People Radar | FinTelegram News

Category: People Radar

November 26, 2022

Interesting! Russian Interest In The Slovak Corruption Tsunami!

Slovakia has a systematic corruption problem. FinTelegram reported that the National Criminal Agency (NAKA) in Slovakia charged Peter Kažimír, the sitting National Bank of Slovakia (NBS) governor and former finance minister, in a corruption case. Actually, an unremarkable report but hundreds of Russians got nervous about it. Within less than an hour, the article was read by hundreds of people in Russia. Why are Russians interested in a Slovakian corruption case? Good question, isn't it?

November 25, 2022

Governor Of Slovakian Central Bank Faces Corruption Charges, Again!

The Governor of the Slovakian Central Bank and former finance minister faces corruption-related charges again. The National Criminal Agency (NAKA) investigator charged Peter Kažimír, the sitting National Bank of Slovakia (NBS) governor who formerly served as finance minister under the governments of the now-opposition Smer, in a corruption case. The governor does not feel guilty and will file a complaint, as confirmed by his lawyer Ondrej Mularčík, the Denník N daily reported.

November 24, 2022

Interpol Allegedly Issued Red Notice Against Africa’s Richest Women, Isabel dos Santos!

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) said that Interpol had issued a warrant for the arrest of Angolan billionaire Isabel dos Santos, the daughter of Angola’s former authoritarian president José Eduardo dos Santos. She and her network have been investigated by the 2020 Luanda Leaks investigation, which showed that over two decades of corrupt deals, Isabel dos Santos became Africa’s wealthiest woman.

November 23, 2022

Crypto Contagion: Troubled Crypto Lender Genesis, Barry Silbert, And The Web Of Loans!

Genesis Global Capital, the troubled crypto lender, has hired the investment bank Moelis & Company to explore options, including a potential bankruptcy, the New York Times reports. Insiders told the NYT that no final decisions had been made and that it was still possible for the company to avert a bankruptcy filing. Genesis was a trading partner with FTX and said that $175 million of its assets were stuck at FTX when the exchange froze accounts shortly before filing for bankruptcy this month.

November 9, 2022

The FTX Bail-Out And The Fall Of Crypto Mogul Sam Bankman-Fried!

Apparent crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried aka SBF and his FTX crypto exchange may not have been as financially strong as always presented themselves. After FTX users complained on Twitter about withdrawal issues, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao aka CZ announced on Twitter that Binance had signed a non-binding LOI to bail out and acquire FTX, which had slipped into a liquidity crisis. SBF's image as a deep-pocket crypto mogul has probably suffered massive damage in the process.

November 5, 2022

BaFin Executive Fired Over Wirecard Scandal!

German regulator BaFin is parting ways with its executive director Beatrice Freiwald after a months-long legal dispute. The German government decided that she has to resign from BaFin's board of directors, the authority announced recently. The Wirecard investigation committee harshly criticized Freiwald. She was responsible for BaFin's whistleblower unit, which did not adequately follow up on information from whistleblowers about Wirecard.

October 6, 2022

Maltese FIAU Executive Rudolf Muscat Quietly Sells His Business!

Malta’s FIAU employee Rudolf Muscat has been in the financial services industry for two decades. He worked at several Maltese-based firms and is now enjoying a tax-funded job at the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU). His previous jobs were at RTFX and TMS Brokers Europe. Both firms surrendered their Malta licenses and closed their Malta operations. While working for Malta’s FIAU, Rudolf Muscat had a side business. He registered and operated a firm named Tradertik Limited.

September 28, 2022

People Radar: FTX US Executive Brett Harrison Resigns And Hands Over To Zach Dexter!

Brett Harrison, the FTX US president and CEO of FTX US Derivates announced his resignation via Twitter shortly after it became known that FTX US won the bid for the assets of bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital. Over the next few months, he would transfer his responsibilities and move into an advisory role at the company. Zach Dexter has taken over his role and is already listed on the company's website beside Sam Bankman-Fried.

September 23, 2022

Klarna’s Worsening Burn Rate Forces Additional Lay-Offs!

