Maltese firm that released €160,000 to conman ordered to refund victim

A court has ordered a Maltese investment firm to refund over €160,000 it had passed on to a fraudulent Italian third party for the sale of two sports cars without first taking delivery of the vehicles.

In 2016, German businessman Richard Häring had entered in to a contract of a sale with Luigi Celentano from Italy, whereby the latter would deliver two high-performance cars, a vintage Ferrari Testarossa and a Lamborghini Diablo Roadstar for an all-inclusive price of €160,000.

Through Maltese company MPM Capital Investments Ltd, a Maltese Investment Services Firm which was fined €1.2m last year by the FIAU for Money Laundering breaches, Häring had paid €1000 as a deposit for the cars. In fact, the entire sum had been deposited with the agent, with the instruction to withhold payment of the balance until the cars were delivered.

MPM has since appealed the fine.

Celentano sought to use the services of MPM as an intermediary in the transaction, whereby MPM undertook to receive the amount of €159,000 as an intermediary and only to release these to the said Celentano once Haring confirmed that he had received the cars.   It transpired that MPM released the funds to Celentano and his associates in a highly suspect way as they released such funds before they got the go-ahead from the plaintiff and when they knew of issues arising between the parties to the transaction.

The cars were never delivered.

An internet search for Celentano reveals that he has swindled many other people before Häring, having also been sentenced to jail on at least one occasion.

The fact that MPM released the funds in several tranches - to the defendant himself and to a number of his associates- was deemed suspicious by the court.   The court also highlighted the dubious nature of MPMs actions when it results that MPM pocketed around €14,000 from the transaction - partly by way of fees and partly by way of an uncashed cheque of €12,400 which was supposedly given to Celentano but was never encashed in 5 years - hence effectively remaining in MPM’s pockets.

The court, presided by madame justice Anna Felice, said it was “not at all convinced” by the picture which the directors of MPM Capital Investments, brothers Alex and Melvyn Mangion were trying to paint. The company had not simply found itself in the middle of the dispute, said the judge. “Had the representatives of the defendant company been serious in their profession, they would certainly not have accepted the dubious proposal by Celentano and accept money from the plaintiff, someone who they had conducted no due diligence, as required in anti-money laundering legislation, especially when as was shown, the plaintiff had not even known he was paying the defendant and that the vehicles…had not been delivered.” The transaction was “beyond obviously suspicious” as it involved third parties of a dubious reputation, said the court. “Certainly through its actions, the defendant company breached its obligations imposed under Anti Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism regulations.”

The defendant company had filed a counter-claim for damages, together with a garnishee order. “The defendant did not bring evidence of these damages and much less that the plaintiff should be held responsible for them,” said the court, dismissing them.

The court confirmed that MPM Capital investments Ltd was liable to pay €160,000 plus interests from 2016 onwards, to Häring.

The plaintiff was assisted by lawyers James Scerri Worley and Demi Agius.