Exante Group is a Maltese-Russian investment venture with XNT LTD (previously known as Exante Ltd), an investment firm regulated by the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), and EXT Ltd, an investment firm regulated by CySEC. Exante has a long story of investigations by authorities in the U.S. In 2021, the Russian Central Bank blacklisted Exante and its CySEC-regulated entity. An investigation by The Shift found that the Exante companies are still operating. It is still listed as a member firm of the Malta Stock Exchange (MSE).
XNT LTD (previously known as Exante Ltd) is an investment firm incorporated in Malta and regulated by the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA). Three directors resigned during the past months, namely Joseph Zammit Tabona, Michael Bianchi, and Lawrence Zammit. The present directors are Alexey Kirienko and Anatoly Knyazev; they have links with former Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, allegedly the most corrupt politician in 2019.
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.