Latest news with #iSignthis
AU Financial Review
4 days ago
- Business
- AU Financial Review
Former iSignthis boss Karantzis to appeal six-year ban, $1m fine
John Karantzis, the former chief executive of iSignthis, will appeal a Federal Court decision won by the corporate regulator to ban him from managing companies for six years and a $1 million penalty. iSignthis, a payments' technology firm, was worth more than $1 billion before it was suspended from trading on the ASX in 2019. The company and Karantzis have been embroiled in rolling legal battles with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and stock exchange since.
The Age
4 days ago
- Business
- The Age
‘Serious risk to the public': Colourful businessman fined $1m and banned as a director
Once described as 'a man born devoid of shame', controversial businessman and now resident of Cyprus Nickolas 'John' Karantzis has been fined $1 million and banned from being a company director for six years. On Friday, Justice Timothy McEvoy of the Federal Court in Victoria agreed with the submissions of corporate regulator ASIC that Karantzis 'shows a complete disregard for law and compliance with corporate regulations' and is a 'serious and continuing risk to the Australian public'. In addition to his being personally fined and banned from being a director, Karantzis' former company, iSignthis (now known as Southern Cross Payments), has 30 days to pay a $10 million penalty for breaching disclosure laws. Back in September 2019, Karantzis was on top of the world: iSignthis, which provided automated payment verification to help clients comply with anti-money laundering regulations, had soared to a market capitalisation of more than $1 billion. Investors who had bought shares when it listed that year had made a return of 10 times on their money. But within three days, iSignthis had lost more than $800 million in value and Karantzis' own fortune had plummeted by $189 million. Sparking the catastrophic sell-off was the release of a report by Ownership Matters raising questions about how the company had achieved its previous revenue targets and, even more damning, how senior executives had awarded themselves more than $500 million in shares. Questions were also raised about who was behind one of the company's largest shareholders, Red 5 Solutions, registered in the British Virgin Islands. The iSignthis share crash resulted in the ASX suspending trading, and it was ultimately delisted in November 2022. Karantzis retaliated by filing a lawsuit against the ASX for $500 million in damages. The corporate regulator began investigating. It was later discovered that in May 2020, a major client, Visa, had terminated iSignthis from its network, telling the company that 'iSignthis is not operating appropriate programs to manage anti-money-laundering and risk' and 'apparently still does not understand when investigation of suspicious merchant behaviour is required'.
Sydney Morning Herald
4 days ago
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Serious risk to the public': Colourful businessman fined $1m and banned as a director
Once described as 'a man born devoid of shame', controversial businessman and now resident of Cyprus Nickolas 'John' Karantzis has been fined $1 million and banned from being a company director for six years. On Friday, Justice Timothy McEvoy of the Federal Court in Victoria agreed with the submissions of corporate regulator ASIC that Karantzis 'shows a complete disregard for law and compliance with corporate regulations' and is a 'serious and continuing risk to the Australian public'. In addition to his being personally fined and banned from being a director, Karantzis' former company, iSignthis (now known as Southern Cross Payments), has 30 days to pay a $10 million penalty for breaching disclosure laws. Back in September 2019, Karantzis was on top of the world: iSignthis, which provided automated payment verification to help clients comply with anti-money laundering regulations, had soared to a market capitalisation of more than $1 billion. Investors who had bought shares when it listed that year had made a return of 10 times on their money. But within three days, iSignthis had lost more than $800 million in value and Karantzis' own fortune had plummeted by $189 million. Sparking the catastrophic sell-off was the release of a report by Ownership Matters raising questions about how the company had achieved its previous revenue targets and, even more damning, how senior executives had awarded themselves more than $500 million in shares. Questions were also raised about who was behind one of the company's largest shareholders, Red 5 Solutions, registered in the British Virgin Islands. The iSignthis share crash resulted in the ASX suspending trading, and it was ultimately delisted in November 2022. Karantzis retaliated by filing a lawsuit against the ASX for $500 million in damages. The corporate regulator began investigating. It was later discovered that in May 2020, a major client, Visa, had terminated iSignthis from its network, telling the company that 'iSignthis is not operating appropriate programs to manage anti-money-laundering and risk' and 'apparently still does not understand when investigation of suspicious merchant behaviour is required'.
