Italy’s Companies and Exchange Commission (CONSOB) has ordered the blocking of access to several new websites that offer financial services illegally.

The websites targeted by the latest orders are:

• Tradetospace Global Limited (website https://tradetospace.com and related pages https://panel.tradetospace.com and https://trading.tradetospace.com);
• Continental Invest Ltd (website https://continental-invest.ltd and related page https://cfd.continental-invest.ltd);
• “TradexService” (website https://tradexservicescfd.com and pages https://panel.ait241.com and https://trading.wer332.com);
• “2139 Exchange” (websites https://2139b.com and https://2139c.com);
• “Eminent Miner” (website https://eminent-miner.com).

The list includes five illegal financial intermediation websites and one website through which an offer of financial products is carried out in the absence of a prospectus.

In issuing the orders, the Authority availed itself of the powers deriving from the “Decreto crescita” (“Growth Decree” Law no. 58 of 28 June 2019, Article no. 36, paragraph 2-terdecies), relating to the black-out of the sites of abusive financial intermediaries, as well as of the power introduced by the Law no. 8 of 28 February 2020, Article no. 4, paragraph 3-bis, with reference to the black-out of the website through which the illegal offer is carried out.

The number of websites blocked since July 2019, when Consob got the power to order that the websites of fraudulent financial intermediaries be blacked out, has thus risen to 1162. Last week, the regulator issued orders for the blocking of access to four unauthorized investment websites.

The measures adopted by Consob can be consulted on the website www.consob.it.

The black-out of these websites by Internet service providers operating on Italian territory is ongoing. For technical reasons, it can take several days for the black-out to be implemented.