Euro Pacific bank is a scam

[Tulliola92]

I have lost a third there which my mother gave to me. I wanted︂ to protect it the best and I believed that EPB was the best institution ever.︃
I also trusted you, Peter Schiff.
And even if everything you say is true :︄ You should apologize.

I am just a simple teacher and too far from your net︅ worth. But whenever I notice that something is wrong with my students, I apologize because︆ I am still responsable for their mis-knowing of things.

I just hope that you really︇ tell the truth.

 

[Pschiff]

I also invested over $10 million cash into︀ the bank and lost every penny. I don't think I need to apologize for anything.︁ Yes I feel bad that governments have so carelessly disregarded the bank's customers, and sacrificed︂ them just to make me look bad, but I don't feel in anyway responsible for︃ their actions. We are all innocent victims. Plus, I have done everything I can to︄ protect customers. Even though I owned just 45% of the bank, I personally contributed 100%︅ of the capital to protect depositors. I surrender my rights to sue OCIF for my︆ personal damages as I was told it would expedite the return of customer funds, and︇ minimize the chance that any customer would lose money. I was also the only shareholder︈ who was not also an officer, so I was the only one not involved with︉ the operation of the bank, and the only shareholder never to have been paid a︊ salary.

 

[btc100k]

What is more likely?

A) the bank did something wrong
B) EPB is the first‌ bank in history to fail without doing anything wrong

 

[Pschiff]

The bank did not fail. Regulators forced me to close it on the pretense of‌ it not having enough capital, even though the OCIF commissioner herself told me and several‍ others that no additional capital was necessary, the bank had no debt, made no loans,⁠ had no past due bills, held millions in cash above what was owed to customers,⁤ and had multiple highly qualified third-parties offering to buy the bank, add millions in excess⁣ capital, and assume all liabilities. Yes this is the first time in history, to my⁢ knowledge, that this has happened.

Also I didn't︆ make any money off the customers of EPB. I was a shareholder, but the bank︇ never paid a dividend. I also never worked for the bank, so never earned a︈ salary. I put over $10 million into the bank and never took a penny out.︉ But I have done everything that I can to make sure customers eventually get all︊ of their money back. If they end up losing any money at all, it will︋ likely be a very small amount, maybe 1-2 cents on the dollar tops. But it︌ will only be due to losses incurred as a result of the receivership. On the︍ day the bank was placed into receivership, against my objection, it had more than enough︎ cash on hand to make all creditors, including every depositor whole, with 1-2 million left️ over for me.

 

[orion7352]

You're wrong many of us have lost a substantial part of our net︅ worth .

 

[Radko]

Hi Peter, if everything that you have explained is the truth, then at some︊ point you should consider giving a Press Conference in Puerto Rico in front of the︋ same reporters that were present the day the OCIF gave their Press Conference so everyone︌ in the world will know the kind of conduct the OCIF embarked themselves on, hopefully︍ by doing that you will help present and future customers avoid banking in the Puerto︎ Rico jurisdiction.

It would be extremely unfair if customers end up losing 1-2% of their️ deposits after everything that's happened, we the customers have no quarrels on this ordeal, we‌ are just average people that were looking for a very safe bank to park our‍ retirement money, I hope after all this we the customers don't end up losing that⁠ 1-2%.

 

[regi]

Maybe I am an orphan in this fairytale. My loss = 91,6%.‍ Maybe I was naive. Maybe I should carry my money in suitcases. At a time⁠ when I can't even trust the banks anymore, all I have to do is move⁤ to a deserted island far from the declining civilization and enjoy what nature gives me.⁣

The situation is not hopeless, as with Radko, but it is bad. About 2 months⁢ ago I freaked out. My 4 year old son asked me why I was sad.︀ I looked into his eyes, looked into his future, and I cried. All I could︁ get out was "I'm sorry." Losing 10% is nothing compared to the vision of turbulence︂ in your children's lives. I still don't know who's to blame here. The only person︃ out of 3 that should explain themselves here is you. The others obviously don't give︄ a s**t. The worst thing is that the death of my business did not come︅ from the market but from a bank I trusted. With it, the uncertain future of︆ my children. I don't know if I can give them the home they deserve. The︇ easiest thing would be to run away, take my life. Just what will it change︈ in the lives of my children and wife. For the person responsible for all this,︉ I would bring justice without hesitation, without judgment, and I would not care about the︊ presence of cameras. Someone came into my life with shoes and is making sand cakes︋ in my children's sandbox. Is it my fault that I trusted the bank? Logic would︌ say no, but life has shown me how wrong I was.
All I expect for now︎ is my money. Time will tell later who should apologize. The only thing that seriously️ pisses me off is the idleness and quiet days of the shitty process and the‌ constant useless duplicate updates written poetically and fucking gracefully. I think that we should be‍ informed what exactly the lawyer hired by Peter is doing in this case. I don't⁠ give a s**t about the conventions and investigations of shabby idols. I'm the goddamn side⁤ of this brothel and I want to know where this bus is going.
If you're sure of yourself, and it looks like︁ you are, I don't know what you were thinking. We're stuck in this mess like︂ flies in tar. The tar hardens. You should have sued all the donkeys, once you've︃ secured your clients' interests by pumping your money in, what was there to lose. We've︄ already lost enough time. Some lose their homes, others look at their children and wonder︅ what will happen tomorrow. How much longer will we deceive ourselves saying let's see what︆ next week will bring ?

