MoonPay Onboards James Freis to Advise on Global Regulatory Compliance

MoonPay, a payment infrastructure provider for crypto firms, has announced the appointment of the former Chief Executive Officer of Wirecard, James Freis, as its Special Adviser on Global Regulatory Compliance.

Freis had served as a Chief Compliance Officer at German stock exchange services company, Deutsche Börse Group, before joining Wirecard in 2020. According to Bloomberg, Freis is expected to guide MoonPay on regulatory compliance in the United States and abroad.

This is coming on the heels of President Joe Biden’s executive order on digital assets which called for collaboration in governmental inter-agency research and regulatory approaches.

Additionally, Freis will help the fintech company to manage international tension, especially in light of the Russia-Ukraine war, the media reported. MoonPay had shut off its Russian customers from its payment infrastructure following mounting international sanctions on Russian businesses as a result of the latter's aggression in Ukraine. The company now cross-checks all its clients for the sanctions lists under its know-your-customer procedures.

Freis told Bloomberg he was joining MoonPay in the new capacity because he admired how the payment infrastructure provider was taking a proactive approach with regulators, even obtaining licenses for products it was yet to launch.

The Whistle-Blower

At Wirecard, Freis had emerged CEO after the German payment process’ Board of Directors fired the former CEO, Markus Braun, following Freis’ discovery of a massive fraud scheme involving the fabrication of assets and revenue in the company.

Following the discovery, Wirecard admitted that the missing €1.9 billion of cash from its balance sheet might not have existed in the first place. Braun was subsequently arrested over the charges of false accounting and market manipulation.

Meanwhile, early last year, Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFIN) filed a criminal complaint against one of its employees for being involved in insider trading at Wirecard. The employee, who worked at the securities supervision department of the regulator, sold structured products of the payment firm a day before it became public that €1.9 billion was missing from Wirecard's account.

Freis’ Work History

Freis is a former Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network during the administrations of former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Following his exit from Wirecard in 2020, Freis launched a startup, CRINDATA LLC, which is a software programme that helps financial institutions to manage operational risks.