Resolution no. 22149

Order, pursuant to article 7-octies, paragraph 1, letter b) of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 ("Consolidated Law on Finance") to cease the infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance carried out through the website https://platinex.cc

LA COMMISSIONE NAZIONALE PER LE SOCIETÀ E LA BORSA
[THE NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR COMPANIES AND THE STOCK EXCHANGE]

HAVING REGARD TO Law no. 216 of 7 June 1974 and subsequent amendments and supplements;

HAVING REGARD TO Legislative Decree no. 58 of 24 February 1998 (“Consolidated Law on Finance”) and subsequent amendments and supplements;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that, from the checks carried out, it emerged that:

i. the website https://platinex.cc - which is active and registered in the name of the company Lithe Group LTD - has the following sections “About us”, “Invest”, “Platforms”, “Accounts”, ” Tools” and “Support” and offers - after opening an account - the possibility of trading on the forex market, and trading on CFDs, indices, shares and commodities;

ii. in order to carry out the above trading transactions, users are required to register with the website https://platinex.cc through a process that is also available to Italian users, which provides access to the reserved area, where a number of functions are available, including a function that is used to deposit cash on the trading account;

iii. in particular, three types of account are indicated on the website, called “Standard”, “Pro” and “Expert”, depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iv. as regards the owner of the websitehttps://platinex.cc, at the bottom of the pages of the website reference is made to “Lithe Group LTD” and the document“Terms and Conditions” states that “Lithe Group LTD is a trading company whose registered office is at 8 Copthall, Roseau Valley, 00152 Commonwealth of Dominica with registration number: 2021/IBC00011). The email address support@platinex.cc is also published on the website.

HAVING REGARD to Resolution no. 22010 of 22 September 2021, ordering “Lithe Group Ltd” with alleged registered address at Copthall, Roseau Valley, Commonwealth of Dominica, to cease its infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the domain https://platinex.co and web pagehttps://client.platinex.co/dashboard;

WHEREAS, in addition to using a domain that is in part comparable with the domain of the above website, the website https://platinex.cc has a similar structure and content to that of the websitehttps://platinex.co;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website https://platinex.ccmay be considered as the provision of investment services within the meaning of article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, given that the domain offers users the opportunity of opening a trading account against which purchase and/or sale orders for financial instruments may be issued;

WHEREAS the above activities, carried out through the website https://platinex.cc, are continuing and target Italian investors given the reports of cold calls made to Italian investors;

WHEREAS “Lithe Group LTD”, mentioned on this website, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since it does not appear on the dedicated register held by Consob pursuant to art. 20 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING REGARD TO the fact that the provision of investment services and activities is reserved to licensed parties as referred to under article 18, paragraph 1, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, pursuant to which, “The professional provision of investment services and activities to the public is reserved to Italian investment firms, EU investment firms, Italian banks, EU banks and non-EU firms”;

HAVING ESTABLISHED, therefore, that the operations in question qualify as the professional provision of investment services to the Italian public, in infringement of article 18, paragraph 1 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING REGARD TO the fact that, according to the provisions of article 7-octies, letter b) of the Consolidated Law on Finance - “Powers to counteract abuse” - Consob “may, with regard to anyone who offers or carries out investment services or activities through the Internet without being qualified pursuant to this decree: […] b) order that the infringement cease”;

CONSIDERING it therefore necessary, in the light of the foregoing, to adopt this Resolution immediately for reasons of urgency;

RESOLVES:

Orders the cessation of said infringement of article 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 carried out through the websitehttps://platinex.cc, consisting of offering and carrying out investment services and activities to the Italian public.

This Resolution shall be brought to the attention of the concerned parties and published in the Consob Bulletin.

This measure may be appealed before the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio within 60 days of the date of service.

22 December 2021

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona