Resolution no. 23358

Prohibition, pursuant to Article 7-octies, paragraph 1-bis of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 ("Consolidated Law on Finance"), of the advertising campaign conducted via the website https://meloniprogettodaiuto.com concerning the operation of the website https://gotradetech.com and its pages https://panel.gotradetech.com and https://trading.gotradetech.com carried out in breach of Article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance

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, as subsequently amended and supplemented;

HAVING REGARD to Legislative Decree no. 58 of 24 February 1998 ("Consolidated Law on Finance"), as subsequently amended and supplemented;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that, from checks on the website, it emerged that:

i. an advertising campaign is being conducted via the website https://meloniprogettodaiuto.com - which is active, also available in Italian and registered anonymously - which, also through the improper use of the image of institutional figures known to the Italian public, offers "the possibility of earning as much as EUR 40,000 per month, starting from only EUR 250" through an "online trading platform that uses advanced artificial intelligence algorithms";

to subscribe to the initiatives covered by the advertising communication in question, the user is asked to enter their details on a specific form on the website https://meloniprogettodaiuto.com; specifically, once the aforementioned form has been completed, the user is redirected to the https://panel.gotradetech.com website, where functionalities are available, dedicated to the deposit and withdrawal of liquidity on a trading account, as well as the connection to a trading platform available in an additional domain https://trading.gotradetech.com;

iii. the domains https://panel.gotradetech.com and https://trading.gotradetech.com appear related to the website https://gotradetech.com, where users are offered the possibility of trading in shares, ETFs on indices, commodities and currencies, options and futures on indices, cryptocurrencies, currencies, interest rates and commodities;

iv. the website https://gotradetech.com contains generic references to "Go Trade Tech ";

WHEREAS the advertising website https://meloniprogettodaiuto.com directs the user who wishes to subscribe to the initiatives advertised therein to the online trading platform available on a separate internet address https://gotradetech.com and its related pages https://panel.gotradetech.com andhttps://trading.gotradetech.com;

WHEREAS the activity carried out via the https://gotradetech.com website and its related pages https://panel.gotradetech.com and https://trading.gotradetech.com constitutes the provision of investment services, as referred to in Article 1, paragraph 5 of the Consolidated Law on Finance, since users are offered the opportunity via the aforementioned domains to open a trading account and place orders to buy and/or sell financial instruments;

WHEREAS the https://gotradetech.com website and its pages https://panel.gotradetech.com and https://trading.gotradetech.com cannot be attributed to any entity authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public;

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 activities on the website https://gotradetech.com and its related pages https://panel.gotradetech.com and https://trading.gotradetech.com qualify as the professional provision of investment services to the Italian public, in breach of Article 18, paragraph 1 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

WHEREAS the website https://gotradetech.com and relative webpages https://panel.gotradetech.com and https://trading.gotradetech.com have been the subject of the advertising campaign conducted through the website https://meloniprogettodaiuto.com;

WHEREAS the aforementioned advertising campaign is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, insofar as the website https://meloniprogettodaiuto.com is available in Italian and the website contained undue references to well-known Italian institutional figures aimed at inducing Italian investors to subscribe to the proposals covered by the advertising campaign;

HAVING CONSIDERED, therefore, that the advertising campaign conducted via the website https://meloniprogettodaiuto.com involves investment services and/or activities provided by unauthorised parties pursuant to Article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING REGARD TO the provisions of Article 7-octies, paragraph 1-bis of the Consolidated Law on Finance - "Powers to counteract the unauthorised provision of investment services" - pursuant to which Consob "may prohibit advertising campaigns conducted through the Internet or any other means of communication when they directly or indirectly involve investment services and activities provided by unauthorised parties pursuant to Article 18 of this Decree";

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

RESOLVES:

To prohibit the conducting of the advertising campaign carried out via the website https://meloniprogettodaiuto.com concerning the operation of the website and its related pages https://gotradetech.com https://panel.gotradetech.com and trading.gotradetech.com implemented in breach of Article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance (TUF).

This Resolution shall be disclosed to the parties concerned with publication in the Consob Bulletin.

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

10 December 2024

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona