Consent Order against Defendants Joseph Dufresne (a/k/a/ Joseph James) and Megan Renkow (a/k/a Megan James), both of Palos Verdes Estates, California, and their companies, United Business Servicing, LLC and United Business Servicing, Inc. (collectively, United Business), doing business as SchoolofTrade.com (SoT), who were charged with fraud and other violations in connection with the offer and sale of futures trading strategies and systems.

The Consent Order, entered by Judge John A. Kronstadt, U.S. District Judge for the Central District of California, on November 22, 2017, requires Dufresne, Renkow, and United Business jointly and severally, to pay restitution to defrauded investors totaling $3,941,157 and a $1 million civil monetary penalty.

In addition to the monetary sanctions, Defendants are prohibited from, among other things, trading in any market regulated by the CFTC and from applying for registration or claiming exemption from registration with the CFTC in any capacity.

The Consent Order arises from a CFTC enforcement action filed against the Defendants on September 30, 2016 (see CFTC Complaint and Press Release: 7464-16, CFTC Charges California Residents Joseph Dufresne, Megan Renkow, and Their Company, United Business Servicing, Inc., doing business as Schooloftrade.com, with Fraudulently Marketing Commodity Futures Strategies and Systems).

In the Order, the Court finds that the Defendants engaged in a systematic pattern of materially false statements and omissions in connection with the marketing of SoT’s trading strategies and systems.

Specifically, the Court finds that Defendants: 1) touted the profitability of SoT’s trading strategies and systems and claimed hundreds of thousands of trading profits earned every year when, in fact, none of Defendants’ accounts has ever been profitable; 2) falsely represented to customers and prospective customers that Dufresne was a successful professional trader with years of experience and numerous awards when, in fact, Dufresne has little experience, has never been professionally recognized, and has never been a profitable trader; and 3) purported to make profitable trades in live accounts in real time in SoT’s “Live Trade Room” when, in fact, none of the trades called or profits claimed to have been made in the “Live Trade Room” can be found in any of Defendants’ accounts. Additionally, the Court found that Defendants failed to prominently display in their various solicitation materials certain disclosure statements required under CFTC Regulations concerning simulated or hypothetical trading results and client testimonials.

The CFTC cautions that Orders requiring repayment of funds to victims may not result in the recovery of any money lost because the wrongdoers many not have sufficient funds or assets. The CFTC will continue to fight vigorously for the protection of customers and to ensure the wrongdoers are held accountable.

CFTC Division of Enforcement staff members responsible for this case are Maura Viehmeyer, Erica Bodin, Alan Edelman, Michael Solinsky and Rick Glaser.

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CFTC’s Fraud Advisories, Including Trading Systems Sold on the Internet Fraud Advisory

The CFTC has issued several customer protection Fraud Advisories that provide warning signs of fraud, including the Commodity Trading Systems Sold on the Internet Advisory, which helps customers identify this potential fraud.

Customers can report suspicious activities or information, such as possible violations of commodity trading laws, to the CFTC Division of Enforcement via a Toll-Free Hotline 866-FON-CFTC (866-366-2382) or file a tip or complaint online. 

Last Updated: November 28, 2017

These people are imposters and are being sued by the department of trade commodity commission. Please google Megan Renkow and the School of trade/ cftc charges California residents Joseph Dufresne Megan renkow and you will find heavy proof and charges to these deprauders. They are pulling the wool over your eyes, collecting money and walking to the bank with your money with nothing in return. Whatever lawsuit that was posted here is no longer here. Google them, do your due diligence before you give all your money away.

http://www.cftc.gov/idc/groups/public/@lrenforcementactions/documents/legalpleading/enfubssotcomplaint093016.pdf Here you go, stick and paste. Don't be defrauded again!!

