Euro Pacific bank is a scam

[orion7352]

Yes, I really hope I'm wrong, it's just that this is exactly what has recently happened to all those regional banks, including SVB.

I hope this delay is just a bureaucratic problem that will be solved in the next few days, I really want to be able to get back to my normal life and move on, just like everyone else, thanks for the sympathy.

Maybe Peter knows what exactly is a custodian bank allowed to do with the deposits of a foreign bank, there must be limitations to what they can do with that money.

I think the more you speculate about a particular bank like you are doing the more likely you are to create a liquidity crisis for a bank.

All banks have a timing mismatch between deposits which can mostly be withdrawn instantly and their loans that are of a longer duration.

If every customer of every bank in the world wanted their money today then every bank wouldn't be able to deliver.

But to reiterate, the EPB deposit at Novo Banco is tiny in relation to the likely demands put on Novo on a daily basis for withdrawals/transactions, etc.

So I think it's unlikely the funds are being held for liquidity problem reasons.

Reading more about Novo Banco and their past antics with Portugal's resolution fund after the banking crisis.

Novo Banco's intentions are to try to keep our money. So it seems the EPB lawyer has to do some more work.

 

[ATNTESTING]

That'd be great to have official and maybe public update about the decision of the court. So far we just have someone named P Schiff who update us, don't know if the real one or not. On the other hand, EPB, Qenta and Novo bank keep silent...

 

[regi]

So disrespectful behaviour. Novo bank wake up or I will take empty suitcases and take a trip to Portugal on your account.

 

[orion7352]

If there's one thing I learned about life is that humans like to control others. One of the most powerful ways is through controlling your money . Right now there are a lot of "actors" affecting our fate. Novo Banco is just the latest.

 

[regi]

If there's one thing I learned about life is that humans like to control others. One of the most powerful ways is through controlling your money . Right now there are a lot of "actors" affecting our fate. Novo Banco is just the latest.

Instead of bank they should chnge their profession to ban (for life of somebody else).

Novo kept that knowledge secret from the bank for 6 weeks

Considering that everything is true, now there are circumstances that allow us to say that they are holding our money illegally. We are entitled to late payment interest.

 

[Kruger]

Instead of bank they should chnge their profession to ban (for life of somebody else).



Considering that everything is true, now there are circumstances that allow us to say that they are holding our money illegally. We are entitled to late payment interest.

Reading the reviews on TrustPilot about Novo Bank suggests we may be in for long rough ride still.

 

[orion7352]

Instead of bank they should chnge their profession to ban (for life of somebody else).



Considering that everything is true, now there are circumstances that allow us to say that they are holding our money illegally. We are entitled to late payment interest.

They will come up with some bulls#@t reason to withhold our money. Meanwhile we are now paying for the EPB staff, the Receiver, the lawyers and no doubt some other expenses. Novo figure they fancy some of the money too.

 

[regi]

Reading the reviews on TrustPilot about Novo Bank suggests we may be in for long rough ride still.

They will come up with some bulls#@t reason to withhold our money. Meanwhile we are now paying for the EPB staff, the Receiver, the lawyers and no doubt some other expenses. Novo figure they fancy some of the money too.

I am afraid that there is second background, which we do not know yet by the way, or even worse like the money has been packed into some junk investments and there is nothing to withdraw from now.

 

[Martin Everson]

It's clear that Novo bank has liquidity problems, they would've returned the funds back in February 23th but they didn't, they have tried to get EPB convicted of money laundering so they could keep the deposits, it didn't work, so now they have a problem, they don't have the deposits liquid, if they bought a bunch of bonds with the deposits, those bonds have lost a lot of money, at some point Novo will have to say something.

I doubt this very much. The Nostro account (i.e EPB's account) held at Novo Banco containing your funds is held under a custody arrangement. It is therefore not on Novo Banks balance sheet or theirs to play with.

