Euro Pacific bank is a scam

[orion7352]

The OCIF told me to contact the Receiver as he is in charge of the bank, and I guess since the Receiver isn't talking to anyone, it's a dead end.
The only option left would be going in person, I know there's nothing that can't be done in Portugal (Sols comment is correct.)

At least I would like to know if those deadlines that were given to customers were fake, or if they were legitimate deadline and this process will end in a few months from now and not in a few years, I think we deserve to know at least that.

Yes try the Receiver. See if he is now prepared to talk to customers.

It seems difficult to know what to do in Puerto Rico if the money is stuck in Portugal other than trying to get OCIF or Receiver to put more pressure on Portuguese authorities. But from what you say OCIF have said The Receiver is responsible for dealing with the situation.

 

[Radko]

Yes try the Receiver. See if he is now prepared to talk to customers.

It seems difficult to know what to do in Puerto Rico if the money is stuck in Portugal other than trying to get OCIF or Receiver to put more pressure on Portuguese authorities. But from what you say OCIF have said The Receiver is responsible for dealing with the situation.

The Receiver is a law firm, they supposedly specialize in the liquidation of banks, the OCIF appointed the Reveiver for that specific task.

If more customers call the OCIF and the Receiver then probably we will learn more about what's going on, but just one or two customers calling is not going to make a difference.
If this isn't solved soon then I need to start packing things up and moving into my sister's home so I can sell my current home, I have very little money left in my local bank account after 9 months of having lost all my savings, thank you Peter Schiff for ruining my life and my family's life.

 

[seize]

The Receiver is a law firm, they supposedly specialize in the liquidation of banks, the OCIF appointed the Reveiver for that specific task.

If more customers call the OCIF and the Receiver then probably we will learn more about what's going on, but just one or two customers calling is not going to make a difference.
If this isn't solved soon then I need to start packing things up and moving into my sister's home so I can sell my current home, I have very little money left in my local bank account after 9 months of having lost all my savings, thank you Peter Schiff for ruining my life and my family's life.

f**k man i m so sorry for you... I ve got 3 kids so i can imagine what it would be to sell your home to camp at someone's else house... I had 150k in epb, hopefully i earn my life but my a*****e will be quite stretched if i lose them definitely

 

[orion7352]

The Receiver is a law firm, they supposedly specialize in the liquidation of banks, the OCIF appointed the Reveiver for that specific task.

If more customers call the OCIF and the Receiver then probably we will learn more about what's going on, but just one or two customers calling is not going to make a difference.
If this isn't solved soon then I need to start packing things up and moving into my sister's home so I can sell my current home, I have very little money left in my local bank account after 9 months of having lost all my savings, thank you Peter Schiff for ruining my life and my family's life.

Yes all these agents make these decisions but don't care about the implications and the suffering they cause for individuals and families .

 

[Radko]

Yes all these agents make these decisions but don't care about the implications and the suffering they cause for individuals and families .

Yes they don't care, I was semi-retired, now I'm back to work but I have a big family, so we have no choice but to sell our home, if I don't get my savings back I'll be working till the day I die, literally.

The one thing that I find shameful and disgraceful is the fact that Peter Schiff hasn't even apologized, right from the beginning he has gone on social media to blame everything on the OCIF and the J5, he has even blamed the "government", as if we have anything to do with them.
The fact is that he betrayed all the customers when he ignored the demands of the Regulator, when you have a bank you have a responsibility to keep the bank compliant, it's that simple, if he wasn't able to do that then he should have closed the bank himself way before the Regulator did, but he didn't, instead he went about trying to sell the bank so he could profit from it, very shameful on his part, as far as I'm concerned Peter Schiff belongs in jail for all the damages he has caused which are yet to be determined.

I honestly hope nobody else has to go through what I'll have to endure during the next few months, there's no point in giving more details, I know he can care less!

