Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 23, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba REMEMBRANCE DAY TRIBUTES WILL PUBLISH ON MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2025 Deadline to submit your Tributes is 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, November 4, 2025. “ In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row ” – John McCrae email wfpclass@winnipegfreepress.com call 204-697-7100 drop off or mail to: c/o Classified Department, Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Ave., Winnipeg, MB R2X 3B6 TO PLACE YOUR REMEMBRANCE DAY TRIBUTES MESSAGE: REMEMBRANCE DAY Celebrate the memory of a Veteran this Remembrance Day B6 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM BUSINESS THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2025 Crypto exchange Cryptomus fined record $177M by Fintrac A CRYPTOCURRENCY exchange has been fined almost $177 mil- lion — the largest penalty by Canada’s financial intelligence agency — for infractions including failing to flag more than 1,000 transactions with suspected links to criminal activity. The Fin an cial Trans ac tions and Reports Ana lysis Centre of Canada announced the penalty for Xeltox Enterprises Ltd. on Wednesday. The B.C.-incorporated business operates as Cryptomus and was previously known as Certa Payments Ltd. The $176,960,190 eclipses the previ- ous record — roughly $20 million — for a fine imposed by Fintrac. That penal- ty was given to Peken Global Ltd, the operator of another cryptocurrency firm, KuCoin, in September. “Given that numerous violations in this case were connected to traffick- ing in child sexual abuse material, fraud, ransomware payments and sanc- tions evasion, Fintrac was compelled to take this unprecedented enforce- ment action,” director and CEO Sarah Paquet, said in a statement about the Cryptomus penalty. In a statement, the company said it is co-operating with the regulator and taking necessary measures in accord- ance with their decision. The agency found 1,068 instances where Cryptomus did not submit re- ports for July 2024 transactions involv- ing known darknet markets and virtual currency wallets with ties to the crim- inal activity Paquet described. Darknet markets are online and often anonymous platforms where illegal goods and services are sold. Virtual cur- rencies also mask the identity of their holder, making both them and the dark- net markets havens for criminal activity. Fintrac said Cryptomus didn’t just violate money laundering laws when it failed to flag suspicious transactions, it also committed a violation when it failed to report 7,557 transactions ori- ginating from Iran between July 1 and Dec. 31, 2024. Because of ministerial directives linked to financial transactions asso- ciated with the Islamic Republic of Iran, Cryptomus was supposed to treat these transactions as high risk. It was also required to verify the identity of the sender(s)/beneficiary(ies), exer- cise due diligence, maintain a record of the transactions and report them to Fintrac, yet the agency said none of those obligations were fulfilled. Furthermore, Fintrac found 1,518 transactions in July 2024 that met the $10,000 threshold at which companies have to report a large transfer of virtu- al currency. Fintrac said these instances went unreported by Cryptomus, which also had “incomplete and inadequate poli- cies and procedures” that created de- ficiencies in how the company handled ongoing monitoring and “know-your- client” obligations. Adam Garetson, a partner at Gowling WLG who leads its digital assets group, says the scale of the fine seems to be a result of both the seriousness of the al- legations and how many times the rules were apparently violated. “The allegations of non-compliance were huge just from a volume per- spective. They’re also allegations of evidence showing direct links to crim- inal activity, and flows of funds to sanc- tioned countries which were seemingly on a regular basis,” he said. “So these are some pretty egregious allegations in terms of non-compliant activity.” He said the allegations are in sharp contrast to what he’s seeing generally in the Canadian crypto trading market where operators are complying with anti-money laundering rules as well as Canadian securities regulations. The size of the fine against Crypto- mus comes as both Canadian and inter- national regulators are seeing more support for greater fines and sanctions to crack down on illicit finance, he said. Whether the regulator will be able to collect on the penalties is another question, since the company seems to have limited ties to Canada beyond its registration, with no employees appar- ently based in the country. Garetson said there is at least rising co-operation among anti-money laundering regula- tors globally to increase the