Rietumu - for all victims of fraudulent account closure and theft of funds

[Suzy Emerald]

I know several persons who got their money out either using a lawyer or they just waited the whole due diligence process and signed the paper to be able to transfer out the money after of course more exorbitant ridiculous fees. But most got it out like 6 months ago.

 

[Old Spice]

One year anniversary since Rietumu Banka froze 4000 clients and charged crazy rates and fees to finally release the funds of the client accounts. I also wonder how many of these clients use to be clients of Swedbank that moved their capital to Rietumu Banka back in 2015? The reason I ask is because of the money laundering investigation ongoing in Swedbank and the lack of evidence due to the off-loading of clients back in 2015. This leads me to think Rietumu pulled the same stunt as Swedbank except they would capitalize on their efforts knowing full well some of the 2015 clients had a dodgy back ground. At the end of the day the majority of Rietumu clients became collateral damage to this scam.
I also wonder how long one of the ex-employees of Rietumu can keep this a secret.

 

[blizz]

Yesterday I got a payment from someone by wire transfer. On his receipt and my bank statement it says Rietumu bank!!!!!! I see there is someone else experiencing the same, how comes?

 

[Mr Magoo]

what is so strange about this? Rietumu closed the accounts of all shell companies, took some money from them and continued as a bank.

 

[blizz]

what is so strange about this? Rietumu closed the accounts of all shell companies, took some money from them and continued as a bank.

This sounds just like something a real bank can't do. But so it may be, well noted

 

[Old Spice]

Hmm! I suspect Rietumu Banka moved all the funds for the so called shell companies off their books to a Dutch bank called KBC bank NV. That way they could transfers a percentage back to Rietumu and show a profit and prove to the Latvian authorities they kept their promise.

Hmm! Does this sound like a neat way to capitalizing on money laundering?

 

[Suzy Emerald]

Kbc is a belgian financial group. Didnt know Rietumu pulled that trick out of their sleaves. Anyways. Seems like they continues low profile as a bank with just a fraction of the capital they had before.

 

[Mr Magoo]

This sounds just like something a real bank can't do. But so it may be, well noted

I dont say I agree with or approve this kind of fraudulent behavior at all. Quite surprised they did what they did and they got away with it.

 

[Samuel Newman]

Yesterday I got a payment from someone by wire transfer. On his receipt and my bank statement it says Rietumu bank!!!!!! I see there is someone else experiencing the same, how comes?

it still works and provides conferences for ecommerce

also, it may be epayments
epayments works through Rietumu

 

[Matei Florin Cristian]

Hello everyone
I’m also a victim of Rietumu
They frozen my account and stole my money 35k.
Has anyone recovered his money back from Rietumu?
I’m planning to make this fraud case public at a Latvia Tv show.
I’ve speak with an reporter in order to solve this problem.

 

[Steve Camp]

Hi All,

OK I joined this thread when it first started 2017 so I know what I am saying. I lost 30K USD due to their fraud. I contacted all organisations in both Europe & Latvia plus I got a Latvia Lawyer. The final result was that none of the agencies would accept my request and all efforts were denied. The lawyer seemed honest & his final say was that the local court refused to also accept any wrongdoing on Rietumu's part.

It may be hard to accept but you will get no where with this proposed legal action as it is all connected with the government. Like the Mafia you are screwed SO SAVE YOUR MONEY ON LEGAL ACTION just bite the bullet & learn a lesson. See attachment for my timeline..

 

[Steve Camp]

We are looking for all recent victims of Rietumu fraud, specifically where the accounts were:

- suddenly converted from USD to EUR
- frozen for incoming and outgoing transfers
- closed under Clause 15.7 (Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Finance)
- funds seized or frozen without an explanation

Some background:

We are a small international IT consulting firm with clients and employees located in various international locations. We have used an off-shore company for our operation in order to have each employee and shareholder liable for their own taxes in their own jurisdiction - a pretty standard use of offshore companies.

We have had an account with Rietumu since 2013. Running a very clean operation - all wires in and out properly documented and invoiced, no cash operations whatsoever (no cash withdrawals or deposits), maintaining proper books.

On 23 February 2018, we received a notice from a "Jelena Fjodorova", about the termination of legal relations. We were given until 23 April 2018 to transition to another bank.

This notice notwithstanding, we found our account frozen at the end of March, with another letter from "Rietumu Banka" (anonymous) dated 19 March 2018 stating that the Bank is terminating our relationship effective immediately under Clause 15.7 (the Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing.)

The remaining funds (just under 5,000 EUR) were stolen under the guise of a Clause 15.7 "maintenance fee" (which just happens to be 5,000 EUR).

We would like to file a class action lawsuit against Rietumu to recover the stolen funds.

If you were a victim of their fraud, please send me a private message. They think they can break the law with impunity because their victims are offshore companies. Well, not this company. We have not broken any laws or evaded any taxes and we will not stand for it.

Please see my timeline for more information. I also sent a recent post.

 

[John M]

I have recovered all the money from them after I have submitted a formal complain to Latvian Finance Authority and a Criminal Complain against the bank and all the managers for Blackmail and Extortion (following the fact that I have received a document from them asking to accept a "tax" in oder to have my funds released.)

 

[Steve Camp]

OK but what is the tax? These guys find a way every time. I would appreciate to know if you used a lawyer and at what cost. If not how did you file thee complaints.

 

[John M]

Attached there is the Criminal Complain I have sent (I had to translate it into Latvian). Also, I have sent one by e-mail in English to the Financial Authority.
In about one week after I have submitted both complains, I was called from the bank to give them an account and they have transferred the entire amount (all the deductions were reversed)
I wrote the complains myself (I am Attorney at Law in Romania), I am not sure if I have followed the Latvian procedures.
About a month after I have received the money from the bank, I received a letter from the Economic Fraud Police in Latvia saying that they are going to close the case as the bank have paid the entire amount.

 

[Steve Camp]

Nicely done and congratulations on the result. My account is now closed, with the 30K loss, and I have set up elsewhere so I do not know if this will work for me, I will try and if it does I will gladly offer you a consulting fee for your efforts.

Thanks again

 

[Steve Camp]

Hi John M.

Could we continue via email?

 

[wunluv]

Thanks for the update John M and well done. Any other information you can provide will be helpful to all of us on this thread: eg contact details of where the emails were sent and a referral to your Latvian translator.

 

[John M]

The complain to the General prosecutor was sent by DHL, printed and signed. Usually, criminal complains must be signed personally. I have used a local translation office to translate the complain to Latvian: www.skrivanek.lv

The complain to Financial Authority was sent in English by e-mail: [email protected]

 

[wunluv]

You rock! Multumesc. The information you provided is really helpful.