 

[ATNTESTING]

You can be sure EPB people, the receiver, Peter S, OCIF and many others all read our comments while eating popcorn... they probably laugh at us while thinking "look at this bunch of losers begging for their money hahaha... they'll have it when/if we decide so!!"

I'm lucky compare to most of EPB customers here, I just have 12 000 euros blocked. But 2 or 3 years ago, it was something like 200 000 euros. Luckily I've transferred all to a personal account. Well, if i had all my money there thinking it was a safe place, I'll probably do something wrong to myself.

Well, like I said, that would be great to be able to talk to the lawyer Peter S supposedly hired. But it looks like he didn't even want to share this info with us.
Sincerely good luck to those who are really struggling with this!!!!! I hope an happy ending soon!

 

[seize]

We are not even sure that he hired someone. Has someone a name ? Tel number ? Or maybe he tries to earn some time. If he was on our side and sorry for us he would do anything to help us and at least he would update us each week on this forum, as he has an account and probably receives a notification by email for each new messages posted. If he did nothing wrong then he has to prove it by his behavior. Speech speaks less than actions. Or maybe silence means that he is afraid that customers end up to sue him. If he is not guilty, then he has to prove it now, on this forum and spit the whole story. This is the less he can do. Then it will eliminate one party in this case and then we could focus on 2 others…

By the way is it normal to still receive e-statement if the money has left Puerto Rico already ?

 

[Simon4466]

I do not see how Peter in any way shape or form can still be held responsible for this, I believe he was only a shareholder and founding party and did not manage any day-to-day operations. Please do correct me if I am wrong.

Of course this sucks and I feel especially bad for Radko. No one should have to sell their home and start working again after retirement. It obviously also sucks for the rest of you all, but just wanted to point him out individually to give my support.

But the chance Peter will give you your money back and then later collecting it himself is 0.0. And I also cannot see how that possibly would be allowed given that that would circumvent all due diligence requirements. As well as that never happening during a bank's liquidation (as well as that it would be odd if Peter even had access to all of your accounts' details to even make the transfer).

Anyway, best of luck to you all and wishing for a speedy recovery of the funds.

 

[Pschiff]

Yes they don't care, I was semi-retired, now I'm back to work but I have a big family, so we have no choice but to sell our home, if I don't get my savings back I'll be working till the day I die, literally.

The one thing that I find shameful and disgraceful is the fact that Peter Schiff hasn't even apologized, right from the beginning he has gone on social media to blame everything on the OCIF and the J5, he has even blamed the "government", as if we have anything to do with them.
The fact is that he betrayed all the customers when he ignored the demands of the Regulator, when you have a bank you have a responsibility to keep the bank compliant, it's that simple, if he wasn't able to do that then he should have closed the bank himself way before the Regulator did, but he didn't, instead he went about trying to sell the bank so he could profit from it, very shameful on his part, as far as I'm concerned Peter Schiff belongs in jail for all the damages he has caused which are yet to be determined.

I honestly hope nobody else has to go through what I'll have to endure during the next few months, there's no point in giving more details, I know he can care less!

What do you think I should apologize for? I tried to sell the bank so that customers could still use it. They would have a choice, either stay with the new owners, or withdraw their money. And yes I wanted to get some money out of the bank. I put in over 10 million dollars over the years. But since regulators blocked the sale, I lost the entire $10 million. Do you think I should apologize for that? During the ten years I was a shareholder in the bank I never received a dividend. As I was never an officer or an employee, I also never drew a salary. We never ignored any demands of regulators. The bank complied timely with everything regulators asked it to do. The IRS just wanted the bank closed, so they pressured OCIF to come up with an excuse. Also, since the bank had no debts made no loans, and had millions in cash above what was owed to customers, I offered to liquidate the bank myself. But OCIF insisted on appointing a Receiver. So I have had no authority at all during this process.

Yes all these agents make these decisions but don't care about the implications and the suffering they cause for individuals and families .

