The Registration Authority (RA) of ADGM announced that it has concluded its investigation into the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), AC Holding Limited (AC Holding), and its sole shareholder and director, Christopher Flinos.
The investigation found that AC Holding exceeded the scope of its ADGM SPV commercial license by purporting to be an investment company offering financial services for clients and processing wire transactions to convert Cryptocurrencies into Fiat currencies and vice versa. Moreover, AC Holding submitted four false annual accounts to the RA for the financial years 2019 to 2022.
The RA also found that Christopher Flinos engaged in fraudulent trading, where AC Holding facilitated (unlicensed) cryptocurrency conversion transactions and a number of parties were misled about the transactions. Christopher Flinos also facilitated the falsification and provision of hundreds of company documents to fraudulently maintain bank accounts.
As a result, the RA has imposed the following financial penalties totalling USD 3,615,000:
- USD 15,000 against AC Holding for exceeding the scope of its license in contravention of ADGM Commercial Licensing Regulations 2015;
- USD 300,000 against AC Holding for filing false annual accounts about its balances with the RA and various fraudulent schemes in contravention of the ADGM Companies Regulations 2020; and
- USD 3.3 million against Christopher Flinos for providing false information to the RA, engaging in various fraudulent schemes and the falsification of company documents in contravention of the ADGM Companies Regulations 2020.
The RA also disqualified Christopher Flinos from being the director of any ADGM-based company for the maximum allowed period of 15 years. The RA considers Christopher Flinos unfit to serve as a company director in ADGM due to his intentional misuse of AC Holding’s passive SPV commercial licence as a payment facilitator, as well as the fraudulent actions taken to facilitate such misuse.
Hamad Sayah Al Mazrouei, CEO of ADGM Registration Authority, said, “Maintaining business integrity and safeguarding business confidence in ADGM are at the forefront of the Registration Authority’s objectives. We remain committed to preventing and deterring conduct that may harm businesses, their clients and investors. Where non-compliance is identified, the Registration Authority will take effective, proportionate and dissuasive disciplinary action to protect ADGM participants. This includes banning individuals who lack fitness and propriety and pose an unacceptable risk to investors from holding leadership positions within companies in ADGM.”
The RA acknowledges and thanks the ADGM’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority (“FSRA”) for their cooperation during the course of the RA’s investigation in relation to this matter.
To access a copy of the Final Notices describing the contraventions, click on the following links:
