Aubit Ponzi scheme rebrands as Freeway
Aubit has dropped its name.
In an announcement made on January 3rd, the Ponzi scheme revealed it will go by “Freeway”.
In a subsequent announcement, AuBit announced it would be referring to affiliates as “FreewayFam”.
Freeway is the name of Aubit’s token. In late December the company also rebooted the token “under a new smart contract address” because reasons.
Other than the name-change, Freeway’s business model appears to be the same as Aubit’s.
The pitch is an 8% to 16% annual return. Through “supercharger” investment plans, Freeway’s offered returns climb to 43% annually.
Freeway claims this is legal because it has “fully regulated brokerage accounts”.
This pertains to Ardu Prime, through which Freeway has registered the Ardu Prime SA shell company with financial regulators in Greece, Germany and the UK.
AuBit Prime is a registered trading name owned and operated by Ardu Prime.
Ardu Prime SA is an EU Regulated entity and MiFID II compliant. (Hellenic Capital Market Commission License: 4/164/20.7.1999, FCA reference: 725166, BaFin ID: 10146106)
Initially Aubit represented it was in a partnership with Ardu Prime. In late 2021 this facade was dropped, with Aubit taking an “ownership share” in Ardu Prime.
This saw Aubit claim it was now owned and operated by Ardu Prime. Aubit Prime branding was created but doesn’t appear to have stuck.
Regardless of where Ardu Prime is or isn’t registered to offer securities, at no time has Aubit, now Freeway, been registered with a financial regulator.
From mid August 2021, Aubit began soliciting investment from US residents. This continues in Freeway under “Freeway Lite US”.
Whereas Freeway’s website boasts of annual returns, Freeway Lite US’ website is a barebones login form:
A corporate address in Wyoming is provided in the Freeway Lite US website footer.
This address belongs to a shell company incorporation service. Freeway has no physical business operations in the US.
Neither Ardu Prime, Freeway or any of its attached shell companies are registered with the SEC.
In a January 8th marketing video featuring co-founder Sadie Hutton, she claimed Freeway took in $13.7 million over December 2021.
Hutton and Freeway’s two other co-founders, Mark Kearns and Graham Doggart, represent they are based out of Malta.
Update 20th July 2022 – A UK incorporation entry for GSCD LTD suggests there may be a personal relation between Sadie Hutton and Graham Doggart.
GSCD Ltd was a shell company dissolved earlier this year in February.
If the DOBs are accurate that rules out a sibling relationship. Hutton and Doggart could be distant relations or spouses.
In any event, the personal connection has not been disclosed in Aubit or Freeway marketing. /end update
Malta is a scam-friendly jurisdiction with little to no regulation of MLM related securities fraud.
Neither Ardu Prime, Freeway or its executives represent they have registered with the Malta Financial Services Authority.
Update 24th October 2022 – Freeway has collapsed.
A change of name sounds awfully like an attempt at a relaunch!
For a company that claims to act as an investment brokerage, they seemingly fail to understand why people invest in gold.
They also seem to have the magical ability to make 1 troy ounce of gold double to 2 troy ounces of gold (except it is just numbers on a Blockchain).
They seem awfully keen on pushing the referral process, which is awfully like Multi-Level-Marketing aka Pyramid Selling.
And despite claiming to be investment brokers, they seem awfully keen on promoting their crypto token!
Why on earth would an investment brokerage company require one to purchase a crypto-shit-coin to buy gold ETFs, stocks, commodities, gold futures, etc.?
It all smells a bit Ponzi to me!
I see more lies that have no evidence to back them up.
You can verify yourself that Aubit isn’t registered to offer securities outside of three countries (none of which it’s particularly active).
MLM + securities fraud = Ponzi scheme
Ignoring the evidence doesn’t negate it.
Aubit/Freeway claims to be an investment brokerage company, but is selling a worthless crypto-shit-token.
Also why do they need me to buy a worthless crypto-shit-token in order to sell me stocks, shares, commodities and/or gold?
Aubit/Freeway claims to be an investment brokerage company, but seems awfully keen on pushing it’s “Referal” scheme that has all the hallmarks of pyramid selling.
Aubit/Freeway claims to be an investment brokerage company, but fails to understand why people invest in physical gold bullion, gold ETFs, gold futures, etc.
Aubit/Freeway is NOT registered with the UK Fiancial Conduct Authority.