That's not true. Prior to this the Receiver had zero experience with banks.

I do not see how Peter in any way shape or form can still be held responsible for this, I believe he was only a shareholder and founding party and did not manage any day-to-day operations. Please do correct me if I am wrong.

Of course this sucks and I feel especially bad for Radko. No one should have to sell their home and start working again after retirement. It obviously also sucks for the rest of you all, but just wanted to point him out individually to give my support.

But the chance Peter will give you your money back and then later collecting it himself is 0.0. And I also cannot see how that possibly would be allowed given that that would circumvent all due diligence requirements. As well as that never happening during a bank's liquidation (as well as that it would be odd if Peter even had access to all of your accounts' details to even make the transfer).

Anyway, best of luck to you all and wishing for a speedy recovery of the funds.

That's correct. I was a 45% shareholder and director when 60 Minutes falsely accused me of using the bank to help customers lauder money and evade taxes. If customers are looking for parties to blame, there are several. 60 Minutes, The IRS, and OCIF. No one at the bank did anything wrong.

Account holders and depositors of EPB have no relationship with Novo Banco in Portugal. You are probably just wasting time and energy bothering that bank or its regulator. The money in Novo Banco is not your money. As far Novo Banco is concerned, it's EPB's money. However, the same money when reported on EPB's balance is your money. So it's understandable you want to go after Novo Banco.

What I can say is that in every comparable situation I've seen over the years (where third parties have gone after a financial institution's financial institution), the third parties have been unsuccessful.

But if you want to band together and try to create legal case in Portugal, go for it. Maybe this case will be one that goes against the well established norm and juris prudence.

Most likely, you will get what money is left in the bank after anywhere from a few months to a few years. For example, the liquidation of Loyal Bank began in 2018 and as far as I know, it's still not finished.

You are basically correct. However EPB is very different than Loyal. 100% of customer deposits were always and continue to be held in cash. The bank has no creditors other than depositors. So once this last legal hurdle is cleared everyone should receive 100% of their money in a matter of days. Fingers crossed that process will start next week.

 

[btc100k]

Peter Schiff,

You should apologize because it was your bank. Trying to blame the government or 60 minutes is what a politician would do. If someone loses money or access to their money from any business, the owner should take responsibility and apologize. It seems like you want to protect your brand and sweep this under the rug.

I have a friend that owes me $13,000. He keeps on saying he's gonna pay me next week and it's been 7 years. Your promises of people getting their money soon is just a way to try to calm the upset victims. Maybe to prevent them from seeking legal action against you or at least delaying it.

You keep saying your bank did nothing wrong but the regulators say otherwise. And you also were quoted in an article that you "mistakenly" used customer money for operating expenses. How can you admit that in the article and then come on here and say that you did nothing wrong? Even if it was a mistake, which I don't believe, it was still doing something wrong. Intentional or not it was doing something wrong.

 

[Pschiff]

I wanted the bank to return the money. Regulators prevented it. The accounting error was not even a problem for regulators. I had nothing to do with it, but as soon as I found out I added 4.5 million in capital to protect depositors. OCIF had no problem with any of this, as we alerted them to it at the time. Again the bank did nothing wrong. The OCIF commissioner lied. None of that is my fault. None of this would have happend had the IRS not leaked the investigation, which completely exonerated the bank, to 60 Minutes, which then fasely accused me and the bank of committing serious crimes. In Oct of 2021 the OCIF Commissioner enthusiastically supported the sale to Qetna. Then nine months later she abruptly changed her mind, and made up some lies about the bank being insolvent, and having a history of non-compliance, to justify her action. I agreed to allow the liquidation of the bank, and did not sue OCIF, as I wanted to make sure bank's customers got their money ASAP.

