FOUR men have been fined more than BD2 million for illegally running a digital trading platform.
The Financial Crimes and Money Laundering Prosecution head announced yesterday that BD15,723.410 was also seized from them.
The four men, identified only as Asians, were fined BD2,150,000 after being found guilty of running a platform to trade in virtual currencies and providing services without obtaining the required licence from the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB).
“The first defendant was fined BD100,000, the second defendant BD50,000 while the third and fourth were each fined BD1 million,” said a statement.
“The Public Prosecution received a report from the CBB stating that two of the defendants were providing banking services to individuals consisting of managing a virtual currencies trading platform as well as providing services without obtaining the licence to do so from the CBB.
“An immediate investigation was launched by the Public Prosecution and the statements from CBB officials, witnesses and defendants were registered.
“The investigation found that the four defendants received money from individuals which they would deposit in their account and use to buy cypto-currencies and trade in them to make a profit.”
Prosecutors questioned the defendants and the case was referred to the Lower Criminal Court which found them guilty of the charges attributed to them.
The Public Prosecution urged people to only deal with authorities licensed by the CBB to provide banking services.
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