U.S. regulators on Thursday charged a Cyprus-based company with illegally selling financial contracts to U.S. clients, the latest crackdown on online betting after Dublin-based Intrade was forced to cease trading. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission both filed lawsuits against Banc de Binary Ltd., saying it offered investments known as binary options that enable investors to bet on market prices. Binary options are bets on the price of anything from shares to grains or foreign currencies, that either pay out the full agreed amount if these prices reach the level the investor has said they would, or nothing at all. The regulators said Banc de Binary preyed on investors of modest means. The SEC's complaint noted that one Banc de Binary customer had a monthly income of $300, while another was encouraged to deposit additional funds even after he said he had no work and less than $1000 in the bank. "Just because foreign companies can more
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