 

[Radko]

What do you think I should apologize for? I tried to sell the bank so that customers could still use it. They would have a choice, either stay with the new owners, or withdraw their money. And yes I wanted to get some money out of the bank. I put in over 10 million dollars over the years. But since regulators blocked the sale, I lost the entire $10 million. Do you think I should apologize for that? During the ten years I was a shareholder in the bank I never received a dividend. As I was never an officer or an employee, I also never drew a salary. We never ignored any demands of regulators. The bank complied timely with everything regulators asked it to do. The IRS just wanted the bank closed, so they pressured OCIF to come up with an excuse. Also, since the bank had no debts made no loans, and had millions in cash above what was owed to customers, I offered to liquidate the bank myself. But OCIF insisted on appointing a Receiver. So I have had no authority at all during this process.


That's not true. Prior to this the Receiver had zero experience with banks.


That's correct. I was a 45% shareholder and director when 60 Minutes falsely accused me of using the bank to help customers lauder money and evade taxes. If customers are looking for parties to blame, there are several. 60 Minutes, The IRS, and OCIF. No one at the bank did anything wrong.


You are basically correct. However EPB is very different than Loyal. 100% of customer deposits were always and continue to be held in cash. The bank has no creditors other than depositors. So once this last legal hurdle is cleared everyone should receive 100% of their money in a matter of days. Fingers crossed that process will start next week.

Hi Peter, you say "no one at the bank did anything wrong" but the OCIF in their order of cease and desist say that the bank wasn't keeping the minimum amount of capital required to keep the license, which was 5 million dollars, they also claim that they asked EPB to submit a number of documents, and EPB didn't do it, basically the OCIF says that EPB ignored their multiple warnings.
So basically you blame them and they blame you, someone is not telling the truth, and I find it hard to believe that the OCIF is lying and they just closed a bank that according to you was 100% compliant, wouldn't that be illegal?

And please don't get me wrong, I completely agree that you were treated very harshly by the OCIF, and I also agree that the press conference given by the Commissioner and the J5 representatives was a show designed to create headlines, which ultimately ended up hurting the customers more than anyone else.
But the Commissioner at the press conference also said "no one is above the law" she was trying to say that had the bank complied with their demands nothing would have ever happened.

In my previous comment I said: "....while you tried to sell the bank so you could profit from it, and by the way there's nothing wrong with that..."
There is nothing wrong with trying to sell your bank so you could profit from it, but there is something wrong with trying to sell a bank that according to the OCIF wasn't 100% compliant.

You know you have made yourself a target, so more of a reason to not leave an opportunity for anyone to come along and screw you.
I have supported you and your dad all my adult life, I share many of your views, that's one of the reasons why I transferred all my life's saving to EPB, but as of right now, we the innocent customers are paying the price for everything that's happened. I am paying a massive price, this Easter week I will be moving into my older sister's home so I can sell the house where I've been living for the last 25 years; last year I had purchased tickets to fly to Mexico, we were going to retire there permanently, I had also rented a house for a year, we were scheduled to leave for Mexico the first week of July, right after the bank was closed, so I had to cancel everything, ultimately I lost the money of the tickets and the money I had advanced to rent the house in Mexico, and later on in August I had to go back to work, so I don't know about the rest of the customers but we are paying a huge price for something that we have nothing to do with, obviously someone screwed up massively and here we are with no end in sight.

Also, you were very naive to sat down to talk to 60 Minutes Australia, I'm not Australian but I know that all those tabloid reporting programs, there are many around the world, have an agenda and they don't care about the facts or the truth, they care about creating a program that fits their agenda even if everything they intend to report is completely false, Australian tabloid programs are a cheap copycat of the UK tabloids, they make a living from selling falsehoods, yes it's a disgusting business, and yes you should have done a little bit of research before you sat down to talk to them.
Having said that, I hope you make a bunch of millions from the defamation lawsuit, I really do, I would like to see 60 Minutes Australia go out of business, same goes for Four Corners.

