XNT LTD (previously known as Exante Ltd) is a Maltese investment firm regulated by the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA). On 13 June 2022, the FIAU announced that it had fined XNT Ltd €244,679 over a series of anti-money laundering shortcomings. The Maltese regulator said the company did not fulfill its anti-money laundering obligations by not assessing and appropriately obtaining information on the purpose and intended nature of their clients’ business relations.
The FIAU Findings
In one case, an XNT client received incoming payments amounting to approximately €40 million over three years. The FIUA found one transaction exceeding $24 million, which was transferred from an account held in the client’s name from another institution located locally or in Europe. The company to provide proper documentation to establish how the funds were generated. According to the FIAU, the company failed to adequately enquire and subsequently establish the source of funds and how these were ultimately accumulated.
Part of the Exante Group
MFSA-regulated XNT is owned by the Malta-registered Lartemisis Holding Ltd, a holding company controlled by the three British Virgin Island firms, Nations Development Group Ltd, Stoic Ltd, and Zormax Ltd.
XNT is part of the Russian-Maltese Exante Group, which also includes EXT Ltd (www.exante.eu), regulated by the CySEC with license number 165/12. On its Linkedin page, Exante Group bills itself as a wealthtech company. In 2021, the Russian Central Bank blacklisted Exante and its CySEC-regulated entity. Exante was also the subject of an FBI investigation linked to a major US stock market manipulation case in 2015.
Read more about the Exante Group here.
The Directors’ Exodus At XNT
FinTelegram reported that the three XNT directors, Joseph Zammit Tabona, Michael Bianchi, and Lawrence Zammit, resigned in 2021. The present directors are the beneficial owners Alexey Kirienko and Anatoli Knyazev; they have links with former Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, allegedly the most corrupt politician in 2019.
Regulatory Issues
The FIAU officials have been under pressure in Malta for failing to take the necessary action in profoundly serious cases of possible money laundering. The FIAU employs Kristina Arbociute who up to a few weeks before joining the FIAU responsible for fighting money laundering and was working at XNT. During her time at XNT, the company was being investigated by the FBI.
Despite the evidently never-ending stream of bad news around XNT, it seems that the MFSA has not taken any steps to analyze why these resignations took place. Another suspicious departure was that of KPMG who were also removed from auditors of the company. The chosen auditor of XNT is BDO Malta.
Kerstin Ancilleri, who serves as Sales Manager with XNT, is very close to the political party in Government in Malta.
