Mandato Financial Services GmbH: A Swiss facade for international fraud

Mandato Financial Services GmbH – a Swiss payment services company that specializes in non-cash payment operations, including electronic transfers and payment methods such as credit cards.

In the post-Soviet space, very few financial specialists are aware of it, and even in Europe, it is relatively unknown. The company mainly focuses on African markets, where it offers a “wide range of payment methods and instant integration, tailored for any industry.”

As for Europe, as already mentioned, its presence is minimal. Although the registration address is Switzerland, a country that is the financial center of the world.

Why is Mandato Financial Services GmbH considered a fraudster in the financial world? There are several reasons. Despite the Swiss registration, which should instill trust in potential clients, the company has a rather dubious reputation on specialized portals studying financial service markets.

This is what PayRate42 writes about Mandato Financial Services GmbH: “MandatoFinancialServicesGmbH … mainly operates in the high-risk segment. Although Mandato is a member of the Swiss Self-Regulatory Organization VQF, it remains an unregulated financial services provider. The lack of transparency regarding beneficial ownership and the absence of client reviews prompted PayRate42 to place Mandato on its Orange Compliance and Orange Risk lists.”

Another significant factor – the final beneficiaries of Mandato Financial Services GmbH are unknown. It is only known that one of the key shareholders is Mandato Global Ltd, registered in Cyprus since 2022, whose beneficiaries are also unknown. A few more details about the company: the LinkedIn account mentioned on the website does not exist, and no financial information about Mandato Financial Services GmbH can be found anywhere. Additionally, Franz Iten, who manages the company, apparently works part-time – his primary job is the managing director at Abona Treuhand AG in Switzerland.

As for the registration details, they also raise questions. Here is what the resource northdata.com tells us about Mandato Financial Services GmbH, its history, and connections:

From this data, it follows that, firstly, the company director Franz Iten is a director of not only Abona Treuhand AG but also seven other companies. This suggests that he is likely a frontman, a sort of "Swiss pawn.” Secondly, Mandato Financial Services GmbH has undergone several name changes. However, the history provided by northdata.com is not entirely complete. For instance, northdata.com indicates that Mandato Financial Services GmbH was first registered as Global Gate Financial Services GmbH in Unterägeri, Switzerland. But these data are incomplete. Here is the complete history of the company as provided by another specialized resource, tiger.ch. You can study the entire history by following this link, and we present the most significant facts about the changes in names and, most importantly, the types of activities of the current Mandato Financial Services GmbH.

The company was founded in 2006 under the name Repele Business Development GmbH, legal address: Zug, CH-170.4.006.177-1. Types of activities: Provision of management consulting services and sale of related goods; it may acquire, manage, or sell intangible assets and real estate, participate in other companies, and establish subsidiaries. Share capital: 20,000 Swiss francs. Another curious detail: “According to the management statement of February 10, 2009, the company is not subject to regular audits and waives limited audits.” The question remains – did the company forgo the audit?

Until 2019, nothing was heard about the company Repele Business Development GmbH, but on June 4, 2019, its name was changed to Global Gate Financial Services GmbH, and it received a new registration address: Zugerstrasse 46, 6314 Unterägeri. The charter and types of activities were also changed: providing services in the field of non-cash and paperless payment operations, in particular, making electronic transfers for third parties or issuing payment methods such as credit cards and traveler’s checks, and promoting non-cash payment operations in general. At the same time, Franz Iten, previously a partner with a 1,000 franc share without the right to sign, receives that right.

On February 1, 2022, Global Gate Financial Services GmbH received its current name - Mandato Financial Services GmbH – and a partner from Nicosia, Mandato Global Ltd, which owns 19,000 of the twenty thousand francs comprising its share capital. Franz Iten retains his one thousand and signing authority, but he continues to have no decision-making power in the company - a pure "pawn."

In essence, there is nothing fraudulent in this, as long as there are no proven frauds. It’s just another dubious company that, taking advantage of Swiss registration and Swiss financial legislation, operates in the financial operations sector in a high-risk segment. Buying an existing company and changing its name and types of activities is not prohibited.

But if the information about Mandato Financial Services GmbH ended here, it would just be a suspicious company, nothing more. However, a few months ago, Mandato Financial Services GmbH surfaced in connection with the names of Ukrainian crypto fraudsters Nazar Babenko and Mykhailo Romanenko. It turned out that both of these individuals use Mandato Financial Services GmbH to receive money siphoned from the participants yearning for easy money in the Danvel Group pyramid, consisting of two scam entities – Danvel Ltd and Eternity Business. 

Payments from “investors” of Eternity Business go to the account of Mandato Financial Services GmbH, opened in the Lithuanian Mano Bankas. But go back above and read the types of activities of Mandato Financial Services GmbH: “intermediary financial operations in the high-risk segment.”

Danvel Ltd and Eternity Business are precisely this “high-risk segment.” And Mandato Financial Services GmbH is an intermediary in financial operations in this segment. Therefore, the chain is broken – no one will know where Mandato Financial Services GmbH will transfer money from yet another person who fell into the scammers’ trap, except for itself and the payment recipient. Which is securely hidden by commercial secrecy protected by Swiss laws.

Are Nazar Babenko and Mykhailo Romanenko the same beneficiaries of Mandato Financial Services GmbH that highly qualified specialists from international financial resources studying its activity have been unable to uncover? One can almost say with near certainty – no. Behind Mandato Financial Services GmbH are players of far higher caliber than, essentially, small-scale and one-time Ukrainian fraudsters. Mandato Financial Services GmbH plays larger games; it has no reason to "burn" itself in a one-time cryptoscam aimed primarily at residents of the post-Soviet space. However, it can easily provide services to launder money from this scam. And it does, reliably shielding the final recipients of these payments from the attention of law enforcement, while simultaneously creating an impression of reliability with its Swiss registration. But this does not change the essence: Mandato Financial Services GmbH – is as much of a fraudster as those who use its services. 

Thomas Brown