I'm still curious as to whether Newpunter has tried to close the open trade, and if so, what happened?
The short answer is no. My partner is still not convinced this is a scam. I still don't know the full details - you'd appreciate that this whole issue is a source of some considerable conflict between my partner and I.
After he had invested the initial $5000, they came back with the "plan" which involved a further $40,000. When my partner contacted to say he couldn't come up with the extra money, the Col Gordon chap threatened him with legal action saying that they had gone ahead with the purchase of additional options on his behalf. My partner then tried to close the open trade and one of Vincy Options "accountants" contacted him and convinced him not to do anything at that stage as the accountant might be able to come up with a solution that would mean my partner could just maintain (and profit from) his original investment. From what I can gather, Col Gordon then contacted my partner and apologised and managed to convince him that he had acted with the best of intentions and with his only objective being to make a substantial profit for my partner (and I can hear Boggo laughing loudly again!!).
I made the mistake of going interstate for a few days and reurned home to the news that my partner had invested not only the extra $40,000, but a further $13,000 on top of that.
Col Gordon has apparently told him that he will have the trade closed before Christmas with an expected return of $200,000. My partner last spoke to Col a week ago and expects to hear from him at least once a week - we'll see whether or not he calls today.
I am convinced that our money is gone and that no options were ever bought or traded on my partner's behalf. My partner knows this and is reluctant to realise the loss - his view is that if it is a scam, does it matter if we find out now or later? He's still hoping that it's not a scam, in which case it is better (in his view) to let the trade go ahead as planned. My view is that the longer we remain silent, the more people these parasites will rob blind.
Whichever way we go, the fallout of this is not going to be just financial ..... it's the sort of stuff that severely undermines relationships.
Here's hoping that Topgunint might get some helpful advice from his lawyer neighbour.