Mark Lagarde | FinTelegram News

Author: Mark Lagarde

January 10, 2023

The Intransparent Maltese Regulator

The Maltese mess around its regulators continues. Most recently, the MFSA was again in the spotlight of scandals. The resignation of short-lived Irish CEO Joseph Gavin caused turbulence because he had apparently received a lucrative agreement to carry out an orderly handover. Something that probably shouldn't be remunerated separately one would think. The MFSA and the Maltese Finance Minister Clyde Caruana refuse to publish this €65,000 contract, The Shift reports.

Money Laundering

January 3, 2023

The Money Orchestrator Moises Fernandez Answers To FinTelegram!

The Spanish national and Dubai resident Moises Fernandez Barea is currently having a difficult time. The international press revealed his involvement in laundering funds from Venezuela through his firm Jade Group in the United Arab Emirates and other legal entities in different jurisdictions. According to Cristina Segui, one of the best-known journalists in Spain, Moises Fernandez is handling funds stolen from Venezuela through Silvia Flores.

January 2, 2023

Money Flow Dirigent Moises Fernandez Barea Attempts To Set Up More Business in Switzerland

It seems to be a vast money laundering scheme! After the vanishing of his Singapore-based high-risk payment scheme Aexon and exposing the dodgy transactions of his Jade Management Co (known as Jade Capital UAE), Simnati Consulting Group SA, together with his new partnership with HBDIG Technologies GmbH, Moises Fernandez Barea is trying to carry out business in Switzerland. Fintelegram reported in detail about this money laundering exercise of Venezuela funds.

January 2, 2023

Really? Former MFSA Officials Hid Pilatus Bank Documents In Office!

The Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) just keeps making headlines for the wrong reasons. Shocking court testimony by an MFSA official revealed that two MFSA officials hid documents from the magisterial inquiry into the operations of Pilatus Bank in a safe on the Authority’s premises that was only accessible by two people who are no longer at the Authority. This testimony was revealed on Maltese television by a local NGO President.

Malta Financial Services Authority

January 2, 2023

MFSA: The Maltese Intransparency Problems With Its Regulators Continue!

The regulatory environment in Malta is different. Very different, indeed. The Maltese online platform Shift revealed that Malta Financial Services Authority (MFS) entered into a questionable arrangement to pay its retired former CEO Joseph Gavin some €65,000 for him to “give a handover” to the new acting CEO, a senior MFSA executive. Gavin stepped down last summer after being absent from work for over a month but was still paid €11,000 per month.

December 18, 2022

Judgment day is fast approaching for Malta’s FIAU!

Malta’s Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) has been sued by more than a dozen companies and professionals. The authority is accused of having breached Malta’s Constitution and the European Convention for Human Rights, given that it acts as judge, jury, and prosecutor. The same entity that decides whom and when to investigate or not carries out the investigation and then decides on the punishment to be given has been trying to defend itself at Malta’s courts.

December 6, 2022

Malta’s Pussycat Regulator FIAU Issues Token Fine Against HSBC Bank Malta

“Being very strong with the weak and very weak with the strong” was the criticism launched towards Malta’s FIAU by various professionals, international media, and institutions. After firing hefty fines against small operators, including advocates and notary public, the FIAU, headed by Kenneth Farrugia and Alfred Zammit, recently came up with a token fine against HSBC Bank Malta. The fine considered a joke by international media is just €83,000. FIAU has earned the reputation as a "Pussycat Regulator."

November 23, 2022

FTX Activities In Malta! Gaming Ventures That Never Took Off!

The collapsed crypto exchange giant FTX, which has filed for bankruptcy in the US, opened two companies in Malta last April in an apparent bid to expand into gaming. According to information in the Malta Business Registry, FTX Malta Holdings Limited and FTX Malta Gaming Services Limited were opened in Malta in April. Both companies have Sam Bankman-Fried, the crypto exchange’s former boss, written down as appointed director. These entities are not part of the U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.

November 22, 2022

The Elon Musk-Twitter Impresses With All-Time High Of Active Users!

Mainstream media (MSM) outlets are writing Twitter dead after Elon Musk's $44 billion acquisition. There would now be too much chaos at the company. The reopening of prominent accounts such as Donald Trump (@realDonaldTrump) or Kanye West (@KanyeWest) has also caused outrage. The fact is that Twitter has never had as many active users as it has since Musk took over. In the last few weeks alone, 1.6 million active users were added.

Corruption

November 18, 2022

Interesting: The Never-Ending Austrian Corruption Wave

At present, a wave of corruption is sweeping across Europe. It recently became known that the National Criminal Agency (NACA) intends to charge the acting governor of the National Bank of Slovakia, Peter Kažimír, with corruption. In Austria, the public prosecutor's office is investigating the former chancellor and minister for corruption. As reported by the blog Wiener Zocker, there is also alleged to have been corruption in construction projects in Vienna.

Court Cases

November 15, 2022

Malta’s lawyer Pio Valletta Withdrew His Client’s Funds Thanks To Bank Of Valletta!

As reported by FinTelegram, the Maltese courts ordered Maltese lawyer Pio Valletta to refund his former client, Elnara Shorazova, €300,000. Pio Valletta was holding €2.4 million on behalf of Shorazova and her late husband. He withdrew €200,000 without their consent and followed that with another withdrawal of €700,000. A total of €900,000 was taken away from Shorazova and her late husband.

November 9, 2022

Instagram Influencer Sentenced For Cybercrime And Money Laundering!

Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, a 40-year-old Nigerian national was sentenced in the U.S. to 135 months in federal prison and has to pay $1.7m in restitution to two fraud victims. The social media influencer, also known by his Instagram handle Ray Hushpuppi, became known for a lavish lifestyle funded by transnational fraud and money laundering. He allegedly laundered $300 million and was arrested in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates in 2020.