Novo Banco's may just be acting within the terms of the correspondence banking agreement it had with EPB which we have not seen. So they should not be blamed yet. We have all held accounts where the small print allows in some cases the bank to hold on to funds for months after a freeze .

Right now no one has produced a single piece of evidence or page of paperwork to show what is happening. It has just been words, promises and blind faith all around which you should be skeptical of.

Hopefully this saga will be over for you very shortly and you can move on. There is light at the end of the tunnel and unlike those over on the Loyal Bank thread that are still waiting on their funds years later (and expecting to receive just 25% of their deposits back) you may emerge unscathed.

 

[regi]

There is a possibility that they were convinced that this piggy in the middle game would last until the corpses fell out of the closet. Then they would have put the bank's management in a pinch. Looking at what Mr. Shiff writes, we have seen the end of a rollercoaster that does not want to stop. The whole thing looks like some daring attempt to occupy someone else's finances. Would they decide to take such a step in view of legal perturbations? I feel like the s**t hasn't hit the fan yet.

 

[Radko]

I doubt this very much. The Nostro account (i.e EPB's account) held at Novo Banco containing your funds is held under a custody arrangement. It is therefore not on Novo Banks balance sheet or theirs to play with.

Novo Banco's may just be acting within the terms of the correspondence banking agreement it had with EPB which we have not seen. So they should not be blamed yet. We have all held accounts where the small print allows in some cases the bank to hold on to funds for months after a freeze .

Right now no one has produced a single piece of evidence or page of paperwork to show what is happening. It has just been words, promises and blind faith all around which you should be skeptical of.

Hopefully this saga will be over for you very shortly and you can move on. There is light at the end of the tunnel and unlike those over on the Loyal Bank thread that are still waiting on their funds years later (and expecting to receive just 25% of their deposits back) you may emerge unscathed.

From your lips to God's ears.

I will add that there is "something different" about EPB, in a regular bank you can pretty much close an account instantly, at an investment bank, such as UBS, you were able to close your account within 24 hours, however I've read reports of customers of EPB wanting to close their accounts and having to wait for up to 2 months, which makes me think that EPB must have had a different setup than let's say UBS with its custodian bank (Novo.)

But you are absolutely correct, until EPB publishes something on their website everything else is pure speculation and words.

 

[btc100k]

Mr. Schiff,

at this stage we would really like to see a proof of those statements regarding the court order. Please dont get me wrong but as stalin said "trust but verify". I assume Im not the only one that would get calmer with some form of supporting documentation presented.

Someone got very quiet when they were asked to verify.

 

[spartan7510]

The government lied about a lot of things related to my father. However, I have never seen an allegation by the government that he made anywhere near $4 million. Post your proof of this allegation. I said some of the complaints were from former clients. Some where completely made up by people who pretended to be clients. Look me up on FINRA broker check. I've been registered for 30 years. Not a single legitimate customers complaint.

No wires were sent out today. Novo Bank still refuses to honor any of the bank's requests. Novo was informed directly by a Portugese Court that the government freeze on EPB's accounts was lifted. Novo kept that knowledge secret from the bank for 6 weeks, and now that the bank finally found out that the freeze was lifted, Novo just ignores any requests to process outgoing wires. This is not about the bank, me, Qenta, OCIF, the Receiver, or the Portugese government anymore. This is all about Novo Bank.

I had read that Novo was in good shape, but I've always been concerned that Novo had some liquidity issues, which was why they were doing all they could to hold on to the EPB's deposits as long as they could. If so, it's very unethical behavior, and should be illegal as well.

Hi Peter, is there any update on this? Just checked my NATWEST account - nothing been recieved yet. What are the next steps from your side and your legal representation in Portugal?

also, please ignore the TROLL, most of us dont buy his BS and ignore the gnat. Clearly has Schiff derangement syndrome. Responding to this crypto clown just feeds his ego in that he is getting attention from you. Please focus on the topic at hand.

