Euro Pacific bank is a scam

[orion7352]

This "first time in history" confirms my belief that it was planned. Someone felt a great opportunity for easy money that belongs to someone else. The rest was just good poker game. We can all agree that this should not normally happen. They tried to grill your good name. They did practically everything they could to prevent the transfers from going out. I'm not the conspiracy type. But I've been in business too long. It's hard not to believe it's about money. This shitty world sleeps on the money.

We all accept this should never have happened but we have to fight to get our money back and focus on the best course of action to do whatever we can.

At the moment we have to focus on getting the Receiver to tell us what the problems are and how he plans to fix them. He's been tasked with a job. If he's deliberately stalling to increase his fee by taking customers deposits then that's a fraud.

We should all complain to OCIF about the Receiver's poor communication to customers..

Here is the email to complain to OCIF. If we fight and make noise and complain it will be more difficult for them to get away with a conspiracy to defraud which might be their plan. They think they can steal from us because we are all foreigners overseas.

[email protected]

Apparently the complaints get sent to OCIF''s lawyers

 

[spartan7510]

We all accept this should never have happened but we have to fight to get our money back and focus on the best course of action to do whatever we can.

At the moment we have to focus on getting the Receiver to tell us what the problems are and how he plans to fix them. He's been tasked with a job. If he's deliberately stalling to increase his fee by taking customers deposits then that's a fraud.

We should all complain to OCIF about the Receiver's poor communication to customers..

Here is the email to complain to OCIF. If we fight and make noise and complain it will be more difficult for them to get away with a conspiracy to defraud which might be their plan. They think they can steal from us because we are all foreigners overseas.

[email protected]

Apparently the complaints get sent to OCIF''s lawyers

Here is the Recievers email address at his firm, I found it in a court document:

[email protected]

 

[JoeOhNo]

@Pschiff
Please tell me, as You have more knowledge about PR and USA connection. To the best of Your knowledge, is it possible to sue ocif and receiver in front of US court? Or could You ask Your lawyer about such an option.

 

[orion7352]

Here is the Recievers email address at his firm, I found it in a court document:

[email protected]

I have tried writing and phoning the Reveiver. He deliberately avoids contact with customers. As @Radko says he really doesn't care about customers.

I think the Receiver is only going to respond to legal challenges. He's just happy for this to go on forever.

 

[Pschiff]

Here is the Recievers email address at his firm, I found it in a court document:

[email protected]

Don't email the receiver. If he has to read them he will just have an excuse to bill the bank more money. I don't think the emails will do anything to speed up the process. Its more likely they will slow it down even further. Better to email OCIF I think.

@Pschiff
Please tell me, as You have more knowledge about PR and USA connection. To the best of Your knowledge, is it possible to sue ocif and receiver in front of US court? Or could You ask Your lawyer about such an option.

I think a customer lawsuit against OCIF in federal court is winnable. I would testify. But there would be a large cost, and it would likely take years to play out. So would it be worth it? I can't sue OCIF myself.

 

[spiderman]

Peter, do you know if the EPB monthly account fees and interests that we depositors are still paying, are enough to cover the receiver's fees?

 

[orion7352]

Don't email the receiver. If he has to read them he will just have an excuse to bill the bank more money. I don't think the emails will do anything to speed up the process. Its more likely they will slow it down even further. Better to email OCIF I think.


I think a customer lawsuit against OCIF in federal court is winnable. I would testify. But there would be a large cost, and it would likely take years to play out. So would it be worth it? I can't sue OCIF myself.

@Pschiff unfortunately customers don't know
1. What the reasons for the continued delays are . We vaguely know something about software but is there anything else?
2. We don't know if the Receiver is actually doing anything to fix any of the above problems.
3. We don't know if the Receiver is honest and focused on the task he is being paid to do or whether he is intent to defraud customers.

So it's understandable that customers want more information . The Receiver has not communicated with customers for months, so officially we have been kept in the dark which is appalling and doesn't reassure customers.

If @Pschiff can answer the above questions then maybe we don't need to call or email the Receiver but I for one at the moment don't have much confidence in the Receiver and believe we may need to hire a lawyer in Puerto Rico to keep the Receiver honest and on task.



 

 

[Pschiff]

@Pschiff unfortunately customers don't know
1. What the reasons for the continued delays are . We vaguely know something about software but is there anything else?
2. We don't know if the Receiver is actually doing anything to fix any of the above problems.
3. We don't know if the Receiver is honest and focused on the task he is being paid to do or whether he is intent to defraud customers.

So it's understandable that customers want more information . The Receiver has not communicated with customers for months, so officially we have been kept in the dark which is appalling and doesn't reassure customers.