Sorry for your financial loss if you have invested in this Ponzi.
What loss? It’s paying out 43% APY.. I understand the scepticism but at the end of the day it’s a working product that’s performing as advertised..
What do you think the endgame is? A rug pull and escape with everyone’s money?
You can pay out infinity APY when you’re generating a shitcoin on demand. They’re not actually paying you out anything.
AuBit already has your money. Endgame is recruitment drops off then sorry for your loss.
I’ve made back more than what I put in, and have withdrawn money successfully to my bank so I’m cool either way it turns out. I Have been using them for the past year and never had any issues so far.
The change in contract was because of a hack on an exchange where 12M tokens were taken, so an updated contract made the stolen tokens worthless. ETH also done this before hence why ETH Classic was made (as they didn’t agree with the premise).
@P
Well of course you are, you’re a net-winner in a Ponzi scheme. Fuck your victims, the people you stole from.
The excuses used by Ponzi schemes never change. wE gOt HaCkEd! is as old as time.
Okay, but I continually pull money out monthly as does everyone I know who uses it… so where are all these losers who now can’t access their money based off my withdrawal of ‘their’ money?
Ponzi schemes could not be hacked originally because the internet didn’t exist so it isn’t an excuse as ‘old as time’. They are fully regulated in my country and are now a regulated bank in my country so you are full of shit sadly.
I also don’t understand why changing a contract would make them a ponzi scheme, you clearly have a lack of knowledge on how blockchain technology works.
Everyone got updated to the new contract and the service is still running fine. As I said, been using it a year as have thousands of other people, give me proof they have taken money from people and I’ll believe you but otherwise this whole article is tripe.
Yeah and you’ve locked up your investment for how long?
Ponzi math is Ponzi math. When withdrawals exceed what’s invested, kaboom.
By the time people who’ve already lost money in Aubit realize they’ve lost money, it’s too late.
Mumma-mia Spaghettios. Someone dug up my buried backyard stamp collection. We’ve been hacked!
-Charles Ponzi 1920, probably
Name the country, name the regulator and provide audited financial reports.
It doesn’t. Recycling invested funds to pay withdrawals makes Aubit a Ponzi scheme. A Ponzi is a Ponzi, on or off dUh BlOcKcHaIn.
Yeah until Ponzi math kicks in. Aubit’s Alexa website traffic ranking is over 5 million.
No new suckers = ruhroh.
Math is math. Sorry for your loss.
I’m in EU and UK and their services are regulated/audited by the HCMC and ESMA.
Yeah Ponzi schemes didn’t start with Ponzi that is just when the name changed because of his ‘success’ if you could call it that haha. All I was saying is a hack doesn’t mean its Ponzi, even banks get hacked… Doesn’t immediately equate to a scheme.
if you can use links here, docsend.com/view/qsdhh67yseruueym
has all the registered FCA numbers and everything for you to check.
(Page 10 and 11)
Yeah hate to break it to you chief but securities in the UK fall under the FCA.
Feel free to provide evidence Aubit/Freeway has registered with the HCMC. You’ll also have to provide audited financial reports.
Note that this would apply to Greece only, Aubit/Freeway are still committing securities fraud everywhere else in the world.
Of course not but again I’ll point out that’s a premise you invented and then ran with.
Aubit/Freeway is a Ponzi scheme because it recycles investment to pay withdrawals.
Did you even read the doc it has FCA numbers in it for Germany and the UK… Idiot.
You can verify yourself right on the FCA’s website that neither Aubit or Freeway are registered to offer securities in the UK.
register.fca.org.uk/s/
Go by a regulatory website or some bullshit numbers on a Ponzi scheme marketing document?
This isn’t the Charles Ponzi era. Today we can check directly with regulators and catch Ponzi scammers out.
Herp a derp derp.
register.fca.org.uk/s/search?q=725166&type=Companies
comes up with the brokerage that is registered to work in UK and Germany as well as Greece.
Yeah mate, don’t see Aubit or Freeway on that page.
You can’t shell company your way out of securities fraud. Either Aubit/Freeway is registered or it isn’t.
It isn’t and there are no audited financial reports, because Aubit/Freeway is a Ponzi scheme.
Here endeth the lesson. Best of luck with the scamming.
A licence to run an investment broker in the UK isn’t a licence to run an illegal collective investment security and market it all over the world without registering it with securities regulators.