As I understand NOVO BANK is where EPB account is held. This was EPB choice of correspondant bank (customer had no say in the matter) therefor the responsibility and liability to resolve this lies with EPB and you. Customers have no named account at NOVO BANK, therefor it would be difficult to take legal action against NOVO BANK from a consumer protection perspective, since we have no agreement with NOVO BANK. We are entirely at EPB and your mercy to resolve this on our behalf.

Again, thank-you for your efforts so far, it is frustrating to be in this position from your perspective and the customers with Banks taking advantage of the situation.

 

[Pschiff]

Why don' t we hire an advocate in portugal, if this is really where the pb lies ?
Cause no news from Schiff since 2 weeks, and his last message is to say that he is no longer involved. So even he really has hired someone and is sincere, can we really trust him ?
Maybe we should have ours and start a process in portugal ?

The bank hired a lawyer months ago. If Novo continues to refuse to release the funds, legal action in Portugal will be required to get a court to order the funds released. So far all the court has done is inform Novo that the government freeze on the banks accounts has been lifted. Novo has no legal basis to hold onto the money. Novo Bank doesn't give a s**t about Euro Pacific Bank anymore, or any of its customers. So it may just try to hold onto the funds for as long as it can get away with it.

Hi Peter, is there any update on this? Just checked my NATWEST account - nothing been recieved yet. What are the next steps from your side and your legal representation in Portugal?

also, please ignore the TROLL, most of us dont buy his BS and ignore the gnat. Clearly has Schiff derangement syndrome. Responding to this crypto clown just feeds his ego in that he is getting attention from you. Please focus on the topic at hand.

As I understand NOVO BANK is where EPB account is held. This was EPB choice of correspondant bank (customer had no say in the matter) therefor the responsibility and liability to resolve this lies with EPB and you. Customers have no named account at NOVO BANK, therefor it would be difficult to take legal action against NOVO BANK from a consumer protection perspective, since we have no agreement with NOVO BANK. We are entirely at EPB and your mercy to resolve this on our behalf.

Again, thank-you for your efforts so far, it is frustrating to be in this position from your perspective and the customers with Banks taking advantage of the situation.

I have no real authority at the bank. It's up to the Receiver, Novo and Qenta. I'm trying to work behind the scenes, but its really up to them. The bank has a Portugese lawyer. The bank had other corresponding banking accounts, but they all shut us down after the false allegations of money laundering and tax evasion, which also resulted in the bank losing its Fed account.

 

[ATNTESTING]

The bank hired a lawyer months ago. If Novo continues to refuse to release the funds, legal action in Portugal will be required to get a court to order the funds released. So far all the court has done is inform Novo that the government freeze on the banks accounts has been lifted. Novo has no legal basis to hold onto the money. Novo Bank doesn't give a s**t about Euro Pacific Bank anymore, or any of its customers. So it may just try to hold onto the funds for as long as it can get away with it.


I have no real authority at the bank. It's up to the Receiver, Novo and Qenta. I'm trying to work behind the scenes, but its really up to them. The bank has a Portugese lawyer. The bank had other corresponding banking accounts, but they all shut us down after the false allegations of money laundering and tax evasion, which also resulted in the bank losing its Fed account.

Hello Peter, can you please at least give us an official update with a proof that the government freeze has been lifted? Then some of us can also try to work behind the scene like you said. So far what can we tell them "yes, someone on internet said that blablabla..."?

 

[Pschiff]

Here is the notice of the release of the freeze on the bank's account. Its in Portugese.

