Controversial businessman Nickolas “John” Karantzis has confirmed he will appeal against an Australian Federal Court judgment that fined him $1 million and banned him from managing Australian corporations for six years.
The orders were handed down in Melbourne on Friday, August 8 in civil proceedings brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) over his time as CEO of Southern Cross Payments Limited, formerly known as iSignthis. The case centred on disclosure and corporate communications in 2018 and 2020.
Justice Timothy McEvoy agreed with ASIC’s submission that Karantzis “shows a complete disregard for law and compliance with corporate regulations” and is a “serious and continuing risk to the Australian public.”
His former company was also ordered to pay a $10 million penalty within 30 days for breaching disclosure laws.
In a statement, ISX Financial EU Plc, where Karantzis is currently Managing Director and CEO, stressed the proceedings were civil, not criminal, and related to events “in difficult and unprecedented circumstances.”
The company’s board said it “maintains full confidence in Mr Karantzis” and noted he has been managing regulated financial entities since 2017.
Karantzis declined to comment directly on the ruling due to the pending appeal. ISX Financial said it had notified the relevant regulatory authorities and would undertake all prescribed actions required under law.
Once a high-flying fintech executive whose company briefly boasted a market capitalisation of more than $1 billion in 2019, Karantzis saw his fortunes collapse after iSignthis shares were suspended and later delisted.
ASIC’s investigation uncovered that in May 2020, Visa had terminated iSignthis from its network, citing failures in anti-money laundering and risk management – a development the court found he failed to disclose to the market.
Karantzis, now based in Cyprus, has had a chequered business career and remains in dispute with the Australian Taxation Office over a $10 million bill, with a court hearing scheduled for September.
