Online Trading Academy Files Lawsuit Against Federal Trade Commission

IRVINE, Calif., Feb. 4, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Online Trading Academy (OTA) has filed a lawsuit to prevent the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from violating OTA's First Amendment rights by confining commercial speech and from seeking relief against OTA to which the FTC is not entitled. The lawsuit will help counter the FTC's campaign to restrict access to nontraditional forms of financial education.

"Since our founding in 1997, we have worked tirelessly on behalf of our more than 70,000 students to equip them with the education, tools and skills to trade with confidence, manage risk and make the markets more inclusive," said Eyal Shahar, Founder and CEO of OTA. "We hear so many moving, humbling and inspiring stories of our students' success, which fuels our motivation to ensure they have access to strategies and resources designed to help them achieve their financial education goals. We've always believed exceptional financial education should not be reserved only for the Wall Street elite."

Shahar continued, "We are proud of our education. We embrace the passion of our employees, instructors and franchise owners and we are confident that we will prevail."

The FTC accuses OTA, through its marketing efforts, of misrepresenting students' ability to make money. OTA asserts the FTC is placing a grossly excessive and unreasonable standard on the company to prove the financial gains of our students. Of course, a range of factors can impact one's earning potential when trading. Yet, OTA, like any other financial education organization, should be afforded the constitutionally guaranteed right to commercial free speech, which enables us to communicate the value of exceptional financial education. OTA goes to great lengths to ensure its students receive an excellent education and are highly satisfied.

Mike Richardson, President, added, "We've provided the FTC substantial evidence of the efficacy of our education, student satisfaction surveys, and feedback from our students along with performance data of our tools that help our students identify trading opportunities. This information seems to have been largely ignored as the FTC continues its campaign indiscriminately using the full weight and power of the government without regard for the damage it might cause. We will vigorously defend our right to serve the general public and all of our students with the exceptional financial education they have come to value and love."

ABOUT ONLINE TRADING ACADEMY
Online Trading Academy (OTA) is a world leader in education for investors looking to build skills designed to help them manage risk and trade confidently. OTA's step-by-step Core Strategy is designed to help educate traders and investors to make smarter investing decisions. Students learn under the guidance of experienced traders in an interactive classroom setting with extensive online education resources. The courses are geared toward individual investors or traders, novice or experienced, who want to learn how to use similar tools and trading techniques as the professional traders on Wall Street. From a single location in Irvine, CA, Online Trading Academy has expanded to more than 48 worldwide campuses.

SOURCE Online Trading Academy