The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) reached a €70,000 settlement with ASP Trident Trust Company (Cyprus) Limited over possible breaches of the Prevention and Suppression of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Law of 2007 and CySEC’s related Directive. The settlement follows an investigation into the company’s compliance with anti-money laundering and terrorist financing...
The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) fined Dipesh Kerai £52,731 and Bhavesh Hirani £56,000 for insider dealing in Bidstack Group Plc shares. In December 2021, Hirani, as interim CFO of Bidstack (a video game advertising company), accessed confidential information about a major upcoming deal with a large publisher and passed it to Kerai. Hirani then opened a trading account in Kerai’s name...
The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority fined Saxo Bank DKK 313 million (~USD $49.8 million) for systemic AML shortcomings in customer due diligence, ongoing monitoring (especially white-label clients), and Money Laundering Act compliance from January 2021 to May 2023—no actual money laundering was found. Saxo accepted the penalty (one of the sector’s largest recent fines) and has since...
Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC agreed to a $1.25 million fine and censure from FINRA for violations from November 2016 to November 2023: failing to timely cancel/close out 209 failed municipal securities transactions (~$6.5M) and deliver 106 securities (~$3.8M); failing to promptly obtain possession/control of 178 short positions (~$4.1M); and lacking adequate supervisory systems for...
The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) issued a warning against 10 unauthorized investment websites offering services without required licensing under Law 87(I)/2017: amazon-forex.com, novatradecore.com, vall-fin.com, daoroyal.com, capitaldealhub.com, seamanfx.com, newfuturevip.com, trademarketcup.com, fxtrade.app, and mexc.com. Investors are urged to verify entity authorization on...
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) cancelled Ricard Securities Pty Ltd’s AFS license (No. 299812) effective October 28, 2025, due to unpaid industry levies, CSLR installments, and failure to lodge audited financial reports. The firm may continue limited services until December 24, 2025, for winding up or managing unregistered schemes it trustees, including the Property...
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) cancelled the Australian financial services (AFS) licence of Arrumar Private Pty Ltd on October 23, 2025, for failing to join an external dispute resolution scheme and submit accurate financial statements and an auditor’s report for the year ending June 30, 2024, breaching licensee obligations under the Corporations Act. Arrumar was...
The Supreme Court of Western Australia sentenced Chris Marco to 14 years imprisonment on November 5, 2025, after a jury convicted him on September 4, 2025, of 43 fraud counts involving $34.3 million from six investors between July 2013 and October 2018. ASIC had charged Marco with defrauding nine investors of $36.5 million; his former assistant Linda Marissen was acquitted. The sentence follows a...
Italy’s Companies and Exchange Commission (CONSOB) has ordered the blocking of 17 unauthorized investment websites, including 7 offering illegal financial intermediation and 10 providing unlawful crypto-asset services, such as Activ Markets, Geneveinves, NordaLeur, Soria Limited, MRX Capital Trading, Gradiopexo, RYR888, DFH258, DXZ175, JMY999, DSG158, WES218, GJG258, CFSD123, R4MOX, and DFG789...
Independent Financial Group, LLC (IFG) settled with FINRA, agreeing to a $100,000 fine and censure for allowing a FINRA-suspended registered representative, subject to statutory disqualification, to continue entering securities orders through IFG’s trading desk and clearing firm’s electronic system from April to November 2022.