chances that recovery could occur. Fintrac has imposed more than 150 penalties since it received the legisla- tive authority to do so in 2008. — The Canadian Press TARA DESCHAMPS AND IAN BICKIS West Fraser Timber reports Q3 net loss of US$204M VANCOUVER — West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. reported a net loss of US$204 million in its third quarter results com- pared with a net loss of US$83 million during the same period a year earlier. West Fraser says this amounted to a loss of US$2.63 per diluted share com- pared to a loss of US$1.03 per diluted share a year earlier. The Vancouver-based forestry com- pany, which keeps its books in U.S. dol- lars, says sales during the third quarter came in at US$1.3 billion compared to US$1.43 billion a year earlier. On an adjusted basis before deduc- tions, the company says it reported a loss of US$144 million, down from US$62 million during the same period last year. West Fraser CEO Sean McLaren says the company faces a challenging back- drop with supply and demand imbal- ances for wood building products due to lower housing affordability, coupled with new tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber. U.S. President Donald Trump used Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 to impose 10 per cent tariffs on softwood timber and lumber beginning Oct. 14. — The Canadian Press Teck ‘very pleased’ with progress of talks on Anglo deal VANCOUVER — The head of Teck Re- sources says he’s happy with the way talks with government officials are going as the company seeks Ottawa’s approval for its proposed merger with U.K. mining giant Anglo American. “Conversations are ongoing and they’re productive, and we’re very pleased in the way that they’re unfold- ing at the moment,” CEO Jonathan Price told a conference call to discuss the company’s latest results Wednesday. Teck announced a deal last month to merge with Anglo American, however, the deal requires approval under the Investment Canada Act, which can be used to block deals deemed against the national interest. Shareholders vote on the deal in De- cember. Price’s comments came as the com- pany reported a profit from continuing operations attributable to shareholders amounted to $281 million or 57 cents per diluted share for its third quarter. The result compared with a loss of $748 million or $1.45 per diluted share in the same quarter last year. Revenue totalled $3.39 billion, up from $2.86 billion in the same quarter last year. — The Canadian Press Beyond Meat briefly sizzles on Walmart deal BEYOND Meat’s shares briefly sizzled on Wednesday before heading back down again. The plant-based meat company’s shares more than doubled early Wed- nesday before closing at US$3.58 per share, which was down one per cent. Still, it was a surprising comeback for a stock that was trading at an all-time low of 50 cents US per share late last week. Investors cheered Beyond Meat’s an- nouncement Tuesday that it’s increas- ing the availability of some of its prod- ucts at U.S. Walmart stores. Beyond Meat said its chicken pieces, Korean BBQ-style steak and burger six-packs will now be easier to find in more than 2,000 Walmart stores. Beyond Meat also launched a dir- ect-to-consumer website this week, which will try to build buzz by offering limited releases of new products. But perhaps the biggest driver of interest in Beyond Meat is Roundhill Investments, which added Beyond Meat to its Meme Stock ETF, or ex- change-traded fund, on Monday. The fund consists solely of meme stocks, which are stocks that gain popularity and trading volume based on social media hype rather than a company’s financial performance. Investors have been sporadically turning to meme stocks throughout 2025 in an effort to find bargains amid a very pricey stock market. The stocks are often the target of “short sellers,” or investors betting against the stock. Beyond Meat was the darling of the plant-based meat industry when it went public on the Nasdaq stock exchange in 2019. But in recent years the El Segundo, Calif.-based company has been strug- gling with weak demand for its bur- gers, sausages, tenders and other prod- ucts. Beyond Meat’s net revenue was down 15 per cent in the first six months of this year. Beyond Meat’s stock price cratered last week after the company announced the expiration of lock-up restrictions on some of its 326 million shares of new stock as part of a plan to help it reduce its debt load and extend the time until its debt matures. The lock-up had pre- vented shareholders from selling the stock, but now they were free to do so. — The Associated Press NAM Y. HUH / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES Beyond Meat products in a refrigerated case inside a store in Mount Prospect, Ill. Shares in the plant protein company have yo-yoed recently. ;