Daphne Caruana Galizia | FinTelegram News

Tag: Daphne Caruana Galizia

August 21, 2021

Background Report – International cybercrime, Bet90, and the dirty Maltese connections!

It was perhaps the largest cybercrime organization in Europe, but certainly, it was in Germany. The public prosecutor's office announced that the cybercrime case surrounding the German Uwe Lenhoff, who died in prison, had produced more than 200,000 victims in Germany alone. Lenhoff and Dutch real estate investor Dirk-Jan Bakker established Veltyco Group PLC, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange. After Lenhoff's death, the company was renamed B90 Holdings PLC and operates the Bet90 sportsbook platform , licensed by the MGA. Bet90 has been funded with money stolen from the victims in this very same cybercrime case.

Malta Financial Services Authority

August 3, 2021

The Maltese Disgrace – Assistant police chief suspended over inactivity allegations

The FATF greylisting of Malta disgraced the EU tax haven and money-laundering hub. And the disgrace continues. An independent investigation into the murder of Maltese blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia concluded that the government at the time was complicit by failing to act. Today, Assistant Police Commissioner Ian Abdilla has been suspended. The former head of the Economic Crimes Unit (ECU) had already been heavily criticized for failing to investigate the Panama Papers. He was one of the good friends of the Maltese corruption network around Yorgen Fenech and former government officials Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi.

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.

May 19, 2021

Maltese Compliance Issue – Paytah accuses MFSA of acting in violation of the constitution

The regulated Maltese high-risk payment processor Phoenix Payments Ltd d/b/a Paytah, has sued its regulator, the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA). Paytah accuses MFSA of being judge, jury, and executioner. The payment processor took this unprecedented step after the Maltese regulator fined it EUR 32,400 and restricted the company's license. This is not a normal civil court case. Instead, Paytah brought the claim against MFSA at the Constitutional Courts level. This is a first in Malta. Paytah has also sued MFSA for damages.

March 20, 2021

Bravo! MFSA finally takes actions against scam-facilitating payment processor Paytah

And it does move! Finally, the MFSA is acting on the numerous complaints from aggrieved investors about regulated payment processor Phoenix Payments Limited d/b/a Paytah. As reported by FinTelegram, Paytah has knowingly and willingly supported various broker scams with its services. Many victims have lost their money as a result. EFRI, through its Maltese lawyer, has filed complaints with the MFSA and the authorities. Now the MFSA has announced that a Supervisory Action will be taken.

February 2, 2021

Paytah Case – Former MLRO testifies that the payment processor was involved in shabby business

Public court documents suggest that high-risk payment processor Paytah, operated by Malta-based and MFSA-regulated Phoenix Payments Ltd, was into shabby business. Marco Lavanna, the company's beneficial owner and director, dismissed the former Money-Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO) and compliance officer who raised serious issues with the company’s management. The dismissed MLRO has now sued her former employer on the grounds of unfair dismissal and, under oath, reveals the payment processor's incompliant business approach.

January 31, 2021

European Compliance Mess – A challenging week for BaFin and MFSA

BaFin's President Felix Hufeld and Vice President Elisabeth Roegele had to resign because of the Wirecard scandal. Germany's Finance Minister Olaf Scholz wants to make a fresh start. In Malta, former CEO Joe Cuschieri and his longtime confidant and MFSA General Counsel Edwina Licari are involved in compliance issues. They have let themselves be invited to Las Vegas by Yorgen Fenech. Fenech is said to be the mastermind behind the murder of investigative blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia and suspected of bribing members of the former Maltese government.

January 29, 2021

The Maltese Compliance Mess and the former MFSA CEO’s attempt to silence FinTelegram

The Maltese regulator MFSA is currently having a difficult time. Compliance is a rather exotic chapter in Malta. The opposition has revealed that the former head of MGA and short-lived MFSA CEO Joseph "Joe" Cuschieri accomplished more compliance breaches in just a few weeks than the entities supervised by the regulator. He allegedly did so even with the approval of then-Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. The misconduct uncovered includes 38 paid business trips with Edwina Licari and a free business trip to Las Vegas from the alleged murder mastermind.

January 12, 2021

Scam-facilitating Maltese payment processor PayTah refused to recognize its legal responsibility

Payment processors must comply with the applicable KYC and AML regulations. Especially when onboarding new merchants and monitoring their transactions. Recently, we reported that the high-risk payment processor Phoenix Payments Ltd d/b/a Paytah (www.paytah.com). Paytah is to be held liable for this but has so far refused to accept its responsibility for intentionally or grossly negligently supporting the scams and refuses to provide any assistance to the victims.