My disclaimer is that I did not purchase anything from SOT.  
I followed the website and all the videos they posted on youtube for several months, if not longer, thinking that one day I'd be able to purchase a membership and live the dream, making the kinds of money this guy claimed to make in a few hours a day from my comfy computer chair.  
After a while I started to wise up.  I read a lot of things like this on the web and realized something was off.  But the real kicker was a mistake that Mr. "James" made one of his daily recap videos.  You see, they used to put up a video after each session showing their amazing track record and how much money you could have made just simply following his advice.  I don't believe they do this anymore.  Anyway, one day while recording one of his videos during the trading session, one of his trading patterns set up and his trade call went something like this (and I'll paraphrase): "Now we see price dropping, I'm looking for momentum to curl over and speed to pick up, and there it is, and NOW we can get short." (The numbers I use won't be the same as the actual price, but the example will be clear).  So when he says that, the price is at, we'll say, 93.30.  But if you looked at the website at the end of the day when he posted his spreadsheet (laughable in itself), his entry price was 93.40.  From that point on I never went back to the sight or watched another video.  
I remember long before this I had done the trial and was trying to trade along with him, but it was frustrating because I always seemed a step behind.  In his videos he would always say "can you set a limit order?  Can you set a target?  Do you have ears to hear my trade calls?  Because that's all you need to make money using this method..."  I realized during the trial that was totally false.  He never calls anything live.  Any trades called in "real time" are after the fact, and only after they move in the right direction will he ever say he entered a trade.  
Clearly the whole program is bogus.  It's all fabricated results purported by a fast talking salesman.  Stay away, for your own good.  You'd be much better off taking your membership fee, opening a futures trading account, and then making one trade based on the flip of a coin.  At least then you'd have a chance of getting something for your investment.

That is funny that the rebuttal to my comments is that I was sent to collections. I wasn't stupid enough to buy the course so not sure how they would have sent me to collections so you?

I happen to know trading very well so it was very easy to know a scam when I see one when I was in on the free trial. I realize you rely on the desperate and unsuspecting. HUGE signs it is a scam when you see it...

1) Calls trades after he is already in them in a screen off to the side and then bring it over to see he is in it but he was in it several ticks before he called it just to make sure it LOOKED like a good trade

2) Charge all your money upfront rather than being on an ongoing membership showing you have something of value people will want to pay for ongoing. If you don't have something of REAL value, hide behind disclaimers and get all clients money upfront and once you have the money, keep going after the next one

3) Don't let any of the clients know who each other are. Make sure you never let anyone talk to anyone which would ONLY be helpful to do if the product was real and as good as you say it is so your clients can support one another since the seller already has your money you can expect very little help.

4) Whatever you do, make sure you don't show the tab on Ninja which shows how you REALLY did trading that day or anything on the chart showing ACTUAL results. Just make up your own spreadsheet showing the trades you allowed your audience to see once you were already in the trades. God forbid you use the real tools right in Ninja that would take ONE CLICK to show the audience what you are REALLY doing.

5) Master the art of calling trades but then "cancelling" them saying you never got in when it goes against you. The best way to do that is to not show trades you are getting into LIVE but only after you have got into them in a screen off to the side and then pull it over once the trade is looking successful.

Finally, you claim I was sent to collections. Go ahead and post my name if that is true. You make a false statement. So prove it. Obviously you can't because as with everything else about you, you can't prove anything. 

Finally, just because you hide behind disclaimers about being an EDUCATOR etc while boasting everyday about making BIG MONEY which you dont make, MAY OR MAY NOT be legal, but I can tell you FOR SURE it is not ethical. Guys like you don't care about what is ethical as long as you can walk freely in the shadows and the gray area of life

I am an employee of Schooloftrade.com and have been with the company since 2008. In response to the last comment I want it to be known that Jeff (the author of the last post) was sent to collections, as he never paid the remaining balance of his membership contract.

Any individual that signed a contract agreeing to pay for a service that they received is required by law to uphold their end of the agreement. Many companies in the US, if unable to collect outstanding payments owed to them, will send the client to collections.

Signing a contract obligating oneself to a financial commitment should never be taken lightly, especially if one does not intend to pay.

In regards to the "anonymous" past employee that posted on Lloyd's hate blog, that person is fictitious, as is the story. All SchoolofTrade.com employees have been working for the company since the website launched. All get paid on time, as NOBODY would work for free, especially not for four years!

I encourage everyone to experience SchoolofTrade.com for themselves. Then, and only then, will people be able to form their OWN opinions of SchoolofTrade.com.

Sign up for the FREE trial and find out if www.SchoolofTrade.com works for YOU!

Everybody's needs are different. We have thousands of successful traders as members.

DO NOT let the opinions of a few miserable people make your decision for you!

