Finfluencer's fine for illegal asset management cut to €142,500

The Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) fined financial influencer J. van den Brink €195,000 for working with Grinta Invest, an asset manager without a licence. In an update dated 31 August 2026, the AFM said the district court had reduced the fine to €142,500 on appeal.

The AFM says Van den Brink promoted Grinta Invest on social media and on her website and brought in investors. She also helped them sign up, answered their questions and acted as their contact person. The AFM says this makes her a co-perpetrator (medepleger) of illegal asset management.

She received very high commissions for bringing in clients, including 10% of the capital investors put in. The AFM says this also determined the size of the fine.

The AFM says Grinta Invest had no licence and disappeared with investors' money. It says Van den Brink did not want that to happen, but made it possible by working with the firm.

The court cut the fine by €52,500, citing, among other things, proportionality in general and the fact that the reasonable time limit under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights was exceeded.

The AFM urges consumers to check a provider in its registers before investing. It published a report in 2021 on pitfalls in finfluencers' working methods, including giving investment advice without a licence and working with unlicensed firms.