From Malta’s shadow desks to Dubai’s glossy skyline
1. Summary Table
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Name | Gennaro (a/k/a “Genny”) Lanza |
| Key roles | Founder/CEO DB Investing; Owner & Director Capital Solutions Ltd; Head DBX Consultants |
| Known affiliations | DB Investing, DBFX, Dubai FXM, NewFX, OnspotBNK, Capital Solutions Ltd, DBX Consultants, Big Horizons Ltd, Invest Group Global Ltd |
| Legal exposure | Multiple regulator warnings (CNMV Spain, Consob Italy); CySEC licence revocation of affiliated Belight Capital Group; ongoing defamation cross-fire with Gripeo; historic boiler-room litigation in Malta |
| Jurisdictions of operation | Malta (boiler rooms), Seychelles (licences & shareholding), Vanuatu, Cyprus, Dubai (UAE), Dominica |
| FinTelegram risk level | HIGH – “Black Compliance” (persistent red-flag pattern) |
2. Introduction – Why He’s Back on the Radar
Last week DB Investing trumpeted a “strategic partnership” with KYC vendor Sumsub. In reality, adding an off-the-shelf AML tool is hardly headline material; hundreds of brokers do it every day. The publicity blast looked less like real news and more like image-laundering for a man whose broker stable has ping-ponged across regulators, shells and continents for nearly two decades.
Read our reports on Gennaro Lanza here.
3. Career Path & Affiliations
- Malta Boiler-Rooms (2000s–2021). Through Capital Solutions Ltd, Lanza ran aggressive call-centre sales floors channelling clients into unlicensed FX brands. Originally co-owned with Italians Italo Mainolfi and Massimiliano Moroni, the shares were later moved to his Seychelles vehicle Invest Group Global Ltd.
- Offshore Broker Factory. Brands include Dubai FXM, DBFX, NewFX and flagship DB Investing – each hopscotching between Vanuatu, Seychelles and Dominica registrations whenever a warning landed.
- DBX Consultants (Dubai). Marketed as a “company-builder” and merchant-services outfit, DBX offers corporate setups and payment rails across multiple jurisdictions – a classic servicing arm for grey-zone brokers.
- OnspotBNK cluster. FinTelegram traced the vanished scam broker OnspotBNK back to Lanza’s network – same payment processors, same boiler-room staff DNA.
- Image-Management Wars. Since 2023 Lanza has fought an online defamation slug-fest against review site Gripeo, spawning mirror domains, PR releases and even alleged DDoS spill-over on FinTelegram.
4. Role in DB Investing & the Sumsub Hype
Lanza positions DB Investing as his crown jewel, now “headquartered” in Dubai’s DIFC marketing hub. The Sumsub press note claims world-class compliance, yet:
- The broker remains unlicensed in the EU/UK, pushing clients to a Seychelles entity.
- Prior Lanza brands have accumulated regulator blacklists; re-branding is a pattern, not a pivot.
The announcement, therefore, reads less like genuine governance progress and more like reputation white-paint on an old boiler-room wall.
5. Legal & Financial Risk Exposure
| Confirmed | Suspected / Under-Investigated |
|---|---|
| CNMV (Spain) warnings against DBFX/Dubai FXM/OnspotBNK; Consob (Italy) domain black-outs; CySEC revoked Belight Capital Group licence linked to DB brands. | Whistle-blower claims of aggressive cold-calling and mis-selling via Malta & Cyprus desks; internal use of layered PSPs to disguise ultimate beneficiaries; potential FCA payment-processing ties via One Financial Markets (unverified). |
| Pending civil suit in Malta over staff-poaching (ZP Services v Lanza). | Possible orchestrated DDoS attacks targeting FinTelegram amid the Gripeo feud (no forensic link proven). |
6. Network & Power Links
| Name / Entity | Role | Link to Lanza |
|---|---|---|
| Italo Mainolfi | Early shareholder, Capital Solutions | Co-founded Malta boiler room; sold shares 2020 |
| Massimiliano Moroni | Early shareholder, Capital Solutions | Ditto; exited alongside Mainolfi |
| Alpin Sha | Company secretary, Capital Solutions | Holds token 0.05 % share |
| Big Horizons Ltd (SC) | Seychelles SPV | Historical shareholder for Capital Solutions & NewFX |
| Invest Group Global Ltd (SC) | Lanza-controlled | Now 99.5 % owner of Capital Solutions; vehicle for PR “entrepreneurial triumph” claims |
| OnspotBNK | Vanished offshore broker | Part of same brand swarm — shared infra & staff |
7. FinTelegram Verdict
Gennaro Lanza is a serial jurisdiction-hopper whose business model thrives in regulatory shade.
A fresh coat of Sumsub does not rewrite a history of boiler rooms, shell games and regulator warnings. Risk radar stays deep-red. Whistle-blowers welcome.
Share Information
If you have any information about Gennaro Lanza and his activities, please share it with us via our whistleblower platform Whistle42.
