Scam by Nazar Babenko and Mikhail Romanenko under Swiss cover: how the laundering operation Mandato Financial Services GmbH covers up the robbery of Danvel Group investors

Mandato Financial Services GmbH is a Swiss firm offering payment system services. Its core business involves non‑cash payments, covering electronic transfers and diverse payment methods like credit cards.

About this writes InView.

In the post-Soviet space, very few specialists in the financial sector know about it, and it is quite little known in Europe. The company mainly focuses on African markets, where it offers «a wide range of payment methods and instant integration, adapted for any industry».

As for Europe, it is represented here, as already mentioned, very little. Although the registration address is Switzerland, a country that is the financial center of the whole world.

Why is Mandato Financial Services GmbH considered a fraud in the financial world? There are several reasons for this. Despite the Swiss registration, which should inspire the trust of a potential client, the company has a very dubious reputation on specialized portals that explore financial services markets.

Here’s what about Mandato Financial Services GmbH writes PayRate42: «MandatoFinancialServicesGmbH ... operates mainly in the high-risk segment. Although Mandato is a member of the Swiss Self-Regulatory Association VQF, it remains an unregulated financial services provider. Lack of transparency regarding beneficial ownership and lack of customer feedback prompted PayRate42 to place Mandato on its OrangeCompliance and OrangeRisk» lists.

Another significant factor – is unknown the ultimate beneficiaries of Mandato Financial Services GmbH. It is only known that one of the key shareholders of – Mandato Global Ltd, registered in Cyprus since 2022, the beneficiaries of which are also unknown. And a few touches to the company portrait: the LinkedIn account listed on the site does not exist, and data on the financial position of Mandato Financial Services GmbH could not be found anywhere. Also, Franz Iten, who manages the company, clearly working part-time – main place of work Iten — managing director of Abona Treuhand AG in Switzerland.

As for registration data, they also raise questions. Here’s what Mandato Financial Services GmbH and its history tells us, as well as connections, resource northdata.com:

From these data it follows that, firstly, the director of the company, Franz Iten, is the director not only of Abona Treuhand AG, but also of seven other companies. Which suggests that he is clearly a figurehead, a kind of «Swiss pound». And, secondly, Mandato Financial Services GmbH was renamed several times. But her story, which northdata.com gives us, is not entirely complete. Thus, northdata.com indicates that Mandato Financial Services GmbH was first registered as Global Gate Financial Services GmbH, in Unterägeri, Switzerland. But this data is not complete. Here is the complete history of the company, which is provided by another specialized resource, tiger.ch. The whole story can be studied by this link, and we present the most significant facts of changes in the names and, most importantly, 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. Activities: provision of management consulting services and sale of related goods; may acquire, manage or sell intangible assets and real estate, participate in other companies and create subsidiaries. Authorized capital: CHF 20,000. Another interesting detail: «According to a management statement dated February 10, 2009, the company is not subject to regular audit and refuses limited audit».  The question is, why did the company abandon the audit?

Until 2019, nothing was heard about 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 statutes and activities were also changed: to provide services in the field of non-cash and paperless payment transactions, in particular to make electronic transfers for third parties or to issue payment methods such as credit cards and traveler’s cheques, and to promote non-cash payment transactions in general. At the same moment, Franz Iten, who was previously a partner with a share of 1000 francs without the right to sign, receives the right to do so.

On February 1, 2022, Global Gate Financial Services GmbH receives its current name - Mandato Financial Services GmbH – and Nicosia partner Mandato Global Ltd, which owns 19,000 francs out of twenty that make up its authorized capital. Franz Iten still has his thousand and the right to sign, but he still does not decide anything in the company. Net «pound».

In fact, there is nothing fraudulent in this as long as there are no facts of fraud. Another murky company that, using Swiss registration and Swiss financial law, operates in the field of financial transactions in the high-risk segment. Buying an old company for this and changing its name and types of activities is also not prohibited.

But if information about Mandato Financial Services GmbH were limited to the above, it would be a – suspicious company, nothing more. However, a few months ago, Mandato Financial Services GmbH surfaced in connection with the names of Ukrainian crypto scammers Nazar Babenko and Mikhail Romanenko. It turned out that both of these characters are using Mandato Financial Services GmbH to get money pumped out of the easy-money-hungry members of the Danvel Group pyramid, consisting of two camper shops – Danvel Ltd and Eternity Business. 

Payments by «investors» Eternity Business go to the account of Mandato Financial Services GmbH, opened in the Lithuanian bank Mano Bankas. But go back above and read the activities of Mandato Financial Services GmbH: «intermediation in financial transactions of the high-risk segment».

Danvel Ltd and Eternity Business – is just a «high-risk segment». And Mandato Financial Services GmbH – is an intermediary in financial transactions of this particular segment. Therefore, the chain ends on it – where exactly Mandato Financial Services GmbH will transfer money from another sucker who falls into the bait of scammers - no one will know except herself and the recipient of the payment. Which is reliably hidden by trade secrets protected by Swiss laws.

Are Nazar Babenko and Mikhail Romanenko the same beneficiaries of Mandato Financial Services GmbH who were never found by highly qualified specialists in international financial resources researching its activities? With almost one hundred percent certainty we can say – no. Behind Mandato Financial Services GmbH are birds of a much higher flight than, in essence, small and disposable Ukrainian scammers. Mandato Financial Services GmbH plays larger games; there is no reason for it to «burn itself in a one-time crypto scam aimed mainly at residents of the post-Soviet space. But she may well provide services for withdrawing money from this scam. And provides. Reliably shielding the final recipients of these payments from the attention of law enforcement officers and at the same time creating a reputation for reliability with their Swiss registration. But this does not change the essence: Mandato Financial Services GmbH – are the same scammers as those who use its services.