If @Pschiff can answer the above questions then maybe we don't need to call or email the Receiver but I for one at the moment don't have much confidence in the Receiver and believe we may need to hire a lawyer in Puerto Rico to keep the Receiver honest and on ta
 

The Qenta team is already trying to get the Receiver to move faster. They also want this transaction to close. I have tired as well, and complained to my lawyer, who also tries to get the receiver to move faster. I think OCIF would like this resolved so they can take credit for protecting customers and returning their deposits. It certainly doesn't look good to have a bank in receivership this long.

I share your frustration with the receiver. Before i found a buyer for the bank, the Commissioner assured me that if I couldn't find a buyer, she would never put the bank in receivership. That she would allow me to liquidate it on my own. That was due to a conversation we had about my concerns over the extra time and cost that a receiver would impose. Also, when I first told her about the deal to sell the bank for Qetna, she was very supportive of the sale, and thanked me for finding such a well-qualified buyer.

She than not only changed her mind about the sale, but about putting the bank into Receivership as well. i don't know for sure what made her change her mind so abruptly, but something must have happend, and I feel it involved the IRS, other J5 nations, and 60 Minutes Australia. The benefit to OCIF of this action was that it allowed the Commissioner to improve Puerto Rico's global reputation for being lax on money laddering and tax evasion, and win public praise from a top IRS official. But unfortunately it back fired, and Puerto Rico's banking reputation is worse then ever, thanks to the public misperception that her actions resulted from the J5 money laundering and tax evasion investigation, and the stories about open investigations of bank customers, all of which are likely a waste of time, as the bank did an excellent job of preventing customers from using their accounts for elicit purposes.

Had the Commissioner publicly defended the bank against the false allegations, first made by 60 Minutes Australia, and then repeated in other publications, I think it would have ended up much better for everyone. But she changed her mind, and "decided" it was better for OCIF to go in another direction.

 

[Radko]

It's more than obvious by now that the Receiver is not equiped to handled the liquidation of EPB, the fact that the freeze was lifted more than 3 months ago and funds haven't been returned shows how incompetent he is. He's had plenty of time to prepare for whenever the freeze would be lifted but he couldn't even anticipate that in order to process the wire transfers he would need a software (EastNet) to be able to engage with Novo bank, which is literally ridiculous.
The question is obvious, why do we have to pay the consequences of having a useless Receiver?

I don't have any money left as all my savings were or are, who knows, deposited at EPB or Novo, if I had any money left I would not hesitate to take legal action against OCIF.
The fact that the Receiver is not even honest or transparent at keeping customers informed shows that he is operating without any type of oversight, this is like leaving a thief in charge of a jewelry shop.

Someone show tell the Receiver how disgusted we are with his handling of this whole situation and the more complaints we send to OCIF the better.

The fact that he is thinking about transferring all funds from Novo to a bank in California after exchanging the funds into USD without asking customers says a lot. If he were to ask me I would then want to opt-out, as I'm only option to go to Qenta so I can transfer my funds which are mostly in USD to another financial institution (I wouldn't stay with Qenta even if they paid me.)

Is there anyone here who believes that we will get our money back by the end of this montn? I don't! Hope I'm wrong

 

[orion7352]

The Qenta team is already trying to get the Receiver to move faster. They also want this transaction to close. I have tired as well, and complained to my lawyer, who also tries to get the receiver to move faster. I think OCIF would like this resolved so they can take credit for protecting customers and returning their deposits. It certainly doesn't look good to have a bank in receivership this long.

I share your frustration with the receiver. Before i found a buyer for the bank, the Commissioner assured me that if I couldn't find a buyer, she would never put the bank in receivership. That she would allow me to liquidate it on my own. That was due to a conversation we had about my concerns over the extra time and cost that a receiver would impose. Also, when I first told her about the deal to sell the bank for Qetna, she was very supportive of the sale, and thanked me for finding such a well-qualified buyer.

She than not only changed her mind about the sale, but about putting the bank into Receivership as well. i don't know for sure what made her change her mind so abruptly, but something must have happend, and I feel it involved the IRS, other J5 nations, and 60 Minutes Australia. The benefit to OCIF of this action was that it allowed the Commissioner to improve Puerto Rico's global reputation for being lax on money laddering and tax evasion, and win public praise from a top IRS official. But unfortunately it back fired, and Puerto Rico's banking reputation is worse then ever, thanks to the public misperception that her actions resulted from the J5 money laundering and tax evasion investigation, and the stories about open investigations of bank customers, all of which are likely a waste of time, as the bank did an excellent job of preventing customers from using their accounts for elicit purposes.

Had the Commissioner publicly defended the bank against the false allegations, first made by 60 Minutes Australia, and then repeated in other publications, I think it would have ended up much better for everyone. But she changed her mind, and "decided" it was better for OCIF to go in another direction.

