Fulham in storm over new sponsor IUX after fake profiles of company’s ’employees’ discovered on LinkedIn

FULHAM are riding out a storm over new sponsor IUX.

The Caribbean and Cyprus-based trading firm is threatening to take legal action after fake profiles of alleged IUX employees were discovered on LinkedIn.

Renowned investigative journalist Martin Calladine found that images from photo libraries or pictures of other LinkedIn users were being used in connection with accounts claiming to belong to UK and US-based IUX staff.

But the company said on LinkedIn: “IUX hereby announces that we do not employ any individuals based in the United Kingdom.

“We will pursue appropriate action against any persons falsely claiming to be associated with our company as employees.”

It remains unclear who created the fake LinkedIn accounts and why.

Fulham are understood to have used a third-party investigative firm to check out IUX and its owners before signing the deal, and to be comfortable with continuing the partnership.

But the fake profiles associated with IUX raised big red flags after Fulham had to cancel a previous deal.

In September 2022, the club announced Titan Capital Markets as its CFD partner – the same status now given to IUX. CFD stands for contract for difference, a financial mechanism that allows customers to bet on the change in value in hard currencies, crypto and other assets.

But by November 2022, Fulham was forced to cut ties with Titan after it emerged that some people used in its promotional materials were actors rather than staff members and other concerns were raised.

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IUX, like Titan, targets customers in the Far East, South America and Africa, offering huge multiples on investments for correctly predicting movements in markets.

But the size of the potential gains – and therefore losses – is higher than permitted in jurisdictions like the UK, USA, EU, Japan and Australia.

Chelsea, Leicester and Wolves are among the other Premier League clubs to have tie-ups with CFD and/or trading firms.