“Hi, this is the police, we’re here to arrest you for murder.”
“Well you see officer, I can’t be guilty, because I own a broker with an FCA licence.”
“Sorry to waste your time sir, of course a licence to run an investment broker constitutes a licence to do whatever else you like anywhere in the world. You’re free to go.”
And you still haven’t provided evidence that Ardu is registered with the US SEC and regulators in all the other countries in which it is marketed in.
Q: Why would a company go to the trouble of obtaining regulatory licences and operating legally in the UK, but not bother doing the same in the USA and other countries?
A1: Because they’re not operating legally in the UK either. The licence is an irrelevant “we’re regulated!” smokescreen and does not cover Ardu / Freeway’s collective investment and “deposit” activities.
A2: BUH MUH BLOCKCHAIN!
Neither Aubit nor Freeway are registered with the UK Financial Conduct Authority. I know they are not registered with the FCA because I checked.
The scammers behind Aubit/Freeway purchased a dormant company in Greece and piggy-backed off its own registrations to pull the wool over yours and other gullible peoples’ eyes.
However, the fact remains that Aubit/Freeway is not registered with the UK Financial Conduct Authority.
Sorry for your forthcoming loss when this Ponzi scam collapses.
Has anyone successfully withdrawn their funds?
Yes. Quite a few times.
I’ve had absolutely no issues so far.
I still want to know how they’ll magically turn 1 troy ounce of gold into 2 troy ounces of gold, why they have suddenly dropped all references to their “referral” (pyramid marketing) scheme, and why they have failed to register with the UK Financial Conduct Authority.
Ponzi scams can pay out until there is no more new “investors/victims”, then it collapses.
Quite simply DYOR research & find out. All info this is plain simple English. The world is getting more & more full of very strange people.
For sure. Anyone can confirm Aubit are committing securities fraud through your own research (the SEC’s Edgar database is free, as are the databases of a number of financial regulators).
What you do after confirming securities fraud depends on whether or not you’re OK with fraud and stealing people’s money.
The fact that Sadie Hutton and Graham Doggart were advisors on the crypto scam game Worldopo does not bring confidence to me.
What exactly is Worldopo? What was the scam?
There is nothing in this article that backs up the claim this is a ponzi. I regularly withdraw. Never had a problem.
Find me some proof they aren’t generating the gains the way they claim.
MLM + securities fraud = Ponzi scheme.
Whether you’re personally able to steal money through a Ponzi scheme is neither here nor there.
That’s not how due-diligence works. The onus is on Aubit to operate legally and, as is legally required, demonstrate evidence of external revenue generation via audited financial reports.
Why doesn’t Aubit do this? Because it’s a Ponzi scheme.
Freeway and Aubit Prime are NOT registered with the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority, or any other Financial Regulatory Authority. They are in effect operating illegally.
There is ZERO evidence of their acting as an investment brokerage. (They are a Ponzi scam, generating income through referrals.)
They completely fail to understand why people invest in physical gold, allocated gold, gold EFTs and gold futures contracts, etc. They also magically claim you can turn one troy ounce of gold into two troy ounces of gold.
They use terms like “superchargers” that are not used by any legitimate investment broker.
…It all smells a bit Ponzi to me! And when it collapses, and Sadie flees to Dubai, “investors” will be left scrarching their heads and counting their losses.
Cryptocurrency shit-coin related…
coinpare.io/project/worldopo
coinpare.io/people/sadie-hutton
…It seems to be no longer be operating. Sadie Hutton was an “advisor” to Worldopo.
Only their LinkedIn profiles show that they all have marketing backgrounds in the SAME company.
If you’re right and Sadie flees to Dubai I’m here to welcome her. My dealings have been with Graham. I find him highly credible, transparent and honest.
You don’t seem to have carried out any basic dd before throwing around the ponzi claim.
For sure there’s risk on a platform that pays up to 43%. That’s why I don’t place 100% of my assets here.
That said, it’s extremely unlikely that my yield is coming from either FWT buys or new user deposits.
Why are you so certain that Aubit is not generating yield from quant strategies? Other prime brokerages do the same. Why not Aubit?
People who commit securities fraud are neither credible, transparent or honest.
There is something not adding up about Freeway.
They may be audited but the transparency on how they fund the returns is vague.
We have to believe they have a separate team doing Forex trading returning more than the 43% return per apy.
