🔒Miami fintech penalized after financing 418 CT businesses without registering

A Miami-based online lender entered into 418 commercial financing agreements with Connecticut businesses over roughly 18 months without registering with state regulators, according to a consent order issued last week by the Department of Banking. Giggle Finance Inc. agreed to pay a $10,000 civil penalty and $2,000 in back registration fees under the order, signed July 20 by Banking Commissioner Jorge L. Perez. The Delaware-incorporated company, which operates from an office in Miami, also agreed to stop offering commercial financing in Connecticut without a registration. The department alleges the agreements were signed between Oct. 1, 2024, and April 6, 2026, in violation of Section 36a-870 of the Connecticut General Statutes. Giggle neither admitted nor denied the allegation. That statute stems from a 2023 law requiring providers of sales-based financing to register with the commissioner and to give borrowers standardized cost disclosures. The law covers extensions of sales-based financing of $250,000 or less that borrowers do not intend to use primarily for personal, family or household purposes. Disclosure requirements took effect July 1, 2024, and providers and brokers were required to register no later than Oct. 1, 2024. Giggle told regulators it had built the state’s disclosure requirements into its agreements before the law took effect, and that it first learned from the department on Feb. 23 that its registration had never been completed. The company applied for a Connecticut registration two days later. That application remains pending. The order notes Giggle cooperated with the investigation and produced its Connecticut transaction records. It was signed on the company’s behalf by co-founder Michael Zevallos. The consent order does not address the status of the 418 agreements themselves.