Compliance | FinTelegram News

Category: Compliance

June 7, 2021

The Consob Monday – Italian regulator orders black-out of five new illegal websites

Punctual as the sundial, the Italian financial watchdog has been announcing the blackout of scam websites every Monday for several months. Today, the Italian regulator Consob announced the black-out of five new websites of illegally operating financial services providers. Consob is the only EU regulator to take this effective measure. However, it would be desirable if more member states would create a legal basis for blocking illegal or fraudulent websites.

June 6, 2021

US SEC settles fraud complaint against binary options fraudsters Kai Petersen, Gil Beserglik et al

54-year-old German Kai Petersen a/k/a Kai Haupt and his Israeli partners Gil Beserglik and his son Raz Beserglik have been major players in the binary options and forex fraud industry between 2014 and 2020. Their scam brands and boiler rooms have defrauded tens of thousands of investors out of as much as $100 million the SEC has alleged in a fraud lawsuit. The US regulator claims that Bloombex Options, Morton Finance, and Starling Capital ripped off $100 million. And these were only three of many other scams. On May 25, 2021, the SEC announced a cheap settlement in this case.

June 6, 2021

Investor warning against TradeLax broker scam facilitated by BridgerPay

The U.K. FCA issued an investor warning against the broker scam TradeLax (www.tradelax.com). The scam is allegedly operated by TradeLax Ltd, registered in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. On TrustPilot, Tradelax has been labeled as a scam for quite some time and has a 2-star rating with a "poor" trust level. As a payment processor have once again discovered the Cypriot-Israeli BridgerPay by Ran Cohen. Scam warnings against its merchants have never bothered BridgerPay.

June 4, 2021

Forza Italia! Consob orders black-out for five broker scam sites

Sure, scammers most likely launch a few dozen new websites every single day. Thus, closing down five per week doesn’t sound too impressive, but it’s a start. Like every week, the Italian regulator Consob announced the blackout of five new websites of illegally operating financial services providers. Consob is the only EU regulator to take this effective measure. It would be desirable if more member states would create a legal basis for blocking illegal or fraudulent websites.

May 31, 2021

German BaFin warns against the BexStock, beEXP, and InvestEXP scams

The German regulator BaFin has issued an investor warning against BexStock (www.bexstock.com), allegedly a successor to InvestEXP (www.investexp.de) and beEXP (www.beexp.de) scams. BS ASIA Pte. Ltd, Singapore, allegedly operates them. In our quick review, we found BexStock's payment processors to be NeoBanQ (www.neobanq.com) and PaymentsPro (www.paymentspro.ch), as well as the cryptoprocessor Larco (www.larco-global.com). So stay far away from BexStock and keep your money.

May 31, 2021

Austrian regulator warns against FXTime broker scam

The Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) has issued an investor warning against the FXTime broker scam (www.fxtime.io). According to the FMA, the scam claims to operate in Austria. We found in the Terms & Conditions that Estonian law applies. As payment processors behind the BoxiPay cashier, we have once again discovered PayNetEasy and PayCent. Deposits from victims are currently only possible via credit and debit cards. Do not fall for the scam.

OSC
ticker

May 28, 2021

Really? Canadian OSC and its dirty settlement with former Wirecard partner GMM

The Canadian-Israeli Cartu Brothers were the operators of a $165M binary options fraud scheme, according to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). As a result, the U.S. regulator filed a fraud complaint against David Cartu, Joshua Cartu, Jonathan Cartu, and Nati Peretz, and Leeav Peretz. The Canadian regulator OSC has also taken action against the Cartu brothers for binary options fraud. But now, the Cartu Brothers can buy their way out of the OSC fraud charges for just CAD 300,000. A bargain the brothers will probably laugh about for a long time.

May 27, 2021

James Scerri Worley, and the withdrawal of license of Money + Card Payment Institution Ltd

James Scerri Worley is a practicing lawyer in Malta. He was an official of Money + Card Payment Institution Ltd d/b/a epayzz which had its license revoked by the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA). The company did not possess enough funds to cover the minimum required by law and did not meet its governance requirements. James Scerri Worley being an integral part of the company, also faced other decisions by the Authority. MFSA decided that Money + Card Payment Institution Ltd should wind up its business.

May 24, 2021

UK FCA warns against Finvesting broker scam

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued an investor warning against the Finvesting broker scam. The scam is allegedly operated by Sanako Service Ltd, registered in the Marshall islands, with the domains www.finvestings.com and www.fin-vestings.com. A Finvesting investment news service based in Estonia is also active under the domain www.finvesting.net. It is currently not clear whether and how these two investment ventures are connected. We have not been able to identify any payment service providers.

CONSOB

May 23, 2021

Regulatory Enforcement – This week’s Consob blackouts!

For many weeks, the Italian Consob has been announcing the blackout of websites illegally offering financial services. Most of the time, five sites are announced to be blocked. Why exactly five sites, we do not know. Like every week, the Italian regulator Consob ordered the black-out of five new websites of illegally operating financial services providers. Consob is the only EU regulator to take this effective measure. However, it would be desirable if more member states would create a legal basis for blocking illegal or fraudulent websites.

May 21, 2021

Interesting German-Lithuanian Compliance Dispute about Wirecard and fintech regulation

The spot is on Lithuania! The Financial Times reported that German prosecutors suspect that more than €100M was stolen from Wirecard via the licensed Lithuanian Finolita Unio. Via this fintech, at least €35M was said to have flowed to fugitive ex-Wirecard executive Jan Marsalek and another €65M to the now insolvent company oCap (previously Senjo Trading) in Singapore. Both Finolita Unio and oCap are part of the Senjo Group, one of Wirecard's most important partners in Asia, and received a loan of €350M from the latter. Finolita Unio CEO Danas Oliskevicius rejects the accusations and blames the German BaFin.

May 19, 2021

Maltese Compliance Issue – Paytah accuses MFSA of acting in violation of the constitution

The regulated Maltese high-risk payment processor Phoenix Payments Ltd d/b/a Paytah, has sued its regulator, the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA). Paytah accuses MFSA of being judge, jury, and executioner. The payment processor took this unprecedented step after the Maltese regulator fined it EUR 32,400 and restricted the company's license. This is not a normal civil court case. Instead, Paytah brought the claim against MFSA at the Constitutional Courts level. This is a first in Malta. Paytah has also sued MFSA for damages.