A lawsuit against Crypto.com and their shareholders submitted for a lack of Bafin license!

The Crypto.com crypto handle platform advertises the leading providers in Europe and is actively aimed at German investors, although the company does not have a BaFin permit for participating in the German financial market. The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) therefore initiated investigations in 2023, whereupon Crypto.com officially announced its withdrawal from the German market. In an article on finanzen.net in March 2023, this withdrawal was publicly confirmed.

However, numerous indications show that the offer of Crypto.com or the Foris Mt Malta Limited, which is behind it, is very comfortable on the German market. In view of this clear violation of the Banking Act (KWG) and the regulatory obligations, I have filed a lawsuit against the Foris MT Malta Limited and their managing director Mariana Dinkova, Rafael de Marco e Melo and Robert Ancilleri.

In this case, the lack of BaFin permit is very important. Crypto.com, which has already been noticed several times through cases of fraud and manipulated trading portals, regularly draws attention to itself through questionable practices. The pattern is usually similar: customers are addressed via manipulated advertisements in which prominent personalities are said to report on quick success in the cryptomarkt through Crypto.com. These advertising films, which were manipulated using AI programs, arouse the interest of potential customers. As a result, supposed investment advisors report by phone and convince investors to invest small amounts, with the consultations often conducted from London or Austria.

After this first sum has been invested, investors have access to a fake trading platform, on which considerable profits are suggested to motivate them to invest. Finally, the fraudsters open an account at Crypto.com, to which high amounts are then transferred. The transactions often run through the financial service provider OpenPayd Financial Services Malta Ltd. At the same time, the fraudsters receive access to these accounts with the help of remote access tools such as AnyDesk. The supposedly existing trading portals, to which the money flows, usually prove to be counterfeiting and remain unreachable afterwards.

Whether Crypto.com is involved directly into these fraud cases or not does not matter for the claims for damages in the current procedure. The focus is on the lack of BaFin permit according to § 32 KWG.