A Cypriot court has annulled more than €6.4 million in finesissued by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) against Greekbusiness siblings Ioannis and Amalia Vardinogiannis, CyprusMail reported.Years-Long Insider Trading CaseThe ruling ended a years-long insider trading case thatcollapsed due to legal flaws in CySEC's handling of the investigation. TheAdministrative Court accepted the appeals brought by both siblings and ruledthat CySEC’s board had been improperly constituted during critical phases ofthe probe.Court cancels €6.4m CySEC fine against Vardinogiannis siblings https://t.co/dKdehdA3eI— Cyprus Mail (@cyprusmail) July 7, 2025As a result, the court found that decisions taken duringthat time were legally void. CySEC had fined Ioannis Vardinogiannis €6,388,300and Amalia Vardinogiannis €50,000, alleging the pair benefited from a 2007share deal using insider information. On March 29, 2007, Amalia acquired over 19 million shares at€0.09 each and sold them three months later for €0.42 per share, generatingprofits exceeding €6.3 million. The regulator claimed Amalia acted on behalf ofher brother and that the trade was made based on non-public informationregarding the company’s operations in the shipping sector and changes inshareholding.Procedural Issues by the AppellantsCySEC considered this a violation of insider trading laws. However,the court focused on procedural issues raised by the appellants. Their legalteam argued that CySEC’s decisions were made by a body whose composition hadalready been declared invalid in unrelated rulings. The court agreed, stating that any decisions made under theflawed composition could not stand. “In light of the above, the claim regardingthe flawed constitution is accepted,” the court noted, adding that it wasunnecessary to review other objections.The court formally annulled the penalties and ordered thestate to pay €1,700 plus VAT in legal costs to each of the appellants. Theruling underscores the legal risks financial regulators face when internalprocesses fall short, even in cases involving serious market abuse allegations.You may also like: Robinhood’s Tokenized Stocks Face EU Scrutiny as OpenAI Distances Itself: ReportThis article was written by Jared Kirui at www.financemagnates.com.