I would like to see a clean
A. Total Amount of income from forex per day.
B. Total amount of returns to freeway members.
without this it smells like a ponzi.
1. If that was the case these traders wouldn’t be working for an offshore crypto Ponzi. And forex trading brings with it it’s own regulatory requirements (none of which Aubit are compliant with).
2. You don’t “have to believe” in a legitimate investment company. They provide regulators with audited financial reports that are made available to you.
If you “have to believe” because an MLM investment company is operating illegally, it’s a Ponzi scheme.
According to one of their recent AMAs, its not actually a team per se, but rather a quant trading algorithm.
Team of traders, algorithm, any other Ponzi cliche, doesn’t change SEC/CFTC regulatory requirements.
For sure. Just making you aware.
When you say Dormant company, are you talking about Ardu Prime ?. I’m trying to work out how genuine they are. Thanks.
Ardu Prime was a dormant shell company registered with the FCA.
It was for sale, only reason it was acquired. Too bad legitimacy via association/acquisition isn’t a thing.
Really confused by this. A friend is invested in a forex scheme which I’m sure is a ponzi. The only thing making me doubt it was that Ardu provide a trading history report.
Knowing they were dodgy would end this doubt. How did they get the Pan finance award ?. Looking at Pan finance, they appear to be pretty reputable. Thanks.
Aubit/Freeway bought Ardu *. Whatever it is/was it’s now just part of Aubit’s/Freeway’s Ponzi.
Winning awards and social media trading history isn’t a substitute for registration with financial regulators and filed audited financial reports.
The comments on this article cover Ardu *:
https://behindmlm.com/mlm-reviews/aubit-review-freeway-token-no-risk-ponzi-scheme/
Not that it matters, as a Ponzi scheme that has won an award from some website is still a Ponzi scheme, but:
Nobody has ever heard of Pan Finance. It’s a website with a bunch of scraped content registered only last year. It claims to be based in Ipswich but no UK company details are provided.
A bit of Googling suggests that Pan Finance is run from a limited company, PF Publishing Limited – not publishing these details on its website is a criminal offence under the Companies Act.
Even in the world of legitimate financial companies, these awards are given in exchange for payola. You get an email asking if you want to be “nominated” for this “prestigious” award in exchange for a fee, you hand over a few hundred or thousand pounds, as long as you’ve handed over enough you win the award and get a tax-efficient piss-up for senior management in a hotel.
Literally nobody cares about these awards apart from insecure company executives and the people who make money handing them out.
So we have a scam website awarding a bullshit award to a scam investment scheme. Legitimacy by association megafail.
Trading reports are easily faked and even if true do nothing to confirm that external revenue (trading profits) are being used to pay returns.
Thank you so much for that. I was patting myself on the back for working out that the Ultimate Fintech award was bullshit.
It was easy to see that they’re a non-entity from Cyprus. The Pan Finance thing threw me though. Professional looking website, digital magazine and mention of offices in London and Barcelona (which I now see are unlikely to exist).
That’s removed Ardu’s proof of respectability for me and given me further avenues to explore.
Thanks again.
Just found this on Twitter. Does this back them up in any way or can it be discounted ?. Are ACA group a respected compliance group ?
Thank you.
Freeway generates its revenue by quant trading the FX market, through Ardu Prime, the EU regulated prime brokerage.
For 2021, Ardu Prime supplied all trades & bank statements to ACA Group, who confirmed a 112.82% performance
ACA Group is not a financial regulator, and all mentions by Freeway about Ardu Prime submitting their reports to them are therefore irrelevant.
Thank you. Are these “compliance” companies dodgy themselves then?
Are they just set up to give respectability to shady companies for money?
But, but, but Kir, look at all those digits! 112.82%!! Five sigfigs! It’s gotta be legit!
Gotta!
(/sarcasm)
Whatever ACA Group is it’s not a financial regulator in a country Freeway solicits investment in.
In other words, it’s more meaningless pseudo-compliance bullshit.
@Q
Pretty much. If you look at ACA Global’s website, they bang on about the SEC and CFTC;
This tells you it’s a grift because step 1 with Freeway is: “You need to be registered with the SEC.”
Finally pulled the rug on this one, lasted long than expected tbh.
“BuT iT’s NoT a PoNZi!” lol.
And here comes the exit scam which we tried to forewarn people would happen.
You have been proven correct friend. Thank you for the research and warning people. Saved me a lot of money.