In short this topic does not really need explaining. It is a simple yes that Tim Sykes and his businesses are complete scams. That’s all we need, but to emphasize our point we’ll walk you through a clearly defined list of steps that will make you wonder how anyone could be so senseless to believe in his ideals or purchase any of his products.
Who is Tim Sykes?
Tim Sykes is a guy that claimed to have turned 12k into $1.65 million by day trading penny stocks while in college. He also founded a hedge fund using $1 million from friends and family called the Cilantro Fund. He has since went on to write a book: An American Hedge Fund: How I Made $2 million as a stock operator & created a hedge fund. (This makes me laugh historically which we’ll get to later). He also created a Miss Penny Pageant, similar to the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, to help market his image and brand.
Tim has since went on to found a few companies including Profit.ly and investimonials.com, both of which have questionable business models and stories.
Scam Artist Tim Sykes
Let’s take a step back on his background.
Even if he was able to do this (it theoretically is possible, but unlikely), let’s ask ourselves two questions. First, why would he give away something that made him millions, for the cheap price of a sign up fee? If you had a system that could make millions quickly, then you would go to a billionaire and ask him for $500 million to invest, so you could make $10 million or more quickly, you wouldn’t be selling your system for $5,000 a pop. It just does not make logical sense. Second, if his strategy makes so much sense, then why are the largest investment firms in the world not investing in it or utilizing a similar investing strategy (shorting penny stocks)? Why does every investment book make a distinction between real investing and trading? I think we already know the answer.
Tim will tell you on his website that he can only invest small portions because there is not enough liquidity in penny stocks, which may be partially true, but it does not mean that trading penny stock is legitimate and not risky. Additionally, what makes a lot of logical sense is this; Tim was able to make some money trading, and realized that selling his “platform” would be a great business model for a company! After all, on his website he will even tell you that he cannot control how you do, so if you sign up and lose it all, he stil makes money!
Barclays
In 2006, Sykes claimed that Barclays rated him the #1 micro stock hedge fund trader, and the public assumed the statement was referencing Barclays Investment Bank, when in reality it referenced a little known research firm called Barclays, with a questionable reputation. This to me is a huge reg flag. I will admit it is initially tough to tell that he is a fraud based on his website, because he is good at one thing, and that’s selling his ideas to you. He can sell, and he sells the dream of millions to people everyday.
Proof
Tim Sykes did in fact go through testing as a registered investment adviser, however, he has not released many of documents that he has claimed for financially. This is the most significant red flag to me out of anything. It is very common practice for fund managers to show in record all of their financial statements as proof of their wealth, and he was not willing to do so.
At this point, Tim may not care about being known as a scammer because he has made some money off of his company sales (not trading), but eventually someone will give the SEC a call, and we’ll just all see what the outcome is. By the way, the reason I laugh above is become a hedge fund manager on Wall Street could buy Tim Sykes ten times over, and it is a disgrace to say managing $3 million is a hedge fund. (Most hedge funds manage billions of dollars at a time)