It's more than obvious by now that the Receiver is not equiped to handled the liquidation of EPB, the fact that the freeze was lifted more than 3 months ago and funds haven't been returned shows how incompetent he is. He's had plenty of time to prepare for whenever the freeze would be lifted but he couldn't even anticipate that in order to process the wire transfers he would need a software (EastNet) to be able to engage with Novo bank, which is literally ridiculous.
The question is obvious, why do we have to pay the consequences of having a useless Receiver?

I don't have any money left as all my savings were or are, who knows, deposited at EPB or Novo, if I had any money left I would not hesitate to take legal action against OCIF.
The fact that the Receiver is not even honest or transparent at keeping customers informed shows that he is operating without any type of oversight, this is like leaving a thief in charge of a jewelry shop.

Someone show tell the Receiver how disgusted we are with his handling of this whole situation and the more complaints we send to OCIF the better.

The fact that he is thinking about transferring all funds from Novo to a bank in California after exchanging the funds into USD without asking customers says a lot. If he were to ask me I would then want to opt-out, as I'm only option to go to Qenta so I can transfer my funds which are mostly in USD to another financial institution (I wouldn't stay with Qenta even if they paid me.)

Is there anyone here who believes that we will get our money back by the end of this montn? I don't! Hope I'm wrong

So far @Pschiff has been the only source so far to shed any light on what has actually been happening.

I agree that the Receiver shows a total disregard so far for customers, which in itself shows his unsuitability for the task on top of the fact that he wasn't ready to act once the freeze was lifted. Or was he deliberately not ready which is even more damning.

But even @Pschiff does not appear to know everything that the Receiver knows. That's why customers need to keep pressing the Receiver. The Receiver is not working alone. He has other staff that can directly communicate with customers and provide far more transparency.

Sadly when there's no transparency it undermines confidence and makes everyone believe they have something to hide. And yes OCIF appear to be showing no oversight over the Receiver.

 

[Kruger]

So far @Pschiff has been the only source so far to shed any light on what has actually been happening.

I agree that the Receiver shows a total disregard so far for customers, which in itself shows his unsuitability for the task on top of the fact that he wasn't ready to act once the freeze was lifted. Or was he deliberately not ready which is even more damning.

But even @Pschiff does not appear to know everything that the Receiver knows. That's why customers need to keep pressing the Receiver. The Receiver is not working alone. He has other staff that can directly communicate with customers and provide far more transparency.

Sadly when there's no transparency it undermines confidence and makes everyone believe they have something to hide. And yes OCIF appear to be showing no oversight over the Receiver.

Would it not be better to 'target' the Commissioner (OCIF) as she appointed the Receiver and should therefore answer for the incompetence that we are experiencing as a result of her poor choice. The Receiver is really showing her up so by emphasizing the reputation damage he is causing her may be a better card for us to play?

 

[orion7352]

Would it not be better to 'target' the Commissioner (OCIF) as she appointed the Receiver and should therefore answer for the incompetence that we are experiencing as a result of her poor choice. The Receiver is really showing her up so by emphasizing the reputation damage he is causing her may be a better card for us to play?

Yes definitely complain to OCIF. I have already done so and followed it up with a conversation with OCIF.

Here is the email address to complain to OCIF:

[email protected]

One complaint they could ignore but many complaints might be more difficult.

 

[Radko]

Would it not be better to 'target' the Commissioner (OCIF) as she appointed the Receiver and should therefore answer for the incompetence that we are experiencing as a result of her poor choice. The Receiver is really showing her up so by emphasizing the reputation damage he is causing her may be a better card for us to play?

I fully agree!
Ultimate she is responsible for everything that has and is happening, however in the Cease and Desist order she wrote "we have appointed a very experienced Receiver to liquidate EPB" and it's obvious by now that this is false.

I believe Peter is wrong in the sense that I don't believe OCIF cares one single bit whether we get the money in the next month or in the next year, the Commissioner is only concerned with her own reputation, a lot of the statements she made during the press conference were totally false, like when she said "the bank is insolvent," and if you read the C&D order posted on the OCIF's website you'll also read a lot of false statements, she has no problem lying just to portray an image of honesty and integrity, supposedly everything she did was done "to protect the interest of the customers" which at this point is laughable.

 

[orion7352]

At the moment OCIF and the Receiver see EPB customers as passive and docile. We have to show them that we are going to do everything we can to get our money back !

 

[Pschiff]

I couldn't agree more!!!