Last but not least, if you still believe that EPB was 100% compliant at the time it was closed, then at some point you should consider taking legal action against the OCIF, I would happily testify in your favor about the consequences that the closing of EPB has had in my life.

 

[orion7352]

Maybe we should keep the fighting for after we get our money back.

Personally I will just be happy to get my money back. I want to move on with my life. Not look back.

I just hope we can get our money back soon and I wish everyone the best .

 

[Radko]

Maybe we should keep the fighting for after we get our money back.

Personally I will just be happy to get my money back. I want to move on with my life. Not look back.

I just hope we can get our money back soon and I wish everyone the best .

I agree that if Peter Schiff thinks there was wrong doing on the part of the OCIF he should wait to take legal action until the funds are returned, but I think he knows that.

I also want to move on with my life, but if the Commissioner lied during the Press conference then Peter should take legal action, perhaps another defamation lawsuit, and I would happily fly to Puerto Rico to testify about the consequences that the closing of EPB has had on my life.

On a different note, I don't understand why if EPB was investigated by the J5 for 2 years and no charges were filed why is Portugal not allowing the release of the funds, do they don't validate the investigation conducted by the J5 and they just want to conduct their own investigation, and if so, is this new investigation going to last another 2 years? If this is the case then I guess this is going to go on for a very long time.

 

[Pschiff]

Hi Peter, you say "no one at the bank did anything wrong" but the OCIF in their order of cease and desist say that the bank wasn't keeping the minimum amount of capital required to keep the license, which was 5 million dollars, they also claim that they asked EPB to submit a number of documents, and EPB didn't do it, basically the OCIF says that EPB ignored their multiple warnings.
So basically you blame them and they blame you, someone is not telling the truth, and I find it hard to believe that the OCIF is lying and they just closed a bank that according to you was 100% compliant, wouldn't that be illegal?

And please don't get me wrong, I completely agree that you were treated very harshly by the OCIF, and I also agree that the press conference given by the Commissioner and the J5 representatives was a show designed to create headlines, which ultimately ended up hurting the customers more than anyone else.
But the Commissioner at the press conference also said "no one is above the law" she was trying to say that had the bank complied with their demands nothing would have ever happened.

In my previous comment I said: "....while you tried to sell the bank so you could profit from it, and by the way there's nothing wrong with that..."
There is nothing wrong with trying to sell your bank so you could profit from it, but there is something wrong with trying to sell a bank that according to the OCIF wasn't 100% compliant.

You know you have made yourself a target, so more of a reason to not leave an opportunity for anyone to come along and screw you.
I have supported you and your dad all my adult life, I share many of your views, that's one of the reasons why I transferred all my life's saving to EPB, but as of right now, we the innocent customers are paying the price for everything that's happened. I am paying a massive price, this Easter week I will be moving into my older sister's home so I can sell the house where I've been living for the last 25 years; last year I had purchased tickets to fly to Mexico, we were going to retire there permanently, I had also rented a house for a year, we were scheduled to leave for Mexico the first week of July, right after the bank was closed, so I had to cancel everything, ultimately I lost the money of the tickets and the money I had advanced to rent the house in Mexico, and later on in August I had to go back to work, so I don't know about the rest of the customers but we are paying a huge price for something that we have nothing to do with, obviously someone screwed up massively and here we are with no end in sight.

Also, you were very naive to sat down to talk to 60 Minutes Australia, I'm not Australian but I know that all those tabloid reporting programs, there are many around the world, have an agenda and they don't care about the facts or the truth, they care about creating a program that fits their agenda even if everything they intend to report is completely false, Australian tabloid programs are a cheap copycat of the UK tabloids, they make a living from selling falsehoods, yes it's a disgusting business, and yes you should have done a little bit of research before you sat down to talk to them.
Having said that, I hope you make a bunch of millions from the defamation lawsuit, I really do, I would like to see 60 Minutes Australia go out of business, same goes for Four Corners.

