Australian CEO faces allegations of misleading investors over crypto firm collapse

An Australian businessman has been accused of misleading investors after his crypto firm collapsed. Christopher Flinos was banned in the Cayman Islands and Abu Dhabi after his crypto company Hayvn collapsed amid fraud allegations back in Melbourne.

According to reports, Christopher Flinos ran the company, which paraded itself as a regulated and compliant payment solution for the authorization, clearing, and settlement of cryptocurrency payments. The company also earned a license to operate in the Cayman Islands.

However, his company’s license was canceled by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) in June, banning Flinos from being a company director in the country.

Australian businessman accused of misleading investors

Reports claim that before the ban in the Cayman Islands, regulators in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates capital, had made allegations of fraud against him, alleging that his company, Hayvn, failed to follow anti-money laundering rules.

Flinos acted as the chief executive officer of the company, with an official notice issued by the Abu Dhabi Global Market Registration Authority on March 30 showing that he owned a third of the business.

According to the Hayvn website, Flinos was CEO of the company from 2019 and had worked as an investment banker before that. In 2014, he assisted in setting up CH Stirling, a boutique investment bank in Dubai, which, according to Bloomberg, had a full-sized table in its reception.

In addition, he also worked at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and Merrill Lynch. Hayvn said it agreed with local firm, Venue Smart, which allowed the company to expand its presence into Australia.

The business provided payment terminals to pubs, clubs, and other businesses in the hospitality industry. This way, thousands of merchants could offer their clients seamless crypto payment solutions, according to a press release issued by Flinos at the time.

In another interview in 2023, Flinos also drummed up the safety of Hayvn following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX.

“People are now worried about where their coins are kept, and the ability to provide custody services to our clients within a regulated environment is becoming more and more important,” he said. He added that Hayvn will focus primarily on business clients, and this will enable it to fly a little under the radar. “We’ve quietly gone about building probably the Middle East’s biggest business when it comes to virtual assets, but we stay well out of a lot of the press,” he added.

Cayman Islands and Abu Dhabi authorities sanction Flinos

In a 39-page notice issued in March, the Abu Dhabi authority said Flinos misled it and banks about another company he held called AC Holding, which gained a license to act as a passive investment company.

Authorities noted that instead of acting as what it was licensed for, the Australian used the company as a payment process for Hayvn and its crypto users. The agency said Flinos engaged in fraud by “facilitating the falsification of hundreds of company documents”, including bank account applications, invoices, and AC Holding’s company accounts.

In another notice released in April, the authority mentioned that one of the Hayvn companies failed to comply with AML rules because it lacked evidence of carrying out risk assessments on six customers. When the company eventually did due diligence, the authority said it failed to assess what businesses the clients were into and where their money came from. It also added that it failed to identify one of its clients as a “politically exposed person”.