The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) has handed Gilles Rollet a $175,000 (£128,092, €151,267) penalty.
He was senior executive director at Dubai International Financial Centre-based (DIFC) La Tresorerie, a provider of advisory, discretionary, execution-only and custodian services for high net worth individuals, family offices and independent asset managers.
The DFSA has also imposed sanctions on Rollet prohibiting him from holding office in or being an employee of a regulated DIFC company and restricted him from performing any functions in the financial services sector in or from the free zone.
It comes almost 17 months after the Dubai regulator fined La Tresorerie for illegal activities, which included transferring client money to unregulated companies outside of the DIFC.
Details
The DFSA said that Rollet, who was also licensed director of the firm, breached regulatory guidelines due to “his knowing involvement in La Tresorerie unlawfully providing physical cash to its clients”.
The unlawful cash service operated between February 2015 and January 2017 and involved:
- the use of false invoices and transferring client money to unregulated companies outside the DIFC; and
- the occasional transportation of physical cash from the UAE to a foreign country.
The watchdog said in a statement on 1 November 2021: “It is the DFSA’s view that Mr Rollet was knowingly involved in the unlawful cash service because he authorised the service and facilitated it, at times through the use of his own bank account, and was directly involved in delivering cash to the firm’s clients.
“The DFSA found that, as the senior executive officer, he was also ultimately accountable for the firm’s activities.”
The Dubai regulator also said that Rollet “provided information about his involvement in the unlawful cash service that appears to be false, misleading and deceptive”, duing a voluntary interview with the DFSA in 2019.
Objection
Rollet refutes all of the DFSA’s allegations with regard to unlawful cash service and also denies providing false, misleading or deceptive information to the watchdog.
He has referred the DFSA’s decision notice to the Financial Markets Tribunal (FMT) where both sides will present their respective cases. The DFSA’s current decision is provisional and only reflects the regulator’s views.
The FMT will determine what is the appropriate action for the DFSA to take.
The DFSA said that it “does not intend to make any further public comment until the FMT’s review is complete, except as necessary to correct any inaccuracies”.