Last but not least, if you still believe that EPB was 100% compliant at the time it was closed, then at some point you should consider taking legal action against the OCIF, I would happily testify in your favor about the consequences that the closing of EPB has had in my life

The five millions in capital was authorized capital, which the bank had. The Commissioner was wrong. She also told me personally in front of over a half dozen witnesses in Oct. of 2021 that the bank was fine on capital, and there was no need for me to contribute any more. But I added about 2 million anyway to cover operating losses while we waited for the sale t Qenta to be approved. Based on the deal Qenta was required to add $7 million in capital on closing. The bank was never told by anyone at OCIF prior to the C&D to add more capital. Nor were we given the ability to add more capital after the C&D was issued. I can't be held responsible if the bank did everything right, but the OCIF commissioner decided to make stuff up so she could help the IRS shut it down. I will speak more freely about the ordeal after all customer funds have been returned and the bank is liquidated. This is probably one of the best example of government corruption and abuse of power in U.S. history. To repeat, everything the OCIF Commissioner said was not true, and I have written proof of that. Her actions were completely unjustified by the facts.

 

[Radko]

The five millions in capital was authorized capital, which the bank had. The Commissioner was wrong. She also told me personally in front of over a half dozen witnesses in Oct. of 2021 that the bank was fine on capital, and there was no need for me to contribute any more. But I added about 2 million anyway to cover operating losses while we waited for the sale t Qenta to be approved. Based on the deal Qenta was required to add $7 million in capital on closing. The bank was never told by anyone at OCIF prior to the C&D to add more capital. Nor were we given the ability to add more capital after the C&D was issued. I can't be held responsible if the bank did everything right, but the OCIF commissioner decided to make stuff up so she could help the IRS shut it down. I will speak more freely about the ordeal after all customer funds have been returned and the bank is liquidated. This is probably one of the best example of government corruption and abuse of power in U.S. history. To repeat, everything the OCIF Commissioner said was not true, and I have written proof of that. Her actions were completely unjustified by the facts.

Then at some point legal action against the OCIF should be considered, at least to prevent something like this from ever happening again.

 

[Pschiff]

Then at some point legal action against the OCIF should be considered, at least to prevent something like this from ever happening again.

I can;'t sue OCIF. I gave up the right to sue for a speedy resolution to protect customers. Had I know customer funds would have been tied up this long I never would have done that.

 

[btc100k]

Peter, you should run for political office because you are behaving just like a politician: "I did not have sex with that woman."

The only reason you went on 60 Minutes Australia was because you thought it would be free advertising for your brand. That is on you for not doing your homework.

And I don't believe the OCIF is gonna shut down a bank that did nothing wrong. That would be a first in banking history.

Stop giving people false hope by saying the money is coming next week. You don't know. And if they don't get all of their money back, you should make them whole. You have enough money to do that. And that is the honorable thing to do.

 

[Pschiff]

I don't care what you believe. I know what happend. The was no reason to shut down the bank. There were several highly qualified buyers who wanted to buy the bank, including a former OCIF Commissioner, add millions in additional capital, bring on entirely new management and a new board of directors, but OFIC refused to allow anyone to buy the bank. They insisted on liquidating it. What banking regulators would do something like that? I know people who own banks in PR, that actually did have insufficient capital. They were not shut down. They were given plenty of time to contribute the additional capital. 60 Minutes lied to me to get me to agree to the interview. In fact, I didn't even know it was for 60 Minutes when I did it. This is all part of my defamation lawsuit in Australia.

 

[Radko]

I can;'t sue OCIF. I gave up the right to sue for a speedy resolution to protect customers. Had I know customer funds would have been tied up this long I never would have done that.

Peter, do you think there is a possibility that this situation with Novo Bank won't get resolved from let's say now until the end of the year? I can understand that Novo wants to keep the deposits for as long as they can, but there has to be a limit to it?