Tag: Calamatta Cuschieri

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.

The Maltese Up & Down Marketing Limited d/b/a OneTwoTrade allegedly scammed hundreds of victims and millions of euros with its binary options fraud scheme. It went into liquidation. However, Jean-Paul Debono, the liquidator, resigned in January 2023. He informed the Maltese Business Registry of his decision. One of its former directors Ivan Grixti (LinkedIn), is a former Malta Labour Party MEP candidate.

CC Finance Group plc reported heavy losses in its financial statements ending June 2022, as reported by Fintelegram.  It now transpires that CC Finance Group, the company behind Calamatta Cuschieri, has entered into a promise of sale agreement to sell its offices in Valletta for € 3.15 million. No reason was given behind the sale of this building in Malta’s capital city. It was announced that a board of directors meeting shall be convened on 21 April 2023.

“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."

Questions sent to the acting CEO of the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), Michelle Mizzi Buontempo, have remained unanswered. Calamatta Cuschieri Investments Services Limited, a MFSA-licensed firm, has been named by a convicted criminal under oath in court, for dishing him out some €500,000 in cash. She was asked whether the MFSA considers such dodgy transactions as legal and if an investigation into Calamatta Cuschieri’s operations is being carried out.

It is now several months since shocking court testimony in Malta revealed that Calamatta Cuschieri Investments Services Limited serviced convicted criminals and dealt in huge amounts of cash with the same. In June 2022, Joseph Difesa admitted in court that he withdrew €500,000 in hard cash from Calamatta Cuschieri. No denial was issued by the Maltese license holder, who boasts of being the largest investment broker on the island.

Malta’s CC Funds, owned by Calamatta Cuschieri Investments Management, are still registering major losses. Only a handful out of 23 funds has registered a positive return since inception. CC Funds form part of CC Finance Group plc and operate from Malta. The Emerging Market Bond Fund Eur Dist and the Emerging Market Bond Fund Eur Dist lost more than a third of their value since inception. The Growth Strategy fund, which was only registered in November 2021, has almost a quarter of its value.

In mid-June 2022, shocking court testimony in Malta by the convicted criminal Joseph Difesa revealed that MFSA-licensed Calamatta Cuschieri, which operates Calamatta Cuschieri Investment Services Limited, did hand him €500,000 in cash. Before this transaction, Joseph Difesa was found guilty of criminal acts, including organized piracy in the audiovisual industry. This should have made him a high-risk client for any licensed company, but Calamatta Cuschieri did not bother.

A shocking court testimony in Malta by Joseph Difesa revealed that Malta-licensed Calamatta Cuschieri (https://cc.com.mt)which operates Calamatta Cuschieri Investment Services Limited was handed €500,000 in cash by his investment advisor. The court case revolves around an alleged fraudster, Ryan Schembri, who after receiving millions from various Maltese investors, fled to Dubai. Years later, he was arrested in Scotland and extradited back to Malta whereby he is facing multiple charges including money laundering.

The Maltese Arbiter for Financial Services ruled that Calamatta Cuschieri Investment Services Ltd (www.cc.com.mt) d/b/a Calamatta Cuschieri is guilty of not meeting the relevant regulatory obligations. The detailed decision describes how an investor lost more than €100,000 through investments, which were suggested to him by Calamatta Cuschieri. The MFSA-regulated company is part of the CC Finance Group PLC and one of the largest financial services firms in Malta and is also the distributor of UBS funds in Malta.