Untangle the Crypto Spider Webs - Parts III

#Cryptocom - #Binance - #Payrnet and how they are connected #HongKong

Disclaimer: I am just sharing my personal point of view on the topic of connections between companies. Any rule violations commited by these companies and mentioned in this article are based on statements of regulatory organisations. I don’t asume or claim any involvement into this crimes by the people mentioned in this article.

The following article will focus on the the connections that can be found between Binance, Crypto.com and PayrNet. You can find the first and second article here.

Introduction:

The crypto world never came to rest since FTX imploded. Over the last weeks, I was connecting companies, officers and directors. Since then, many developments took place that should and could be explained by displaying the connections between the big players of the crypto world.

Investing.com published “Crypto.com's Secrets: What the Transparent Exchange Isn't Telling Us” yesterday - containing the following statement:

“Supported by the court's permission, Lithuania's Central Bank ordered electronic money institution (EMI) Payrnet UAB to freeze services that involve digital money transactions temporarily.

The bank suspects Payrnet UAB of severe and systematic violations of the Law on Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing.”

These allegations weight heavy and for this reason it should be important to take a look at the crypto companies related to PayrNet UAB.

0. Recap and Roadmap

I already mentioned names and companies in my last articles, so I want to highlight the companies and people who are relevant for todays publication because of their connection to other companies:

• Mariana Dinkova Gospodinov, Rafael De Marco E Melo and Crypto.com

• Nicholas Charles George ANDREWS and Binance Markets Limited (UK)

• John Nicolas Robert Dunbar CHARTERIS and Payrnet

1. Mariana Dinkova Gospodinov

Between August 2018 and December 2019 Ms. Gospodinov worked, according to he LinkedIn profile, for Binance Europe Limited - while the documents available online indicate an activity between June and October 2019.

Ms. Gospodinov is mentioned in the Crypto.com DD published in March 2022 by Wolf Certification as Director of Foris DAX Global Limited (679728) and Foris GFS IE Limited (679716).

She is also a director at Foris MT Limited (C90348) and Foris Dax MT Limited according to the official Malta Business Registration webpage. Her name is also mentioned in an article published on corriere.it that mentions Foris Dax MT Limited as company that operates Crypto.com (english translation below, original ital.):

However, to reconstruct properties and balance sheets, it is necessary to slip into a web of holding companies between Malta and Hong Kong because nothing is publicly available on the group's websites despite the "transparency values". Crypto.com is the logo through which the Maltese company Foris Dax MT Limited operates on the cryptocurrency market, which until a few weeks before the agreement with the League had another name: MCO Malta Dax Limited. The Maltese company has two key subjects with management powers: the Brazilian Rafael De Marco e Melo (it is only one person) and the Bulgarian Mariana Dinkova Gospodinova. - corriere.it

2. Rafael De Marco E Melo (RDMEM)

Mr Rafael De Marco E Melo is one of the keyfigures regarding Crypto.com. After the collection of as many information as I could find on him I got the impression that he is the most important figure in the network surrounding Crypto.com. The image below just shows only some of the companies that he is part of.

For my understanding, Foris Dax Holdings Limited based in Hong Kong is one of the major shareholder/person with significant control of the Foris Empire. It is previously known as CRO Holdings Limited. Foris Dax Holdings Limited (HK) is holding 100% of Foris Dax MT Limited since 07.07.2020 - while Foris MT Holdings Limited (shareholder Foris GFS Limited who is also based in HK) owned 100% until this day.

The most important address in HK is PACIFIC PLAZA 410 DES VOEUX ROAD WEST, HONG KONG - if you check on google maps you will no mark that would indicate the existence of Foris on this location in first place. But checking the address above gives us multiple companies registered to this location, listed from oldest to newest:

Foris Limited (2397127) - founded 30.06.2016, formerly known as Masterfund Technology Limited (2016-08-17), issued the “MONACO VISA” via the Suisse based company “MCO Technology GmbH” in 2018. This company was formally known as Monaco Technology GmbH and based in:

c/o STAX AG
Bahnhofstrasse 21
6300 Zug

while Mr. Krzysztof Marszalek (KM) is and was the director of this company. Mr. Marszalek is also a member of Crypto.com and Foris Limited (another member: Antoine Urbain Roger Blondeau).

Other companies registered at the HK address are mostly directed by RDMEM beside Particle Research Limited and Crypto Technologies Holdings:

Foris DAX HK Group Limited (2737122) 22.08.2018 (Shareholder of: MCO Technology GmbH) → Directors: RDMEM and KM

CRYPTO Technology Holdings Limited (2737110) 22.08.2018 → Director: KM

Foris GFS Limited (2741441) 03.09.2018 / previous: MCO Technology (HK) Limited

Foris GDA Limited (3014395) 25.01.2021

Foris Advisory Limited (3016489) 29.01.2021

Foris Capital Limited (3032577) 26.03.2021

Particle Research Limited (3040838) 21.04.2021 (Owned by Ping Lam Or)

While we got our first connection from Binance to Crypto.com we still need a connection to Payrnet UAB .

2. Nicholas Charles George ANDREWS

Mr Andrews first appointment, according to endole.co.uk, was at SLK Global Markets for one year while he joined Mpac Limited in 2003 where he resigned in December 2021. Between April 2016 and April 2021 he is named as person with significant control over Mpac Limited.

