According to court filings, an African payments giant named Flutterwave had more than $40 million in accounts frozen by a Kenyan court because of the nation’s anti-money laundering regulations.
The San Francisco-based company, founded in Nigeria in 2016, specializes in individual and consumer remittances and is one of many fintech companies facilitating and profiting from Africa’s booming payments market.
The company received $250 million earlier this year, valuing the startup at more than $3 billion.
A High Court decision to freeze various accounts with three banks that belonged to Flutterwave Payment Technology Ltd., a company with Kenyan registration, was requested by Kenya’s Assets Recovery Agency and granted.
Flutterwave acknowledged ownership of the business to reporters.
It said that allegations of financial irregularities in Kenya were “completely unfounded” in a second statement.
The court order, which is dated July 1, prohibits Flutterwave from making any withdrawals or transfers from more than a dozen accounts with three banks, which together held $43 million in dollars, British pounds, European euros, and Kenyan shillings.
According to section 84 of the Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Act, Judge Esther Maina ruled that these orders would be in effect for 90 days until a full hearing and final decision could be made.
Flutterwave said that in order to maintain compliance, audits of its business processes were conducted on a regular basis.
