On November 3, the Florida Office of Financial Regulation (OFR) entered a final order approving and adopting a stipulation and consent agreement with a Florida money transmitter company and its owners to resolve allegations that it engaged in unlicensed money transmission in the state. According to the agreement, the OFR learned of the activity while reviewing a money transmitter license application that had been pending since February 9 from a separate entity owned by the company’s two members. The company neither admitted nor denied the OFR’s findings, but consented to a finding that it engaged in unlicensed money transmission activities from December 1, 2018, through February 9, 2026, in violation of sections 560.125 and 560.204(1) of the Florida Statutes. Section 560.125(1) requires entities engaging in money services business activity in Florida to be licensed unless exempt.

Under the terms of the agreement, the company must: (i) comply going forward with all requirements of chapter 560 of the Florida Statutes and the corresponding rules; and (ii) pay a $20,000 administrative fine at the time it executes and delivers the agreement. In turn, the OFR agreed to approve the affiliated entity’s pending money services business/money transmitter license application within one business day of the final order’s entry. The agreement also provides that the company’s failure to comply with its terms may result in the issuance of an emergency cease and desist order.