The Swedish buy-now-pay-later fintech Klarna is planning a second round of layoffs, four months after it cut 10% of its global workforce, Sifted reports. In a live video message sent to employees, the company’s Chief Operating and Expansion Officer, Camilla Giesecke (LinkedIn), announced that the organization needed to make further cuts “to reflect the more focused nature of today’s Klarna.” Klarna confirmed the new round of job cuts to Sifted and said fewer than 100 employees would be affected globally.

September 22, 2022

Kraken Founder Jesse Powell Steps Down As CEO

Fortune and other media outlets reported that Kraken founder Jesse Powell announced that he is stepping down as CEO of the crypto exchange that he founded in 2011. He will be replaced by long-time COO Dave Ripley, who joined Kraken a few years ago when the exchange acquired crypto wallet firm Glidera. Forbes reports that Powell had been considering stepping down for some time. He will become Kraken’s first chairman of the board and plans to remain active at the firm.

September 16, 2022

Former CySEC Chair Demetra Kalogerou And Her New Job At Public-Listed Crypto Group INX!

In July 2022, Israeli online trading veteran Shy Datika's INX Group announced that Demetra Kalogeruo would join its Board of Directors. Demetra was the Chairwoman of the Cyprus regulator CySEC for two terms, from 2011 to 2021. During that time, Shy Datika ran his CySEC-regulated binary options broker Anyoption, which he sold to debased Israeli crypto entrepreneur Moshe Hogeg in 2017 after regulatory warnings. In that respect, Shy Datika and Demetra Kalogerou are old acquaintances.

September 12, 2022

People Radar: German FinTech Investor Jan Malkus

Jan Eric Malkus is a German entrepreneur and investor who has made a name for himself as an investor in the financial sector, among other things. He is considered the founder of the BDSwiss Group and is still its dominant shareholder through his Cypriot Duronga Holdings GmbH. He is a director in the CySEC-regulated BDSwiss Holding Limited and in its parent company BDSwiss AG in Switzerland. Malkus manages the investments through his investment firms, Vastani and Ventura Investment AG.

US Treasury Forgives Ukraine Looters!

On 26 September 2024, the United States Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network ‘FinCEN’ made the astonishing decision to drop sanctions against ABLV Bank of Latvia. ABLV was sanctioned in 2018 for a list of reasons, including helping Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich’s bagman, Serhiy Kurchenko, steal billions of dollars from Ukraine.

Gurbir Grewal’s Departure from the SEC: His New Position and Potential Impact on Crypto Regulation!

Gurbir S. Grewal, the former Director of the Division of Enforcement at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has left his position to join Milbank LLP, one of the most innovative and prestigious law firms globally. This transition from his high-profile regulatory role to private practice is likely to have lasting implications, particularly on the SEC’s enforcement strategy in the crypto sector.

Warning Against The Imminent Danger of Pig Butchering For The Dawning Cyber Society!

Pig butchering scams are a devastating form of cybercrime that blend romance and investment fraud, leaving victims emotionally and financially shattered. These sophisticated operations, run by organized crime syndicates, often exploit human trafficking victims as unwilling scammers. The perpetrators meticulously cultivate trust over months, luring targets into fraudulent cryptocurrency investments through fake platforms.

MLM Schemes

Latest Arrests in $4 Billion Forex AI Fraud Scheme OmegaPro and the Austrian Connection!

FinTelegram has reported on the fraudulent crypto MLM schemes OMNIA Tech and OmegaPro several times in the past. This week, various media outlets have reported the arrest of Robert Velghe in Turkey, who has played a crucial role in both scams. The OmegaPro MLM scam is believed to have stolen around $4 billion from victims worldwide. Here is our update with a request for additional information from whistleblowers.

Crypto MLM Scam: David Carmona Sentenced to 121 Months for IcomTech Crypto Ponzi Scheme!

iComTech was one of the numerous fraudulent MLM schemes that used cryptocurrencies as a means of fraud in parallel with the crypto hype of 2017/18. David Carmora started IcomTech in approximately 2018 with other co-conspirators as a purported cryptocurrency mining and trading company. The scheme promised to earn its victims high profits and guaranteed daily returns that would double their money within six months.