An investigative report into the relationship between Nigerian forex influencer Jeffrey Benson, the FirePips brand, and the flagged broker AssexMarkets

It's a familiar playbook in the world of online forex: a charismatic influencer flashes Lamborghinis and trading screenshots on social media, builds an army of devoted followers through a branded "academy," then quietly funnels those followers into an offshore broker that no serious regulator has ever approved. The influencer earns affiliate commissions on every deposit. The followers? Many of them lose everything.

In the case of Jeffrey Benson Asabi — the Nigerian trader behind the FirePips Forex Academy brand — the pipeline leads directly to AssexMarkets, a broker that has been flagged as a scam by multiple independent review platforms, blocked by Italy's securities regulator CONSOB, and operates under what investigators describe as fictitious licensing from jurisdictions that do not regulate forex trading.

This article traces the money trail from FirePips to AssexMarkets, examines the broker's regulatory house of cards, and documents the growing wave of trader complaints that suggest something far more sinister than bad customer service.

Who Is Jeffrey Benson?

Jeffrey Benson Asabi, born in Ewohimi, Edo State, Nigeria, presents himself as a self-taught forex trader who turned $25,000 into $240,000 in six months and now claims to earn $29,000 daily. He founded FirePips Forex Academy in 2019 and co-founded the Forex Millionaire Expo (FME), a networking event for the Nigerian trading community.

On his personal website, jeffforex.com, Benson describes himself as "a modern icon in Africa's financial transformation." His social media presence — spanning Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), and Telegram — reaches tens of thousands of aspiring traders, predominantly young Nigerians seeking financial independence.

But Benson's influence doesn't stop at education. He is also the co-founder of Consummate Traders, a proprietary trading firm that launched with great fanfare, claimed to fund over 2,000 traders with $20 million, and then collapsed in 2024 — leaving thousands of traders unable to withdraw their funds.

The Consummate Traders Collapse

Before AssexMarkets, there was Consummate Traders.

Co-founded by Jeffrey Benson and Damilare Ogundare (known online as "HabbyFX"), Consummate Traders was marketed as Nigeria's premier prop trading firm. In a September 2023 LinkedIn post, Benson celebrated the firm's first anniversary, boasting that it had funded over 2,000 traders and that traders had earned over $1.2 million in profit.

By 2024, the story had changed dramatically. On Trustpilot, Consummate Traders has accumulated over 400 reviews, many of them scathing. Traders report withdrawal delays stretching 14 weeks or more, accounts deactivated without explanation, and — eventually — a website that simply went offline.

One reviewer wrote: "You are all scammers and GOD will punish all of you in charge of this propfirm. When you know you are not ready or you are not capable of something why did you start it." Another: "I just passed the first phase of my 3K challenge account only to discover that Consummate Traders website no longer exists. They took off with people's money."

The collapse of Consummate Traders is significant context for understanding what came next. Rather than facing accountability for the firm's failure, both Benson and HabbyFX pivoted — and began aggressively promoting AssexMarkets to the same audience.

The AssexMarkets Affiliate Pipeline

On Jeffrey Benson's FirePips Telegram channel — which has over 20,000 subscribers — the instructions are explicit and pinned:

"FOLLOW THESE STEPS TO COPY MY TRADES DAILY!Sign up with a broker: [AssexMarkets affiliate link with partner code 1699134]Download MT5 and link your broker to MT5Fund your account and Start taking trades from this channel BROKER I USE…"

Every deposit made through that affiliate link generates a commission for Benson. The partner code — 1699134 — is embedded in every registration URL he shares. FirePips members who want to follow Benson's trade signals are directed to open and fund AssexMarkets accounts as a prerequisite.

This isn't subtle. It's a direct monetization pipeline: build trust through the academy, offer trade signals on Telegram, and make participation contingent on depositing money with an unregulated broker through an affiliate link.

In August 2025, Benson's channel promoted a 50% deposit bonus for AssexMarkets accounts, with a minimum deposit of $500 — further incentivizing followers to send larger sums to the broker.

The Regulatory Illusion

AssexMarkets claims to be operated by AssexMarkets Global Ltd, authorized by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of Saint Lucia with registration number 2024-00223, and also registered with MISA (Mwali International Services Authority) in the Comoros with license number BFX2025110.

Both of these credentials collapse under scrutiny.

Saint Lucia's FSRA does not regulate forex trading. Investigations by BrokersView found no record of AssexMarkets Global Ltd in the FSRA's list of regulated entities. What investigators did find was a registration with Saint Lucia's International Financial Centre (IFC) — which grants International Business Company (IBC) status. This is a corporate registration, not a financial license. The IFC does not issue licenses for forex brokerage activities.

The MISA (Comoros) license is even more damning. The Central Bank of the Comoros issued an official regulatory notice in June 2022 explicitly identifying the Mwali International Services Authority as a fictitious structure that has no authority to issue banking or financial licenses. The central bank's notice lists MISA among several fake registries operating in English (the Comoros' official language is French) that target international victims who cannot verify claims against French-language official records.