The liar Commissioner, The useless Receiver & blood sucking Qenta are the ones responsible, more than 10 months of waiting and they couldn't anticipate that they were going to need some special "software" to process the wire transfers??? This is all ridiculous, and let's not even think about the fact that they continue to charge us account fees & negative rates on Euro deposits, and on top of that it seems that the lack of action by the useless Receiver has caused the bank to lose $500K, which may end up coming out of our pockets.

What the hell is going on???

Don't blame Qenta. They are trying their best to help. OCIF and the Receiver have been the road blocks. Qetna has devoted a lot of resources to this. When the sale to Qetna was blocked by OCIF, they really did us a favor by taking on the cost of employing the banks staff, and accepting the accounts by those who did not request their money back. Had Qenta not volunteer to do that, OCIF had intended to seize all the accounts of those who did not request their money back in 30 days. I did not want that to happend as I was worried that the effected customers would have a very hard time trying to retrieve their funds.

Everybody that has more than 100.000€ is being charged -0.60%, every single day they are deducting money from my Euro current account.
Euro Pacific said that they were starting to charge negative rates on Euro deposits above 100K and that they would stop charging negative rates once the ECB would start hiking rates. That happened last year, interest rates in the Euro zone have gone from -0.50% to +3.75% during the last year, however the bank is still charging us -0.60%.
At the moment there isn't a single bank in the world that is charging negative rates on Euro deposits, as a matter of fact banks are paying interest on Euro deposits, only Qenta/the Receiver are doing this.

I find it shameful and disgraceful how we are being treated by Qenta and the Receiver, charging us account fees every single month, plus negative rates on Euro deposit, plus the absolute lack of information given to us during the past 10 months, every single deadline given to us went by and nothing happened. If it wasn't because Peter has been given us some information on this forum, we wouldn't know anything at all.

Right now we don't know if Novo has the deposit, or if they are willing to return them, the famous freeze was lifted more than 2 months ago.
We also don't know if we will end up losing some of our money after the Receiver is done charging for his services.

How did we get so unlucky, every party involved in this process, the Commissioner, the Receiver, Qenta, and Novo bank, they are all useless scammers taking advantage of our money with no end in sight.



I hope Peter can take legal action against the useless Receiver and make him pay for being so incompetent.

Had the bank not been put into Receivership, and the sale to Qetna been allowed, euro accounts would not currently be charged negative rates. All of these rate hikes occurred while the bank was in receivership. Also Novo is taking advantage of the situation by not paying any interest to the bank on its euro deposits.

 

[orion7352]

Is our money still in Portugal then ?

So who is charging the Euro interest rates? Novo or EPB ?

 

[Pschiff]

Is our money still in Portugal then ?

So who is charging the Euro interest rates? Novo or EPB ?

Yes, the funds are still at Novo in Portugal. I believe the bank is charging those rates. I'm not sure if Novo is still charging negative rates to the bank, as the bank was just passing on those charges to customers. I have no access to any of those systems myself, so can't say for sure.

 

[regi]

One way or another, someone is still a leech here and sucks blood from the neck of the donor. Time flies and money flows in a small trickle from each account into a big bag.

 

[Radko]

Don't blame Qenta. They are trying their best to help. OCIF and the Receiver have been the road blocks. Qetna has devoted a lot of resources to this. When the sale to Qetna was blocked by OCIF, they really did us a favor by taking on the cost of employing the banks staff, and accepting the accounts by those who did not request their money back. Had Qenta not volunteer to do that, OCIF had intended to seize all the accounts of those who did not request their money back in 30 days. I did not want that to happend as I was worried that the effected customers would have a very hard time trying to retrieve their funds.


Had the bank not been put into Receivership, and the sale to Qetna been allowed, euro accounts would not currently be charged negative rates. All of these rate hikes occurred while the bank was in receivership. Also Novo is taking advantage of the situation by not paying any interest to the bank on its euro deposits.

Whatever the case may be, EPB/Receiver is the only one in the entire world that is charging negative rates on Euro deposits, no other bank in the world is doing this, it's called Stealing!

Here we are, June 6th 2023, and all that we know is that almost a year ago customers woke up one morning and found out that they had lost access to their funds, many deadlines have been given since then, and many excuses have been given for the delay, i.e. a freeze that was lifted back in February, and customers still can't access their funds.

I hope the bank's lawyer is actively working with the Receiver to try to speed up the process, and some type of update with a definitive deadline would be appreciated.
As of right now it seems that we will never get our money back, and if we do, we have no idea how much of the money will be returned to customers as the Receiver's fees are piling on (I often wonder what is it that the Receiver does on a daily basis as the weeks go by and nothing happens.)

 

[regi]

(I often wonder what is it that the Receiver does on a daily basis as the weeks go by and nothing happens.)

The answer here is as clear as the sun in the sky. Every morning he checks his big bag.