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

[Flxy]

If you incorporate as UK Ltd (or even an LLP with resident member) - I am sure it won't be hard to open retail bank accounts.
That would automatically make you tax resident, though.

The beauty of LLP set up is that it's a pass-thru vehicle. It's taxed where owners/members are taxed.

I see no reason for a 1-2 man company to pay corporate taxes and then pay income taxes.

We only need company to be classified as a business and trade like one. Adding 19-20% tax for that is a very costly privilege!
Being a sole trader is an option, however, with two people LLP was a better one... until it became abused by those who appointed no-name no-traces corporate members in offshore jurisdictions..

 

[Martin Everson]

So how many people besides Flxy are Rietumu victims? Say #metoo.

lol

Sorry no offence to metoo movement....just funny in this context.

 

[dimitri]

the risks of opening a bank account in an Eastern European country..lol. Latvia is one of the poorest EU countries

I think you exaggerate a bit. Also Latvia is an EU country. And money on EU banks is guaranteed till E 100.000.

Even Leupay has a Bulgarian IBAN, and a lot of others also have Eastern European IBAN's. It shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Martin Everson]

Also Latvia is an EU country. And money on EU banks is guaranteed till E 100.000.

Your stating the obvious. Slow day for you?

Even Leupay has a Bulgarian IBAN, and a lot of others also have Eastern European IBAN's. It shouldn't be a problem.

Yes Leupay this month switched to Bulgarian IBAN from Malta IBAN's. What does that have to do with anything? Is Leupay a bank?

 

[David97255]

It happens really often that a bank or emi close or block account hiding under AML law as I said.
Sometimes can be for good reason and sometimes without reason at all.
There is a lot of things to do : inform the other through internet , blog, forums.... The lawyer and then court and praying for a good judgement... to go at their office unless for emi that it s very hard to find them. ( I wont tell the name, but a much appreciated emi in this forum, they are really not in their registered address and don't give the information where are they )
But I have a question : what happen to all this money blocked?

 

[dimitri]

Your stating the obvious. Slow day for you?

No. I only saw someone making fun at the cost of others and making comments without any substantiation. If we have to avoid all banks in poor countries there will be nothing left. Latvia as a part of the EU isn't even bad compared to other countries in middle and south America, Africa etc.

Is Leupay a bank?

No. But if something happens with the bank they work with your money will be gone also. And the bank they work with is in one of these Eastern European countries we have to avoid according to you.

 

[Martin Everson]

Yes you are correct. However people that use Leupay fall into the category of people that find it difficult to open a account anywhere else ;-)

Look I have nothing personal against Eastern Europe I just laugh cause its obvious why people move money through the financial systems there. The banks and PSP's over there are technologically forward but regulatory backwards. When the gap closes a lot of these psp's and banks will be out of business.

 

[ak2000]

I'm another Rietumu victim, and for a much larger amount

Same s*it - AML, KYC documentation requests that go on forever, they take 2-3 weeks to just review the docs just to come back and ask for more stupid stuff

We have "Jelena Fjodorova" and "Anna Golovina" answering messages without giving any concrete answers or dates. Complete BS.

Ah, an of course - they charge EUR 500-900 every time they "review" some new document they asked for...in addition to a EUR 1,000/m account "maintenance" fee they just came up with out of the blue...

The irony is that they're charging fees for an account that's not even active...they have frozen all funds for credit and debit...

...yet they can debit their extortionate fees as they please!

Ridiculous

This bank is going down (insolvent) and they are trying to grab (correction: steal) every cent they can

Have contacted a few lawyers in Riga, let's sue the s*it out of these people...

and I won't stop there until they give me every single cent of my money back (including their extortionate "fees")

PM me, let's file a class action lawsuit (plus a few more "tricks" I have down my sleeve)

 

[ak2000]

Just realized there are no PMs on this forum

Email your skype ID to av (at) on2url (dot) net and together we will crush them

 

[KJK]

Fortunately I didn't bank with Rietumu, I considered them but at that point in time they already rejected companies from some jurisdictions (so you can't say they were 100% uncompliant...).

My question is:
Can Rietumu affect any EMI or online wallet providers? Are there any services which rely on Rietumu or they are banking with them?

 

[extremedox101]

Fortunately I didn't bank with Rietumu, I considered them but at that point in time they already rejected companies from some jurisdictions (so you can't say they were 100% uncompliant...).

My question is:
Can Rietumu affect any EMI or online wallet providers? Are there any services which rely on Rietumu or they are banking with them?

EMI with Dedicated UK IBAN ?

 

[Flxy]

ak2000 - let's co-operate.

class actions doesn't seem to be a vastly popular (or achievable) thing in Europe, but if we hire the same lawyers to serve Rietumu with similar lawsuits, we can do more damage and save on lawyer fees.

You mentioned you contacted some law firms in Riga. Have you made a decision whom to hire by now?

I trust we can discuss this matter in a public forum for a little further before going backstage..

 

[ak2000]

@Flxy (and other Rietumu victims) - yes to everything, let's destroy these f***

Go back a few posts and you will find my email address (with Admin's permission) - email me.

