We have conducted a compliance review of CySEC-regulated broker InstaForex and its offshore mutations and placed them on our Red Compliance list. The broker, founded and controlled by Russians, has a spicy past. The broker and its co-founder and president Ildar Sharipov were investigated for money laundering in the UK. Parts of its assets have been frozen. The controversial Russian Sergey Mayzus was a co-founder and is said to have pulled the strings until the end.
InstaForex Key Data
| Trading names | InstaForex, ForexMart |
| Business activity | Forex rebate and broker promotion platform |
| Domains | https://instaforex.org www.instaforex.com www.instaforex.eu www.ifxdirect.net www.forexmart.eu www.instatradesolution.hu www.ifx-global.com |
| Social media | LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube |
| Legal entities | InstaFintech Group InstaTrade Corporation, BVI Instant Trading EU Ltd, Cyprus Instant Trading Ltd, BVI Insta Service Ltd, SVG Insta Global Ltd, SVG Insta Holding Ltd, Seychelles Instatrade OOD (Russia) |
| Related entities | G.S.L. Law & Consulting (BVI) Ltd, BVI Online Currency Corp Ltd Grizzio Ltd Currentec Ltd Currentec EOOD |
| Related schemes | Megatransfer Millenium-FX Alpar |
| Contact data | [email protected] |
| Jurisdictions | Cyprus St. Vincent & The Grenadines (SVG) British Virgin Island (BVI) |
| Authorization | CySEC for Instant Trading EU Ltd BVI FSC for Instant Trading Ltd |
| Leverage | up to 1:200 |
| Related individuals | Ildar Sharipov, Russia Alexei Skachilov, Russia Dmitry Savchenko, Russia Ekaterina Pobedinskaya (LinkedIn), Russia Irina Nedachina, Russia Andrey Abramov, Russia Sergey Mayzus, Russia Anna Mayzus, Russia |
| Connected brokers | 2.7-stars with “Poor” trust level |
| Trustpilot | no reviews |
| Compliance rating | Red |
A Short InstaForex Narrative
InstaForex Group has a history spanning more than 15 years. According to the information on Forex Peace Army (FPA), it was founded in 2007 by two Russians, Sergey Mayzus and Anna Mayzus. At that time, the operator was Instatrade OOD, a company registered in Moscow. Shortly after its incorporation, the Russian Ildar Sharipov joined as shareholder and key executive. He must have had a fallout with Mayzus. According to an FPA posting by Mayzus, Sharipov is said to have been InstaForex‘s main shareholder and sole manager. The falling out was allegedly caused by Sharipov’s activities, and Mayzus claims to have left in 2013. However, this is doubted by other FPA contributors.
It is true, that during period 2008-2013 Mr. Sharipov has managed to create a group (network) of the companies where the owners was only he and his relatives. This fact resulted a conflict between me and Mr. Sharipov in May, 2013. This conflict were settled on September 2013 by the way of transferring all my intellectual rights and all my shares in InstaForex to Ildar Sharipov with whom I terminated any relations and communications right after a final settlement of the purchase amount.
Sergey Mayzus on FPA
In 2022, British media reported that Ildar Sharipov would be under investigation by the Economic Crime Team in UK in an operation named “Operation Kobus.” In April 2018, Merseyside Police froze approximately £1.6m of Sharipov’s assets but Sharipov claims about £1m has been returned to him. The operation is related to allegations of fraud and money laundering involving a company linked to Sharipov, Grizzio Ltd. Sharipov believes he’s a victim of “anti-Russian bias” and police corruption.
FPA Contributor instascam (link to FPA profile) claims to have found out that Mayzus and his team were actively behind InstaForex at least until 2019 and built or controlled other broker systems like Alpari around this broker. Mayzus unfolded questionable activities in Czechia. He owns castles, large properties, and agricultural companies in the Czech Republic bu is close to being forced to leave country. The reason is, among other things, that his activities could lead to dangerous criminal activity. Mayzus allegedly has been in contact with people involved in organized crime in the Czech Republic.
Read our reports on an around Alpari
InstaForex Compliance Check
In our review on August 8, 2023, we registered as an EEA resident with the offshore broker InstaForex.com (InstaForex.org) without any problems. We received a pop-up notice that the CySEC broker would be responsible for us due to our IP address, but we could still complete the registration with the offshore broker.
With the registration, as an EEA resident, we had access to trading accounts with a maximum leverage of 1:200, whereas in most Western regulatory regimes, retail clients are only allowed up to a maximum of 1:30.
The brokers with the domains ifxdirect.net and ifx-global.com are only front-ends for InstaForex.com and redirect users to them after registration.
After the restriction, we could have theoretically made unlimited pre-KYC deposits. At least via cryptocurrencies but also via the PayCo wallet and some other payment options.
Based on the findings presented, we place InstaForex on our Red Compliance list. It is apparent from our findings that the CySEC-regulated broker systematically uses offshore mutations to circumvent the stricter regulatory requirements of CySEC or ESMA.
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