As one compliance analyst on the OffshoreCorpTalk forum explained: "The Comoros is a toxic jurisdiction. These scams have been going on for 10-15 years." Another expert familiar with the region confirmed: "These entities are scams and have no legal existence. The SWIFTs they issue are fake and do not work."

In short, AssexMarkets' regulatory credentials consist of a business registration that doesn't authorize financial services and a license from an entity that the relevant country's own central bank has declared fraudulent.

Already Blocked by a Real Regulator

While AssexMarkets waves its offshore paperwork, at least one legitimate financial regulator has already taken action.

Italy's CONSOB (Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa) issued resolution no. 22775 on November 20, 2022, ordering Italian internet service providers to block access to assexmarkets.com. The regulator determined that AssexMarkets was offering financial services to the public without the necessary authorization.

CONSOB has the power to block websites of fraudulent financial intermediaries under Italy's "Growth Decree" law. Since July 2019, the regulator has blocked over 1,300 such websites. AssexMarkets is one of them.

The Trader Complaints

The complaints from actual AssexMarkets users form a consistent and alarming pattern.

Frozen accounts and confiscated funds: Multiple traders report their accounts being blocked after making profits, with no explanation provided. One trader on Trustpilot reported having over $9,000 frozen: "Assexmarket is a scam, blocked my account with over 9000$ and will not respond to my emails or answer my phone calls. Should have done my research first, it is an unregulated broker."

Unauthorized deductions: A trader documented on WikiFX that AssexMarkets deducted $400 from a $1,005 deposit without consent, then blocked the account when withdrawal was attempted — twice.

Withdrawal obstruction: Traders consistently report that deposits are processed instantly, but withdrawals are delayed indefinitely or denied outright. Several describe being asked to complete additional verification steps that, once completed, still don't result in withdrawal access.

Unauthorized trading: At least one trader reported discovering open positions on their account that they did not place — trades allegedly executed by the broker itself without authorization.

Communication blackout: Multiple users report that AssexMarkets' customer support is responsive and helpful when deposits are being made, but becomes unreachable once withdrawal issues arise. Phone numbers are blocked, emails go unanswered, and support channels are deactivated.

BrokersView has formally listed AssexMarkets as a Scam Broker. WikiFX gives it a score of 1.23 out of 10. Neither platform found any valid regulatory license.

A Pattern of Platform-Hopping

Before AssexMarkets, Benson promoted other brokers. His earlier Telegram posts reference Infinox, for which he organized sponsored meet-and-greet events. Traders have noted that the original assexmarkets.com domain was allegedly operated by HabbyFX and Jeffrey Benson, which BrokersView confirmed is a source of "heightened suspicion and mistrust" among the trading community.

The pattern is consistent: promote a platform, earn affiliate commissions, and when it becomes too toxic, move on to the next one. Meanwhile, the followers who deposited based on Benson's endorsement are left trying to recover funds from an unregulated entity with no legal accountability.

The Influencer Shield

Perhaps the most troubling aspect of this arrangement is how the influencer model creates a shield of plausible deniability. Benson can claim he's simply sharing "the broker I use" — technically a recommendation, not a guarantee. His FirePips Academy can point to its educational content and student testimonials as evidence of legitimacy. And the affiliate commission structure is standard practice in the industry.

But standard practice doesn't make it ethical. When an influencer with tens of thousands of followers — many of them young, financially unsophisticated Nigerians hoping to escape poverty — directs them to deposit money with a broker that has no valid license, has been blocked by a European regulator, claims authorization from a fictitious regulatory body, and has a mounting record of frozen accounts and confiscated funds, the distinction between "recommendation" and "complicity" becomes very thin.

What Traders Should Know

For anyone considering depositing money with AssexMarkets based on Jeffrey Benson's or any other influencer's endorsement, the facts are clear:

AssexMarkets holds no valid forex trading license from any recognized financial regulator. Its Saint Lucia registration is a corporate filing, not a financial license. Its Comoros "license" was issued by an entity that the Comoros' own central bank has declared fictitious. Italy's CONSOB has already blocked the site for unauthorized financial services. Multiple independent review platforms have flagged it as a scam. And a growing number of traders report frozen accounts, confiscated funds, and unanswered support requests.

The affiliate link in Jeffrey Benson's Telegram channel — partner code 1699134 — earns him money every time a follower signs up and deposits. The follower, meanwhile, is sending funds to an entity with no regulatory oversight and no obligation to return them.

Before Benson promoted AssexMarkets, he co-founded Consummate Traders, which collapsed and left thousands of traders unpaid. The platform went offline. The pattern speaks for itself.

This article is based on publicly available information from regulatory databases, broker review platforms, social media posts, and community forums. Individuals and entities mentioned have not been charged with any criminal offenses. Traders who believe they have been defrauded should contact their local financial regulatory authority and consider filing complaints through platforms such as WikiFX and BrokersView.