I will be in Riga very, very soon...

 

[W4rhol]

Fortunately I didn't bank with Rietumu, I considered them but at that point in time they already rejected companies from some jurisdictions (so you can't say they were 100% uncompliant...).

My question is:
Can Rietumu affect any EMI or online wallet providers? Are there any services which rely on Rietumu or they are banking with them?

Yes it can be affect the money of the Worldcore user's (like me) who are blocked, because the fund are hold in Rietumu Banka...

 

[blizz]

sad to read about all the people that lost money with them. I was to apply for an account last year but thankfully I did not.

 

[David97255]

Hope you will succeed guys..
Never leave up,keep putting pressure on them. If you are in your right go for it !

 

[diablo]

UK-resident director to open a retail business account.

how did you sort this out ?

 

[Martin Everson]

The Prime Minister of Latvia himself backs what I said about Latvia being a dirty money banking system. I take back nothing I said when I speak the truth about Latvian banking and it being a banana republic. No more offshore shell companies in Latvia soon I am afraid. Get your money out NOW even if you are not using a typical offshore company. They will not care if it is a legit business you are running when they close down, freeze or even steal your assets like some suffered here. Their banking system is going to be impacted by outflows from Russian and foreign money so the Latvian banks will be using dirty tricks to steal your money...be warned.

Prime Minister: We have until July to show results tackling money-laundering

Prime Minister Māris Kučinskis said April 24 that Latvia has until July to show that it has taken real measures to tackle the problem of large-scale money laundering in its banking sector "Our people will have talks in July, so of course our time is until July to demonstrate some sort of results," Kučinskis said on LTV's Morning Panorama show, outlining a three month window during which new laws banning offshore "shell companies" as clients of Latvian banks is being introduced at express speed.

The July deadline comes from the fact that when the Council of Europe's anti-financial crime Moneyval wing is due to start compiling a report on Latvia for release in the autumn. As previously reported by LSM, a negative assessment could have drastic consequences on the banking sector as a whole.

"We cannot allow our reputation to fall any further, because, in truth, we have been to blame [for that]," he admitted.

It was "no secret" that the non-resident banking sector has until now been operating on the basis of business models that can not be allowed in future, the premier said, but said that the government was now engaged on "real homework that we can do and show" to Moneyval in July.

"Shell companies come with very high risks, so the sooner we can address that, the sooner we can get onto a normal path and start a new life for those banks," he added.

Kučinskis added that at the beginning of May he would be meeting with the heads of the main Scandinavian banks operating in Latvia to discuss the situation. Though these are not regarded as money-laundering banks, they are the main players in the retail sector and have been concerned by the reputational damage being done to the banking sector as a whole by the long-term toleration of dubious activities by the smaller boutique banks.

On a related matter - the appointment of a new head of the Office for Prevention of Laundering of Proceeds Derived from Criminal Activity (FIU) - Kučinskis said the process continued and was now in the hands of Prosecutor General Eriks Kalnmeiers, with a decision likely next week.

Despite describing the progress made over a period of years in fighting money-laundering as "extremely minimal", the current head of the FIU, Viesturs Burkans, was among the four remaining candidates for the job.

"It's a clear fact that there must be changes," Kučinskis said, outlining an often-overlooked fact: that despite its relatively low profile, the FIU is the conduit through which a huge amount of sensitive information about the financial sector flows, involving law enforcement, banks, regulators, security services and the legal service.

As previously reported by LSM, Burkans has been in his current position for 20 years.

Meanwhile the financial regulator is continuing talks with non-resident banks on changing their business models and cleaning up their client lists with "very great progress" made already, the premier claimed.

Latvia is scrambling to show it is serious about cleaning up its banks after the United States announced swingeing sanctions against ABLV bank in mid-February that forced the bank into liquidation.

A series of money-laundering scandals involving boutique banks over more than a decade produced only a limited response from the Latvian authorities, but the action taken by the U.S. has kick-started a shakeup and what amounts to a race against the clock to sort out the sector or see Latvian banks given pariah status, with serious knock-on effects for the economy as a whole.

 

[W4rhol]

Thank you @Martin Everson

 

[DermottD]

Posted on the other thread. Also mailed AV at address posted.

I am based in the EU and have banked with Rietumu since 2013.

My company account was suspended in mid-march for due diligence.

There was no notification of this other than a message on the platform.

I have submitted all compliance documentation 3 weeks ago. Client Contracts, Client/Supplier Invoices, Accounts, Client Testimonials, Beneficial Ownership requirements etc

The account has still not been released.

Account Management fees have been increased from 70 to 1000 Euro since the beginning of April with no notification.

The account manager / bank refuses to communicate by email and my daily calls are not answered. Information is difficult to come by.

Does anyone have any advice in how to escalate and expedite the process and/or how to gain access to funds?

At this point I want to close the account and transfer funds to another bank.

There is a 6 figure amount in the account.

If the bank is insolvent and the “due diligence” process will not complete until the 21st of May. Then EU will only cover 100k of the amount leading to large loss.

All advice appreciated.