Category: MGA

Bank of Valetta Chairman Gordon Cordina and his side hustlesP
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June 8, 2022

Post From Malta! Bank of Valletta’s Chairman Acting As Consultant To Malta Gaming Authority.

Malta is different! The Chairman of Malta's largest Bank, Gordon Cordina, has a nice side hustle through E-Cubed Consultants Limited, a company registered in Malta and operating from its Mosta offices. Gordon Cordina owns half of the shares of E-cubed Consultants Ltd and serves as a director. His partner is Stephanie Vella. The firm's auditors are RSM Malta Ltd. Fintelegram has received intelligence that clearly shows that Bank of Valletta's Chairman also acts as a consultant to the highly controversial Malta Gaming Authority (MGA).
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Carl Brincat and Habanero Systems questionedM
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June 5, 2022

Malta’s MGA CEO Carl Brincat Ignorantly Calls Habanero Due Diligence A “Shitshow”!

The Malta Gaming Authority issued a gaming company's license knowing its ultimate beneficial owner was facing prosecution in Italy for financial crimes. According to documents received by Fintelegram, MGA was aware of criminal investigations against Marcel Boekhoorn and his Habanero Systems Limited during the licensing procedure. In 2019, the Durch billionaire Boekhoorn was accused by prosecutors in Reggio Calabria, Italy, of using "money, goods or assets of illicit origin."
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Law enforcement actions against cybercrime organizations in Israel Cyprus and UkraineP
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June 3, 2022

Prison Time! German Law Enforcement Goes Against Malta’s Licensed Gaming Firms!

German law and tax enforcement agencies have recently started investigating international iGaming companies operating in Germany. Several MGA-regulated Malta-based iGaming companies received letters from the German tax authorities. iGaming operators are subject to German VAT and sports betting tax if the German market is targeted. Not reporting these taxes is seen as tax evasion and thus a criminal offense and causes liability for the directors such as Iosif Galea. He was arrested!
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James Grech resigned from MGAM
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May 20, 2022

MGA’s Chief Internal Audit James Grech Resigns

The Maltese regualator MGA has been hitting the headlines for the wrong reasons during the past years. Following resignations, including that of Heathcliff Farrugia and Anton Axiaq, both being prosecuted for alleged serious crimes, the Chief Internal Auditor of MGA, James Grech resigned for unknown reasons. The regulator did not make any announcement of the departure. James Grech was enrolled within MGA during the days when disgraced Joseph Cuschieri was at the helm of the Authority.
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Disgraced Maltese regulator MGAE
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April 13, 2022

Embarrassing: And Malta Gaming Authority official is investigated for basketball match-fixing

How much disgrace and national damage can regulators produce? In Malta, a lot! A Malta league basketball match is the subject of a major police investigation in Malta. The smallest EU country is well-known as a hub for gaming companies. One of the match players, Anton Axiaq, happens to be a Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) official. He works within the IT section. Maltese media reported that a criminal police investigation is underway.
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MGA-regulated Maltese gambling operators violate EU gambling lawsM
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March 20, 2022

MGA-regulated Maltese gambling companies systematically violate EU laws!

Casinodep is an iGgaming website operated by Maltese Winzon Group Limited, regulated by the Malta Gaming Authority. Recently, the Belgian Gaming Commission added Casinodep to its List of illegal gambling sites. The Latvian nationals Dmitrijs Kuznecovs and Maksims Terehovics are the beneficial owners of the Winzon Group. According to the Malta Business Registry, the Maltese Lawyer David Meli is the company director.
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Malta and MFSA are greylisted and doomedM
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March 6, 2022

Malta’s structural problems with money laundering and corruption hurt the financial sector!

Malta became a money-laundering and financial crime hub. In 2017, the investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed with a car bomb after revealing high-level government corruption. The alleged mastermind Yorgen Fenech, close to the then-Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, was arrested. Muscat had to resign shortly after the arrest. Fenech was also close to Joseph Cuschieri, the former head of MGA and MFSA. Since then, the shares of Malta's largest two banks, the Bank of Valletta and HSBC Bank Malta plc lost more than half the value.
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LEAD Training Services of James GrechM
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August 7, 2021

Malta’s compliance issues – MGA executive James Grech and his private ventures

Another issue in Malta's long list of regulatory compliance incidents came up. Malta is a popular place for gambling licenses issued and regulated by the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA). But like MFSA, MGA has serious issues with itself. It turned out that its Chief Officer Internal Audit James Grech was working on private business while in office, raising conflict of interest concerns, our sources say. He was providing LEAD Training Services in anti-money laundering, MLRO, internal auditing, and other gaming-related topics. Malta, for sure, has a big problem with its regulators and war grey-listed for good reasons!
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Greylisted Malta and its disgraced regulatorsG
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July 12, 2021

Greylisted Malta and its disgraced regulators!

The Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) of Malta is being highly criticized for paying Maltese online portals and newspapers for positive reportage in its regard. This is very telling and indeed shocking for a European country. Only last month, Malta has been placed on the grey list by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which makes the European tax haven much less attractive. Who wants to be a tax resident or owner of a company in a grey-listed jurisdiction? And then there's the strange approach of the Maltese regulators.
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