 

[Radko]

I can understand more and more people are looking into Bitcoin to store their wealth, in the case of EuroPacific Bank you would hope the bank would remain 100% compliant, but it didn't, on top of that, the bank was investigated by no other than the J5, when the J5 finally cleared the bank of any wrong doing the Regulator closed the bank and kicked the customers out of its jurisdiction, when all that was finally over, the Portuguese authorities wanted to conduct their own investigation, months went by and when that investigation was finally over, the custodian bank doesn't want to return the funds, if it wasn't A, it was B or C, or D.....or F.
I guess the money was never really safe in the first place, so is Bitcoin the solution? I'm not sure, you can wake up one day and find out that all your Bitcoin is gone, there are just too many hackers out there waiting for you to make a tiny mistake and steal your Bitcoin. So what about Gold, is your Gold really safe in a vault in Australia, or Singapore, or Switzerland, probably not, there are dishonest people everywhere, and is your Gold 99.99 pure Gold? Difficult to know, so what's the solution, let's look at nature and see who is the most resourceful animal out there, definitely a woman, she knows how to survive through thick and thin, and what do women love more than anything else? Diamonds! You can store millions in the palm of your hand and they keep up with inflation, so a woman's best friend, a diamond, is the best place to store your wealth (just don't get married!)

After what has happened it has been proven that a centralized system is arguably the riskiest of all.

 

[Pschiff]

I can understand more and more people are looking into Bitcoin to store their wealth, in the case of EuroPacific Bank you would hope the bank would remain 100% compliant, but it didn't, on top of that, the bank was investigated by no other than the J5, when the J5 finally cleared the bank of any wrong doing the Regulator closed the bank and kicked the customers out of its jurisdiction, when all that was finally over, the Portuguese authorities wanted to conduct their own investigation, months went by and when that investigation was finally over, the custodian bank doesn't want to return the funds, if it wasn't A, it was B or C, or D.....or F.
I guess the money was never really safe in the first place, so is Bitcoin the solution? I'm not sure, you can wake up one day and find out that all your Bitcoin is gone, there are just too many hackers out there waiting for you to make a tiny mistake and steal your Bitcoin. So what about Gold, is your Gold really safe in a vault in Australia, or Singapore, or Switzerland, probably not, there are dishonest people everywhere, and is your Gold 99.99 pure Gold? Difficult to know, so what's the solution, let's look at nature and see who is the most resourceful animal out there, definitely a woman, she knows how to survive through thick and thin, and what do women love more than anything else? Diamonds! You can store millions in the palm of your hand and they keep up with inflation, so a woman's best friend, a diamond, is the best place to store your wealth (just don't get married!)

After what has happened it has been proven that a centralized system is arguably the riskiest of all.

Euro Pacific Bank was as compliant as most banks. No bank can be 100% compliant with so many rules and regulations to deal with.

 

[orion7352]

The bank hired a lawyer months ago. If Novo continues to refuse to release the funds, legal action in Portugal will be required to get a court to order the funds released. So far all the court has done is inform Novo that the government freeze on the banks accounts has been lifted. Novo has no legal basis to hold onto the money. Novo Bank doesn't give a s**t about Euro Pacific Bank anymore, or any of its customers. So it may just try to hold onto the funds for as long as it can get away with it.


I have no real authority at the bank. It's up to the Receiver, Novo and Qenta. I'm trying to work behind the scenes, but its really up to them. The bank has a Portugese lawyer. The bank had other corresponding banking accounts, but they all shut us down after the false allegations of money laundering and tax evasion, which also resulted in the bank losing its Fed account.

Peter

Do we know the reason why Novo banco won't process the wire transfers?

Can Novo Banco simply refuse to process the wire transfers just because they no longer want to do business with EPB any longer?

In which case how would customers get reimbursed ?

 

[Radko]

Peter

Do we know the reason why Novo banco won't process the wire transfers?

Can Novo Banco simply refuse to process the wire transfers just because they no longer want to do business with EPB any longer?

In which case how would customers get reimbursed ?

Qenta & the Receiver will need to go to court and file a lawsuit against Novo bank, a lawsuit in Portugal will take years knowing how slow the Portuguese legal system is, so unless Novo releases the funds soon, we are in for a long wait.