This Guy. Joseph James or Joseph DuFresne, is absolutely a professional con artist. He chose a profession like Day Trading to to scam people out of big dollars, like so many others in this slimy business, because it promises BIG SUCCESS if you will just invest thousands with guys like him. You see, he is a very fast talking car salesman type that probably once did sell cars, or something like that, and figured he might just use his skills to create nice charts and graphs and drawings and repeat news stories in the finance section of a website, regurgitate information on commonly used indicators and patterns etc to put a quite a dog and pony show together. Of course, if he was really successful as a daytrader, he would show is account performance tab on this ninjatrader platform which takes one click but instead, he shows successful "live" trades and calls them after he has entered them in a screen that is not on your display until after the fact. Once he is in the money, he calls it and drags it over and manages the trade. Other times it appears he is calling a trade by acting like he is about to call it, but when it goes against him he acts like he didn't get into it for one reason or another. You will never see him actually place a trade live on any consistent level right in front of you and then show you the trades on his screen so you can see if he took any others behind the scenes etc. That would be too transparent right? Instead, he creates a spreadsheet after a day of trades and plugs in numbers when all he would have to do, if he was real, is show he trades right on the screen because ninja shows that automatically unless you disable this feature! Duh! By him not doing that you know he is a scammer right there!

Also, it is good top check out http://jameswavereview.blogspot.com/ because most recently, he is sending debt collectors after people who are charging back his charge when they realize they have been duped. You will also notice a posting on there of someone who used to work for Schooloftrade and he gives trade secrets of how Joseph does his scamming of people as well. He is a piece of work to be sure!

This guy is a real charlatan and he is in a space that is VERY SHADY and a lot of people are out there ripping people off. ANYTIME you have someone that charges one LIFETIME HEFTY fee upfront that is a HUGE red flag and also disclaimers about what he does as "merely education" etc and no refunds. that is a 99% chance it is a scam. If you must pay, look to the small monthly charge places so you don't lose a ton of money like going with this guy

Joseph James IS A FRAUD and SOT is a proven SCAM. He used to lie to his clients (including me) by insisting he traded a live account and took live trades in his trade room. He has even tried to maintain this once again in his rebuttal of this report. Well I can tell you I have proven he trades in SIM and Schooloftrade.com even updated the terms of business on their website to admit they do so. 

I have made a video detailing my story here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxFRI-j4SX4.

I was also urge readers to review the following threads:


(((Redacted)))
http://jameswavereview.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/schooloftradecom-Review/126853970701406


CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.

Greetings Everyone,

The author of this post is annonymous, that should tell you something first.

This author CLEARLY was not a member of our growing community of day traders b/c if he/she was a member they would know that we DO indeed trade live accounts in our live trade room.

This complaint seems 'fishy' doesnt it guys?

Most likely the post is from one of our competitors trying to bring down the BEST Live Trade Room available on-line!

The fact of the matter is that you will SAVE $3600usd in the first 12 months of membership b/c we give you FREE software! 

THAT doesnt sound like a scam! :)

Our members routinely earn enough to PAY for our membership within their FREE 3-week trial....

THAT doesnt sound like a scam! :)

We do THREE Educational Webinars in our Live Trade every week! 

THAT doesnt sound like a scam! :)

We give more FREE Education away in our FREE Trial than most websites will SEE you!

THAT doesnt sound like a scam! :)

We do on-going training and NEVER close the trade room without answering everyone's questions...

THAT doesnt sound like a scam! :)

This is not the first attempt to smear our great name, and our LIFETIME members know the truth! 

We are the BEST option for new and experienced traders b/c we are run by traders, for traders, and our members love every minute of it!

We have helped thousands of new traders develop their trading skills to earn an amazing income as day traders.

Our methods are easy to learn, easy to use, and we have fun every day in our live trade room!

I would encourage anyone reading this post to find out FOR YOURSELF :)  You will be HAPPY you did!

Heres How to Join the Live Trade Room @ 745am EST:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1oFPBeIFfA

More usefull links:

What our members are saying about us:

http://700bucksaday.blogspot.com/2010/02/schooloftradecom-review.html

Free Market Profile Webinar!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLVuK07DoUk

http://www.SchoolOfTrade.com