FINTRAC penalties top $247 million in 2025-26 as notices jump 52%
The five-year trend shows how quickly things have moved. FINTRAC issued 15 notices worth $3.5 million in 2021-22, six worth $1 million in 2022-23, 12 worth $26 million in 2023-24 and 23 worth $25 million in 2024-25.
Examiners kept busy too. FINTRAC ran 625 targeted examinations, 129 of them at financial entities, plus 89 full-scope examinations led by precious metals and stones (34), real estate (29) and mortgage brokers (9). It also processed 812 self-attestations, completed 984 risk questionnaires and received 294 voluntary self-declarations from businesses flagging their own non-compliance.
One crypto case sets a new high
The biggest single penalty landed in October 2025, when FINTRAC imposed $176 million on Xeltox Enterprises Ltd., operating as Cryptomus, an MSB providing virtual currency services to Canadians. The report describes it as the largest penalty in FINTRAC’s history.
Among other violations, the report says, the Centre found that the business “failed to submit suspicious transaction reports where there were reasonable grounds to suspect that they were related to trafficking in child sexual abuse material, fraud, ransomware payments and sanctions evasion.” The report does not include a response from the company.
MSBs drew more than 55 per cent of all assessment activity, a focus the report links to “the sector’s very high vulnerability to money laundering and terrorist financing.” FINTRAC revoked 82 MSB registrations, up from 12 a year earlier. The report also points to September 2025, when the RCMP seized more than $56 million in cryptocurrency, which the report calls the largest crypto seizure in Canadian history. The investigation found that a business involved had failed to register with FINTRAC as an MSB.
