Mark Lagarde | FinTelegram News

Author: Mark Lagarde

Court Cases

May 31, 2023

Sentenced Start-Up Founder Elizabeth Holmes Began Her Prison Sentence!

On Tuesday, Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced entrepreneur convicted of defrauding investors in her failed blood-testing start-up, Theranos, began her 11-year, three-month prison sentence by reporting to a federal facility in Texas. The New York Times reports that she arrived at F.P.C. Bryan, a minimum-security prison camp for women near Houston, accompanied by what appeared to be her mother and her father inside the vehicle.

May 30, 2023

Curve CEO Michael Egorov And His Lavish Australian Villas.

Who says that FinTech and Crypto are in hibernation or crisis? Michael Egorov, CEO of DeFi protocol Curve Finance, and his wife Anna have recently acquired two lavish villas in Melbourne, Australia, with a combined value of AUD 59 million (approximately $40 million). Curve, launched in 2020, stands as the second-largest DeFi project on Ethereum, with a total value of around $4 billion, per The Block reports.

May 21, 2023

CySEC Broker BDSwiss Appoints Christos Fylaktou As Head For Its African Operations!

The CySEC-regulated investment firm BDSwiss has appointed Christos Fylaktou as the Regional Head of Business Development for its African operations. Before joining BDSwiss, he had a three-year tenure as s senior business development executive for the Africa region at HFM, previously known as HotForex. Fylaktou will work in BDSwiss offices in Cyprus.

May 21, 2023

US Regulator SEC Appoints New Deputy Director For Legal And Regulatory Police!

This week, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that Mellissa Campbell Duru has been named Deputy Director for Legal and Regulatory Policy in the Division of Corporation Finance. She was most recently a Special Counsel at Covington & Burling LLP. Before that, she spent over 15 years in various SEC roles.

May 19, 2023

Power Struggle: Revolut May Or May Not Be Granted A Banking Licence In The UK!

Over the last 48 hours, rumors have been circulating about granting the UK banking license to Revolut. One hears that the regulators would deny Revolut the banking license. There was also talk that Revolut had offered the regulators to withdraw the application. The Guardian reports that the UK government intervened and coordinated talks with Revolut as part of its growth strategy. Founded in 2015 by Russian-born Nik Storonsky, Revolut is the highest-valued FinTech in the UK.

Shortseller

May 18, 2023

Shortseller Viceroy Research Targets Japanese Abalance Alleging Violation Of Trading Regulations!

On May 17, 2023, Viceroy Research published a devastating report on Abalance (website), a Japanese solar panel manufacturer. Approximately 90% of the company’s revenues are derived from its Vietnamese subsidiary, Vietnam Sunergy Joint Stock Corporation (VSUN). Viceroy alleges the VSUN would de-facto be a pass-through assembly plant for Chinese products. It serves the sole purpose of avoiding US Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duties (AD/CVD).

May 17, 2023

Former Bitpanda CFO Peter Grausgruber Joins Dutch RegTech Fourthline!

The former CFO of Vienna-based crypto exchange Bitpanda, Peter Grausgruber, is moving to Dutch regtech Fourthline, a company co-founded by the disgraced Payvision founder Rudolf Booker. Fourthline has announced the appointment of Peter Grausgruber as CFO of the provider of KYC and AML solutions. Grausgruber joined Bitpanda in 2019 and has guided the company through several financing rounds.

May 16, 2023

Regulatory Warning Against TradeCare365

The Spanish regulator CNMV issued a warning against the broker scheme TradeCare365 on May 16, 2023. This is allegedly operated through Orionda Financials Ltd, registered in Seychelles, and by TradeCare365 Markets Ltd in Mauritius. The website claims that the broker would be regulated by the FSC Mauritius. We have not found the companies. This is likely to be fake. Stay far away and protect your financial health.

Compliance

May 8, 2023

Malta Appoints Financial Arbiter Who Was Found Guilty 66 Times

Malta can’t stop hurting its own financial services industry. Minister Clyde Caruana has appointed Alfred Mifsud as the Arbiter for financial services. Mifsud, who headed the TV station of the Labour Party, which is currently in Government, was found guilty in 66 cases by the previous financial services Arbiter. Labour stalwart Alfred Mifsud owned Crystal Finance Investments, which mis-sold thousands of products to its victims.

April 28, 2023

CFTC Secures Court Order Against South African Scam Operator To Pay Over $3.4 Billion!

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that it secured an order of default judgment and permanent injunction against Cornelius Johannes Steynberg, a South African citizen. For operating a fraudulent Bitcoin-based forex trading scheme Steynberg has to pay $1,733,838,372 in restitution to defrauded victims and a $1,733,838,372 civil monetary penalty. This is the highest civil monetary penalty ordered in any CFTC case.

Cybercrime

April 27, 2023

ChatGPT On AI And Cybercrime Activities!

Artificial intelligence (AI) can be used as a tool for cybercrime activities, just like any other technology. AI can automate various cybercrime activities such as phishing attacks, social engineering, malware development, and even hacking. For example, attackers can use AI-powered bots to generate convincing phishing emails that trick victims into divulging sensitive information. Similarly, AI can be used to develop advanced malware that can evade traditional security measures.

People

April 20, 2023

Bank of Valletta’s Chief Risk Officer Miguel Borg Resigns

Malta’s Bank of Valletta (BOV) has announced the resignation of Chief Risk Officer and Executive Director Miguel Borg. The announcement states that the resignation is effective from 5th April 2023. “The Bank is putting into place its succession plan for the positions of Chief Risk Officer and Executive Director,” it said. “There are no matters concerning Borg that warrant any disclosure in terms of the Capital Markets Rules.”