Lithuania has imposed a €9.3 million ($10.07 million) fine on local cryptocurrency firm Payeer for sanctions violations. Lithuania’s Financial Crimes Investigation Service (FNTT) penalized the regulated crypto company for facilitating fund transfers to and from Russian banks.

The €9.3 million fine includes €8.2 million for sanctions violations and €1.1 million for AML breaches. Payeer had 213,000 clients, most of them from Russia. Authorities say the company evaded sanctions against Russia and breached money laundering rules.

Sanctions Violations and Client Base

FNTT stated that most of Payeer’s 213,000 clients, based in Russia, were able to transfer funds into and out of the country for over a year. The company concealed these clients’ identities, allowing them to bypass AML checks as they moved Russian rubles.

Russia-based individuals and legal entities also received account management services, crypto wallet use, and custody from Payeer.

Payeer, which launched its operations in January 2023, accrued revenues of over €164 million ($177.4 million), according to the financial crimes unit’s statement.

AML Breaches and Suspicious Transactions

In May, FNTT released a report indicating that Lithuania witnessed more than 98,000 incidences of suspicious money transactions in 2023. AML fines reached €900,000 that year.

License Revocation

Payeer’s launch in Lithuania followed the revocation of a license issued in Estonia to another company operating under the same name. In March, the US Department of the Treasury, through its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), blacklisted several entities for aiding sanctions evasion in Russia. These included multiple blockchain-based services and crypto exchange platforms, among them Estonia-based Bitfingroup OÜ and peer-to-peer (P2P) platform Bitpapa.

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