Lithuania levies record fine on virtual currency operator for breach of Russia sanctions
Lithuania’s Financial Crime Investigation Service (‘FCIS’) has imposed a record fine of nearly €9.3 million against virtual currency operator Payeer UAB, for breaches of international sanctions on Russia and the law on terrorist financing.
The FCIS said the Lithuania-based operator ‘allowed its customers, mainly from Russia, to carry out transactions in Russian roubles, transferring them to and from Russian banks sanctioned by the European Union. Russian natural and legal persons were also given access to cryptocurrency wallet, account management or custody services.’
Payeer was fined €8.23 million for those breaches — ‘the highest fine imposed by the FCIS for breaches of international sanctions to date’ – and another €1.06 million for infringements of anti-money laundering and terrorist financing laws, FCIS said in a press release, 11 July.
‘The company was found to be in breach of international sanctions laws for more than 1.5 years. During this period, Payeer UAB was found to have had at least 213,000 customers and a revenue of more than €164 million,’ it added.
FCIS found that the company ‘had violated not only formal, but also substantive requirements of the law and the regulations; the identities of the company’s clients were not properly determined and verified deliberately in order to avoid losing a significant part of the revenue.’
‘Transactions in breach of sanctions through sanctioned Russian banks were also not terminated. The company’s infringements were assessed as serious, the company itself failed to cooperate and provide explanations,’ it said.
