Argentarius

Accountant Karl Schranz and lawyer Christian Ellul have been banned by the Malta Financial Services Authority for their "lack of honesty and integrity".

The closure of the Malta operations of Argentarius Group, which now operates in the Cayman Islands as iMaps Capital, coincided with preliminary legal action against it by the Bank of Valletta regarding an alleged investment fraud that resulted in losses of at least €79 million, OffshoreAlert can reveal.

Amid legal and regulatory issues, Argentarius Group - which provides low-cost, regulation-free investment funds to asset managers, particularly fraudsters - has closed down in Malta, having moved its headquarters to the Cayman Islands, where it operates as iMaps Capital.

An entry in the Malta Government Gazette dated July 12th, 2019 that constitutes "Service" of a "judicial letter" filed at Malta's Civil Court First Hall in Bank of Valetta Plc v. Emil Amir Ingmanson, a.k.a. Max Serwin; Dzemo Neslanovic, Afram Gergeo, Reditum SA, Agate Assets SA, Astartes Sverige AB, Viceroy Industrials SA, QV Capital AB, Oxxy Technoloġies Plc, formerly known as Oxxy Group Plc; Asama AB, formerly known as Strategi Placering i Skandinavien AB, Hic Salta AB, formerly known as Konsumentkraft Norden AB, Exane Finance, Emma Amanda Lidberg, Jelena Saalismaa, Åsa Ylva Magdalena Hildestål, Björn Andreas Svansberg, Lars Anders Daniel Egon Landelius, Anna Ruth Marilyn Lee Winter, Jack Alison, Wilhelm Per Anesater, Joakim Gabay, Hessam Esfahani Moghaddam, David Ulf Axel Fredriksson, Mahnaz Choubini, Par Christer Olle Abrahamsson, Philip Beril Eriksson, Lars Martin Inge Lindergren, Bertil Lennart Johansson, Karl Jonas Johansson, Theodora Gergeo, John Anthony Farrell, Christian Grob, Median Trust SA, Commerzbank AG, Mark Bishop, BNP Paribas Arbitrage Issuance BV, BNP Paribas Issuance BV, Daniel Ivanier, Catherine Benoît, Bertrand Léonard, Nicolas Chanut, Emmanuelle Bobin Benoist, Stéphanie Bianco, Vincent Rouvière, Olivier Stéphanopoli, Pierre Lasserre, Marc Le Guern, Robert Arthur Arnold, Barbaros Okten, Peter Corner, Damste Sinninghe, Laurent Belik, Danielle Delnoije, Olivier Lansac, Eric-Jan Van de Laar, Salvatore Rosato, Catherine Trapani, Ricardo Incani, Dr Marcus Johannes Chromik, Stephan Engels, Ralph Michael Mandel, Michael Reuther, Martin Zielke, Frank Annuscheit, Markus Beumer, Martin Blessing, Stefan Schmittmann, Jochen Klösges, Ulrich Sieber, Eric Strutz, Dr. Achim Kassow, Wolfgang Hartmann, Bernd Knobloch, Nicholas Teller, Klaus-Peter Müller, Klaus M. Patig, Andreas de Maizière, Mehmet Dalman, Stephan Blohm, Peter Schruden, Rolf Caspers, Heike Kubica, Anja Lakoudi, Fabian Frieg, Claus Walter Bering, Yves Stocklausen, Ina Mangelsdorf, Friedhelm Von Zieten, Steven John Brown, Charlotte Lahaije-Hultman, Peter Lundin, Zuzanna Zielinski-Rousseau, Ajit Singh Rai, Nadine Gloesener, Hugo Pieraggi, Lei Peijing, Lars-Erik Magnusson, Dick Koster, Katia Von Hoyer, Aston Management (Cyprus) Limited, Dimitar Dimitrov, Kazamia Stelios, Charalampos Mina, White November Corporate Services (Cyprus) Limited, Avalon Capital AG, Julien Schoenlaub, Bekim Zemoski, Rock Energy AS, Intex Resources ASA, Neil Grobberlaar, Peter Gerard De Beyer, Kenneth Thomas Hopkins, Derrick Thembinkosi Vusumuzi Msibi, Norman William Thomson, Robert William Baker, Leon Dykman, Mark Angus Barnes, Mthetheleli Lancelot Buya, Christoffer Andreas Hellenas Christenson-Roed, Andre Dawid Coetzer, Craig Graham Davidson, Ronald Alexander Den Besten, Akhter Alli Deshmukh, Eric Du Plessis, Garth Peter Elliott, Shane Trevor Ferguson, Christine Ann Glover, Christian Gouws, Charl Hendrik Kock, Deepak Malik, Tshepidi G Moremong, Arumugam Padachie, Bruce Aubrey Schenk, Heather Gail Van Heerden, Hercules Christiaan Van Heerden, Pieter Willemse Van Heerden, Johannes Van Rooyen, Brian Oscar Weiss, Michael Neville Wilkins, Real People Investment Holdings Limited, Vaneck Vectors ETF Trust, formerly known as Market Vectors ETF Trust and formerly known as Market Vectors – Gold Miners ETF; Jan F. van Eck, John Walter Christmas, Roger Buckley, Antonio Fenech, Joseph Xuereb, Ian Zammit, Jacques Ellul Soler, Andreas Wolfl, Sylvan Sapiano, Commonwealth Securitisation Plc, Delta1 Securities Plc, Lars Beitnes, ETI Securities Plc, Temple Asset Management Limited, RES Malta Limited, Securitisation Consultancy Limited, Argentarius ETI Management Limited, and Michael Portanier.

OffshoreAlert has uncovered more red flags concerning the Argentarius Group, which operates investment platforms in Malta, Gibraltar and the Cayman Islands. PwC has become the second auditor to be 'removed' in less than three years, while Argentarius' predecessor firm - Minerva Investments - collapsed amid a fraud investigation by the financial regulator in Liechtenstein.

Former Malta Finance Minister Tonio Fenech has been banned from accepting any new appointments with regulated entities by the Malta Financial Services Authority for failing to adequately supervise a company of which he is a director and whose investors were allegedly swindled out of up to €247 million. Fellow Malta nationals Ian Zammit and Joseph Xuereb were similarly penalized.

Argentarius Group, which operates investment platforms in Malta, Gibraltar and the Cayman Islands on which several suspect schemes have been trying to raise funds, has been kicked off the Gibraltar Stock Exchange.

Banned company director and serial fraudster Brett Jolly has resurrected his failed Privilege Wealth investment scheme under a new name - Creditech - using as fronts two well-connected British nationals who quickly resigned after being contacted by OffshoreAlert, we can reveal.