Abu Dhabi regulator fines crypto firm and its CEO over $12m over unlicensed activity

Abu Dhabi’s financial regulator has a fine of the Hayvn cryptographic company and its CEO of more than $ 12 million for LMA violations and without license.

The Regulatory Authority for Financial Services of Abu Dhabi Global Market has taken action measures against Hayvn Group and his former CEO, Christopher Flinos, for regulatory violations and an cryptographic activity without license. In a press release On Monday, April 14, the FSRA said it had imposed a total of $ 8.85 million in fines and canceled the Hayvn financial service license.

In addition, ADGM’s registration authority Also imposed A separate fine of $ 3.6 million, of which $ 3.3 million was imposed on the guns to “engage in various fraudulent diets”.

Other fines include $ 3.6 million against Hayvn Cayman, $ 3 million against Hayvn ADGM, $ 1.5 million against AC Holding and $ 750,000 against the guns itself, said the FSRA, adding that it has prohibited the guns from having any role of financial services in ADGM.

According to the financial regulator, Hayvn ADGM has enabled customer transactions to go through the accounts held by AC Holding, an entity without license. The regulator says that the company “has failed to establish and maintain adequate systems and controls to manage its operations and risks” as well as to record all its relations with customers, thus violating AML requirements.

The FSRA also noted that Hayvn Cayman and AC holding “transported customer transactions linked to the conversion of virtual assets into fiduciary and vice versa via the accounts held and controlled by AC Holding.” The investigation also revealed that Hayvn Cayman, AC Holding and Flinos, “created and disseminates false and deceptive information”, including “more than 200 false and misleading documents”.

According to the Hayvn website, the platform has enabled users to exchange crypto via over-the-counter services and accept online and person’s cryptography payments. In November 2022, the Hayvn Board of Directors approved A plan to submission FtxPayment unit, FTX Pay, through a public process. Flinos said at the time that FTX Pay was a precious asset “because of its relations with large companies such as Mastercard”. It is not yet known if Hayvn has never finished the acquisition.