The Maltese Truevo Payments Ltd is an MFSA-licensed payment institution. Truevo was offering payment services to a UK-registered company named FIF Services Limited. It started offering such services in early 2021, following an agreement signed by both parties. Truevo has sued FIF Services Limited in Maltese courts. FIF Services, despite being notified, did not file any defense. The Maltese Courts declared FIF Services guilty of fraud and ordered the UK company to pay over €400,000 in damages to Truevo. However, FIF Services seems to be on the run.
FIF Services Ltd has seen the resignation of all of its directors. The latest director to resign is Nassar Kiryakooz. Fady Abdulhamid resigned in November 2021.
For several months, the average payment transaction value of FIF Services was between GBP 200 to 400. However, in late November 2021, this jumped to around 3,700 Sterling. There were almost no chargebacks between January to November 2021. However, Truevo revealed in court that in late November and throughout December, it received hundreds of chargebacks. Given that Truevo was settling the funds to FIF Services Ltd on a daily basis and without any rolling reserves, it resulted in Truevo suffering a substantial loss.
In 2021, Truevo Payments Ltd was fined Eur 443,670 by Malta’s Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) for allegedly breaching money laundering rules. The company has appealed the decision and is fighting FIAU in Maltese courts. Malta’s FIAU has been harshly criticized for being weak with the strong and strong with the weak.
The directors of Truevo Payments Ltd are John Pollacco, Ivan Fsadni, Frank Xavier Caruana, and Martin Azzopardi.
