Crypto trading firm Hayvn fined $12.45 million by Abu Dhabi regulator for money laundering

Abu Dhabi regulators have fined cryptocurrency trading firm Hayvn Group $12.45 million for failing to establish effective anti-money laundering (AML) controls.
Regulators point out that since October 2018, the company and its former chief executive Christopher Flinos have been processing customer transactions through AC Holding, an unlicensed special purpose vehicle, meaning they have implemented few anti-money laundering measures. Emmanuel Givanakis, chief executive of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Abu Dhabi (FSRA), said on Monday after his team concluded its investigation that the practices were particularly serious.
Investigators also found that AC Holding provided more than 200 forged documents to banking partners, and that Flinos repeatedly provided misinformation when questioned by regulators. Regulators fined multiple related entities $8.85 million, while the Registration Authority fined Flinos an additional $3.61 million.