Key Data

• Trading Name: Paytah
  
• Legal Entities: Phoenix Payments Ltd
  
• Activities: payment processor
  
• Location: Malta
  
• Regulations: Payment Institution (MFSA)
  
• Key People: Marco Lavanna, Keith Farrugia,  Francesc Xavier Alabart Lopez.
  

Paytah is the brand and payment platform of Phoenix Payments Ltd, a company registered in Malta and authorized as a payment processor by the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA).

Between 2019 and 2020, the payment processor has been processing hundreds of thousands of euros from victims of LincolnFX, RoyalsFX, CodexFX, and other scams. The legal entities behind these scams have been clients of Paytah. The company directors are the Italian Marco Lavanna, Maltese Keith Farrugia, and Spaniard Francesc Xavier Alabart Lopez. The payment processor’s beneficial owner is payment veteran Marco Lavanna through his Swiss-registered firm Fenice Holding SA.

The Ultimate Beneficial Owner

Italian Marco Lavanna, who lives in Milan, describes himself on his LinkedIn profile as the founder of Paytah (www.paytah.com). He is the ultimate beneficial owner of PayTah and the founder of Monetum (www.monetum.com), a payment and trading platform also operated by Fenice Holding SA, based in Zug, Switzerland.

Rather than investigating the scam and reporting their scam clients to the authorities while seeking to return the funds to the victims, Paytah brushed off the complaint by ignoring the pain that such victims go through. It is not yet known whether the Maltese authorities will be acting against Paytah.

This is the same Fenice Holding through which Marco Lavanna owns and controls Paytah. The information from OffshoreLeaks suggests that Lavanna is also the beneficial owner of Anypay Limited, a company registered in Malta.

Scam Business

Paytah has facilitated scam businesses by providing payment services to the legal entities behind the scam platforms. Victims of the above-mentioned scams have been trying to reach Paytah directly or through their lawyers for a while now. Without any luck. Apparently, no one ever picks up the phone at Paytah. Emails sent to their official email addresses registered with the Maltese authorities have also not been replied to by Paytah. Letters sent by post to Phoenix Payments Ltd and/or its directors have been consequently ignored.