Crypto Firm Hit With $10M Fine in Lithuania for Violating Russian Sanctions
The Lithuanian Financial Crime Investigation Service (FNTT) has issued a substantial fine of nearly 9.3 million euros ($10 million) to crypto firm Payeer for breaching international sanctions. And failing to comply with anti-money laundering (AML) regulations.
Payeer was penalized 8.23 million euros for enabling transactions in Russian rubles involving sanctioned Russian banks and clients. Through its platform. An additional 1.06 million euros fine was imposed for not reporting transactions over 15,000 euros and for insufficient customer identity verification measures.
Despite being registered in Lithuania in October 2022 and commencing operations in January 2023. Payeer amassed over 213,000 clients and generated revenue exceeding 164 million euros. The FNTT alleges that Payeer deliberately disregarded compliance measures to avoid financial losses. Continued processing sanctioned transactions, and showed reluctance to cooperate with the investigation. Payeer retains the option to appeal these fines.
Clever Robot News Desk 12nd July 2024
