Some money game investors optimistic

KUALA LUMPUR: While tens of thousand exasperated investors of "money game" scheme Maxim Trader are uncertain of recovering their hard-earned cash they invested in the company, a small number who had pressured the management are hopeful of recouping their investments.
An investor who declined to be named said it took him a whole year of badgering the bosses of Maxim Trader before he recovered over RM100,000 he had invested.
The investor said he believes that only those who exerted pressure and relentlessly pursued the officials appeared to be repaid.
"If you don't chase them, then they will comfortably pocket the money. I believe this was their plan all along. If just 10% of the aggressively pursuing investors are repaid, they still get to keep the remaining billions of ringgit of other investors who have chosen not to go after them. Seeing the way it was launched and how they made their exit, it is perhaps the most well-planned Ponzi scheme ever," he said.
Businessman Abdul Rahman Abdullah, 65, who invested RM360,000 in the company and had pushed for the return of the cash for over a year, said he was contacted by two individuals of the company, both who hold the title Datuk and was offered a partial refund after the plight of the investors was front-paged in theSun on June 2.
"They offered to buy back my shares at 60% of the sum I invested. I declined and they counter offered slightly more claiming to have made a fair settlement. I refused," he said.
Abdul Rahman is among a group of victims who have formed a committee and appointed a KL-based law firm to seek legal recourse in the recovery of their monies.
Sreether Sundram, a partner in law firm Messrs Murali B. Pillai which is undertaking the recovery for the group of investors said after scrutinizing documents provided by the investors and with the turn of events since Maxim Trader and the companies linked to it began its operations, said his clients have a strong case.
"We believe we have a strong case and are optimistic of recovering the funds. We have begun gathering evidence and will take all necessary steps to realise the recovery," he told theSun.
In Australia, several hundred investors who lost millions of dollars to the scheme are in the dark since the company went "silent" more than two years ago.
Sumathy Menon, 58, a former Malaysian who took up Australian citizenship two decades ago said she invested US$30,000 when the company went on a roadshow in Australia in 2014.
Sumathy said she is at her wits end as there are no longer representatives of the company who keep them updated on the status of their investment.
Several investors who spoke to theSun expressed anger and disgust on learning the founders and top officials of Maxim Trader had turned a deaf ear to their woes and were enjoying high life since the scheme kicked off in 2013.
theSun learnt from the investors that the scheme's bosses were moving about freely in flashy cars and living in luxury mainly in parts of the Klang Valley such as Petaling Jaya, Bandar Sunway and Taman OUG.
On June 2, theSun front-paged the plight of the investors of Maxim Trader, a company that claimed it was in the business of foreign currency trading and other multi-portal businesses although it was red-flagged by Bank Negara not long after its inception in 2013.
With over 50,000 investors from Malaysia and 10 other countries, funds are said to have grown to RM20 billion less than two years later.
Three Malaysians, all with Datuk Seri and Datuk titles, were named the founders of the company.
The company's officials have to date not responded to the queries made by investors and theSun.