Tag: Christopher Buttigieg

A book released in Malta by NGO Repubblika concludes that police officers investigating suspected money laundering at MFSA’s licensed Pilatus Bank were searching for justifications for the decision not to prosecute top bank officials. The author Robert Aquilina exposed how police officers discussed how to justify the decision by Attorney General Victoria Buttigieg not to prosecute Pilatus Bank's former top executives, Antoniella Gauci and Mehmet Tasli.

LifeStar Insurance, a licensed Maltese insurance firm, has filed court proceedings against its regulator and one of its top officials. The owner of major insurance company LifeStar, formerly Global Capital, has taken the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) to court, claiming “arbitrary and capricious treatment,” and accused a top MFSA official of pressuring him to sell his company to a competitor. Even under Maltese measures, this is a strange case!

The Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) just keeps making headlines for the wrong reasons. Shocking court testimony by an MFSA official revealed that two MFSA officials hid documents from the magisterial inquiry into the operations of Pilatus Bank in a safe on the Authority’s premises that was only accessible by two people who are no longer at the Authority. This testimony was revealed on Maltese television by a local NGO President.

The collapsed crypto exchange giant FTX, which has filed for bankruptcy in the US, opened two companies in Malta last April in an apparent bid to expand into gaming. According to information in the Malta Business Registry, FTX Malta Holdings Limited and FTX Malta Gaming Services Limited were opened in Malta in April. Both companies have Sam Bankman-Fried, the crypto exchange’s former boss, written down as appointed director. These entities are not part of the U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.

Questions sent to the acting CEO of the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), Michelle Mizzi Buontempo, have remained unanswered. Calamatta Cuschieri Investments Services Limited, a MFSA-licensed firm, has been named by a convicted criminal under oath in court, for dishing him out some €500,000 in cash. She was asked whether the MFSA considers such dodgy transactions as legal and if an investigation into Calamatta Cuschieri’s operations is being carried out.

FinTelegram reported that the Irish Joseph Gavin resigned from his post as CEO of the Maltese Financial Services Authority (MFSA). Earlier this month, MFSA announced that Gavin would resign later this year. However, he resigned before the end of the Summer. The Irish lawyer was appointed to the financial regulator in July of 2021 on a package reportedly worth €160,000. The previous CEO, Joseph Cuschieri, has had to leave in disgrace, and the Acting CEO who succeeded him, Christopher P. Buttigieg, is facing lawsuits surrounding his conduct as an MFSA official. A mess!

A Malta-based advisory firm has been charged along with its owners with defrauding clients out of more than $75 million, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced. The company was licensed by the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA). In a statement, the financial watchdog said it had charged two North Carolina-based executives, Gregory Lindberg and Christopher Herwig, and their Malta-based registered investment advisory, Standard Advisory Services Limited.

The EU member Malta is different in many ways regarding business ethics and regulation. However, even by the low Maltese standards, it is unheard of that a Chairman of a leading national bank carry out private consultancy work. It is even more questionable when this takes place with the regulator's blessing. The Chairman of Bank of Valletta (BOV), Gordon Cordina, received €1.4 million through his companies, E-Cubed Consultants Ltd and E-Cubed iSlands Ltd, for so-called consultancy work since 2013. Maltese media The Shift revealed this.

Joseph Cuschieri was the CEO of the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) when he was appointed as CEO of the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) in 2018. Cuschieri decided to be accompanied by his long-term friend Edwina Licari, who joined him from MGA. During their term at MFSA, they traveled on 38 “business” trips together and spent €0.5 million from taxpayers’ monies. During a 2017 trip to Johannesburg, South Africa, they stayed at the luxurious Emperors Palace.

Malta’s CC Funds, owned by Calamatta Cuschieri Investments Management, has registered major losses over the past months and years. Only 7 out of 23 funds have registered a positive return since inception. CC Funds form part of CC Finance Group plc and operate from Malta. A FinTelegram analysis clearly shows that most CC Funds are making substantial losses. The company’s directors are Nicholas Calamatta, Alan Cuschieri, Alexander Cuschieri, and Carmel John Farrugia.

A few months ago, the Maltese Arbiter for Financial Services ruled that Calamatta Cuschieri Investments Services Limited is guilty of not meeting the relevant obligations. The detailed decision describes how an investor lost more than €100,000 through investments that were suggested to him by Malta's Calamatta Cushieri Investments Services. The company appealed the fine, but on 1st July 2022, the Maltese Courts, through Judge Lawrence Mintoff, confirmed the Arbiter's decision.

In what has been described as a very strange statement, the CEO of Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), Joseph Gavin, is currently indisposed. Eyebrows were raised for a short statement issued by MFSA with no explanation whatsoever. Joseph Gavin, an Irish man, was appointed as MFSA’s CEO on a salary package of around €150,000 per year following the resignation of disgraced Joseph Cuschieri. Further eyebrows were raised when it was announced that Gavin would not be replaced by Christopher Buttigieg, but by Michelle Mizzi Buontempo.