The European Funds Recovery Initiative (EFRI) has issued a formal letter to the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA)—with a copy to the European Banking Authority (EBA)—urging the regulator to urgently reassess the Electronic Money Institution (EMI) licence it granted to StablR Ltd. in June 2024. Background: a €200 million fraud story the regulators
AMLA launches with big promises! As of 1 July 2025 the Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AMLA) has opened its doors in Frankfurt am Main, the seat fixed in the founding Regulation (EU) 2024/1620. Its first chair, Bruna Szego, and an executive board drawn from
A huge fine turns out to be a pure joke! København Andelskasse (now FS Finans VI A/S), which was heavily involved in facilitating cybercrime activities from 2016 to July 2018, has been fined 794 million DKK (€103 million) for laundering billions on behalf of international cybercriminal organizations. While this substantial
In recent years, several high-profile cases in the Netherlands have raised questions about whether justice is equally applied to all. From cryptocurrency developers to board members of banks and payment companies, these cases illustrate a troubling trend: wealth and influence may afford certain protections, leading many to wonder if the
Although financial institutions worldwide step up their efforts in fighting criminals from using their systems for money laundering, still more than 99% of money laundering proceeds remain in the hands of criminal gangs. It’s not just the massive amounts of money that go unseized that’s troubling (UNODC estimates that between
The payments landscape has undergone significant changes over the past decade. The changes have been mainly driven by fast-paced technological advancements. Digital payments in the EU have steadily increased, reaching a value of EUR 240 trillion in 2021 (compared to EUR 184.2 trillion in 2017). This trend has been accelerated
On 22 February 2024, the EU Council and the EU Parliament voted 28 to 26 to establish the new Anti-Money Laundering Authority in Frankfurt, Germany. This authority, anticipated in the highly regarded EU Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Package, is expected to play a crucial role in combating money laundering within the
For over four years, we have meticulously examined criminal files to decipher the operations of Barak and Lenhoff´s criminal organization and the involvement of Payment Service Providers (PSPs) in these schemes. In recent months, as we collected information for the ongoing civil proceedings against Payvision and Deutsche Bank, we have
The criminal organization around Gal and Marina Barak, Uwe Lenhoff, Gery Shalon, Vlad Smirnov and their service providers (call centers, marketing affiliates, payment service providers) defrauded tens of thousands of innocent retail investors with their fraudulent websites (optionstarsglobal, xtraderfx, safemarkets, cryptopoint, goldenmarkets, zoomtrader, option888, xmarkets, tradovest, tradeinvest90) during the years
In July 2022, the British FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) confirmed that it would be introducing a higher standard of customer protection, requiring regulated firms (including payment institutions and e-money companies) to put their customers’ needs first. The new “Consumer Duty” rule consists of three elements: New consumer principle. The new
EFRI is the abbreviation for European Funds Recovery Initiative. The legal entity behind this Initiative is a not-for-profit organisation (EFRI-Association) registered in Vienna, Austria. Here you can Read More ABOUT US.