He was part of many companies during his carrier:

• LAWSONS MEWS LIMITED Secretary: Mar 2003-Nov 2021 Director: Feb 2003 - Mar 2018

• TUDELEY COOPER LIMITED Mar 2007 - Mar 2019 (resigned as director, still working as secretary)

• PANTHER CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LTD Sep 2010 - (Dis: 2014)

• KAS SECURITIES LIMITED Jan 2012 - Jun 2016 (Dis: 2019)

• PRAETORIAN GENERAL PARTNER LIMITED Apr 2012 - Jun 2014

• PATTENMAKERS EVENTS LIMITED Mar 2013 - 16 Mar 2017

Beside the already mentioned companies there are 4 more that have to be mentioned here:

• WELLS FARGO SECURITIES INTERNATIONAL LIMITED Aug 2011 - Aug 2020

• BINANCE MARKETS LIMITED (Binance) Oct 2015 - Aug 2020

• FORISGFS UK LIMITED (Crypto.com) Mar 2021 - Mar 2022

• FORIS DAX UK LIMITED (Crypto.com) Mar 2021 - Mar 2022

Wells Fargo Securities International Limited was founded in 1997 and is currently owned by Wells Fargo & Company (since 2016) and Everen Capital Corporation (October 2020) while it was owned by Wells Fargo International Banking Corporation between Sep 2016 and October 2020.

As for this reason, Mr. Andrews was working at Wells Fargo Securities International Limited while he was working for Binance Markets Limited.

Binance Markets Limited is owned by Mr. Changpeng Zhao - the head of Binance - since at least June 2020. The company was incorporated in March 2015 and was owned from Apr 2016 to Jun 2020 by Eddie Holdco Ltd.

Eddie Holdco Ltd. was foundet on the 16. Jun 2015, changed its name to BLUE GREEN FUTURE LTD on the 19. May 2021 while it was once again changed its name on the 17. Sep 2021 to BLUE GREEN MARKETS LTD.

Sebastopol Investments Ltd was as a person with significant control up to 1. Jan 2022 which is owned by Mr. and Ms. Andrews.

Then it changed to Blue Green Wold Inc what lasted until 7. Nov 2022 - when Mr. Nicholas Charles George Andrews was named as person with significant control.

BLUE GREEN MARKETS LTD was registered 3 Beeston Place London SW1W 0JJ United Kingdom and changed to Sebastopol Maidstone Road Whetsted Tonbridge Kent TN12 6SQ on 28. June 2021.

[Other companies at 3 Beeston Place:

Superfintech Ltd - overdue - Founded 18 Jun 2015 - by Mr. ABBOTT who joined Blue Green Markets in Dec 2022

MPAC CONSULTANCY LLP - Founded in Febr 2004 - also owned by Mr. Andrews]

Nicholas Charles George ANDREWS is also mentioned in the Paradise Papers while the companies named were also registered to the address in Sebastopol Maidstone Road.

But how does Mr. Andrews connect Binance, Crypto.com with PayrNet?

This leads us back to Rafael De Marco E Melo and someone new:

3. John Nicolas Robert Dunbar CHARTERIS

I already mentioned FORISGFS UK Limited and Foris Dax UK Limited where Mr. Andrews worked from 2021 to 2022.

Mr. Rafael De Marco E Melo is also part of these two companies - and so is Mr. John Charteris.

He joined Railsr - according to his LinkedIn Profile - in May 2019 (VP Operations) and changed his position in Dec 2020 (Chief Of Staff and Global Head of Operations) - and left Railsr in January 2022 to join Crypto.com in February 2022.

4. Railsr - and some #SlugzOfZug vibes

Investing.com wrote yesterday:

Formerly known as Railsbank, the company acquired the United Kingdom subsidiary of Wirecard in 2020.

The same year, it partnered with Crypto.com.

Kris Marszalek, CEO of Crypto.com, talks about joint card partnership programs for clients in Asia and Europe in this video.

In September 2020, Crypto.com notified its customers that Payrnet Ltd replaced Wirecard and became the new issuer of card programs in the UK and European Union.

After 2 Billion USD disappeared from Wirecards bank accounts, the company that aquired parts of Wirecards Business back in 2020 is facing investigations for money laundry in their Lithuanian Sub PayrNet UAB (Lithuania) - while we can find personal connection between different individuals working for differnt big players in the crypto industry we also find companies, where we each of them was part of during a specific time frame.

During the last weeks, Binance lost more and more connection to the banking system, more and more unable to pay out their customers. The investigations in PayrNet and other companies are not only to the disadventage of Binance but also Crypto.com.

The exemples and charts above are just some of the connections I was able to observe so far - and I can ensure you that there are even more connection - way outside of the “cryptoworld” as we know it. To give you an idea of these “connections” - a sneakpeak on the current size of the map - while the black box displaces the area that I already covered in the articles…. So much more to come - while I hope that this article draws the attention to some people who could help us little researchers to understand what is going on. Everyone mentioned in this post is invited to comment on my information collection.

Tl;DR

• Ms. Gospodinov and Mr. Andrews can be seen as personal connections between Binance and Crypto.com

• Mr. Andrews was working at Binance Markets Ltd while working for Wells Fargo Securities International

• Charteries, Andrews and De Marco E Melo are connected byFORISGFS UK Ltd and Foris Dax UK Limited

• Mr Charteries worked for Railsr before joining Crypto.com

• Railsr took over some of Wirecards Business in 2020 while PayrNet, a sub of Railsr, is currently investigated by Lithunian government for money laundry

I hope more people will start to look into the people involved in this crypto spider web.

Thanks for reading!

Your Anni