Sanctioned Swiss Financier Adds to Scrutiny on Payment Firms (1)

When Anselm Schmucki took over a tiny UK payments firm in 2019 and relinquished control in March this year, few paid much attention. But the little-known Swiss financier is now under intense scrutiny.

Weeks after Schmucki sold all his shares in London-based Paystree Ltd., the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control sanctioned him and more than a dozen businesses allegedly under his control. These companies, the US government alleged, were aiding Russia’s war effort in its invasion of Ukraine.

The Paystree website.

In a May 19 statement, the US accused Schmucki of operating in the Russian financial-services sector, ...