LONDON — Financial regulators in the United Kingdom fined Kristo Käärmann, the wealthy CEO of money transfer company Wise, £350,000 ($454 million) for keeping a problem with his tax returns a secret.
Käärmann, who co-founded Wise in 2011 with fellow businessman Taavet Hinrikus, was ordered by the Financial behaviour Authority (FCA) on Monday to pay the substantial fine for violating the watchdog’s senior management behaviour guideline.
When Käärmann cashed in on shares worth £10 million in 2017, the FCA said he neglected to inform the authority that he was not paying a capital gains tax burden.
Under the watchdog’s Senior Management Conduct Rule 4, “You must disclose appropriately any information of which the FCA would reasonably expect notice,” he was judged to have violated the rule.
It follows a £365,651 fine imposed by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the UK tax collecting agency, on the Wise boss in 2021 for failing to file his tax returns on time for the 2017–18 fiscal year.
Source (CNBC)