I believe that it should be︋ something completely natural and on the level to pay back the lost interest for all︌ those months of not having an impact on anything related to our funds. I don't︍ believe that money is lying around untouched.

 

[orion7352]

Regi

You speak so well on behalf of customers and their suffering.

We now hear that not︄ only have we lived with this massive uncertainty , loss of incomes and businesses, but︅ we are also expected to lose capital because we have to pay for the running︆ costs of the bank for the last few months. Paying for staff who never replied︇ to our emails or gave us misleading information.

 

[Radko]

I guess this situation only gets worse and worse, now according to Peter we, the⁣ customers, may end up having to pay the Receiver for the work that he was⁢ assigned to do by the OCIF, so basically we have to pay the Receiver for︀ liquidating EuroPacific Bank, as if we were the owners of the Bank.

 

[Pschiff]

Yes I may do that, but I need to be︃ careful as OCIF forced me to sign a mutual non-disparagement clause. The key is will︄ simply telling the truth be considered disparagement, when the truth itself is so disparaging. Also,︅ the PR press is very bad, and very pro government, as the government is the︆ biggest advertiser. So they may have no interest in any press conference I might call.︇ None of the local press was interested in my side of the story. By the︈ way, I have just been informed by a Portugese lawyer that we will have to︉ wait until after the Easter break to receive the good news I thought we might︊ get this week. It's always something.

 

[Radko]

It really is unbelievable that the OCIF didn't let︂ you sell the bank in order to stave off insolvency, for example in 2008 Bear︃ Stearns was bought by J.P. Morgan, and in many other cases the firm was allowed︄ to self-liquidate, as did Drexel Burnham Lambert in 1990, a Regulator is supposed to do︅ whatever it takes to save the firm in order to protect the interest of the︆ customers, it seems that in the case of EPB the Regulator did the complete opposite,︇ the press should know all this, Natalia Zequeira should explain why did she do all︈ this, it was completely unnecessary, now here we are having to pay the price.

 

[Pschiff]

I said that would be a worse case scenario. It's not what I⁤ expect to happen. But if the process continues, and 100% of the bank's capital is⁣ exhausted, then depositor's money would be the only source of funds. That would mean that⁢ there would be no money left over for me. When the bank initially went into︀ receivership there was enough cash on hand to pay all creditors in full, including all︁ depositors, with $1 - $2 million left over for me as the sole remaining shareholder︂ of the bank. That is one reason that I argued against receivership, and offered to︃ liquidate the bank myself. But OCIF refused and insisted on putting a solvent bank into︄ Receivership. My guess is that putting the bank into receivership was the headline they or︅ someone else wanted.

I am sorry this happend︌ to you, but I can't apologize for something that is not my fault. I appreciate︍ that you have a lot of money tied up in what was once my bank,︎ but at least you will eventually get your money back. I won't be getting any️ of my money back (I may end up getting some trivial amount). You temporarily lost‌ access to a third of your inheritance, and I feel bad about that. But you‍ will get it back. But your net worth includes other assets you own, like your⁠ house, etc. So maybe the money stuck in the bank is less than 10% of⁤ your total net worth. My personal loss exceeds that percentage. Hopefully I will recover some⁣ of my loss in my defamation lawsuit. But so far my legal costs have actually⁢ added to that loss.

 

[koohl]

Write your money off that you put in this bank, everything else is an illusion!‌

 

[Pschiff]

It's worse︁ than that, as the bank was never insolvent, so there was nothing to stave off.︂ I even offered to put in millions of additional dollars myself to raise the bank's︃ level of capital to whatever level OCIF deemed appropriate, but the Commissioner refused. The seven︄ million that Qenta had committed to adding would have brought the bank's total capital to︅ about $10 million. That was about double what was legally required. Plus, the bank had︆ no loans, and could have returned 100% of deposits at any time. EPB was likely︇ the most solvent bank on the planet. The Commissioner just did't want the bank to︈ exist. She even refused to allow the deposits to move to another Puerto Rican bank.︉ There were banks that wanted to take them, but the Commissioner refused to allow it.︊ She said the deposits needed to be returned to customers or transferred to a financial︋ institution outside of Puerto Rico. I think she was worried about the reputation of the︌ bank's customers as being criminals or tax evaders, even though she knew those media allegations︍ were false.

I didn't sell the︎ bank. I tried, but OCIF refused to allow the sale. So all deposits must be️ returned. All the asset sale did, from which I personally received nothing, was give customers‌ the option of having their deposits transferred to Qenta if they did not want them‍ returned. That was important as OCIF had intended to confiscate any deposits that were not⁠ returned by a specific date. I did not want that to happend, so I created⁤ a solution were deposits that were not returned would be sent to Qenta, so that⁣ customers could access them later if they missed the deadline to get them directly from⁢ the bank. Also, it was important to move all un-returned deposits quickly, to protect them︀ from future losses, as the bank has to stay in business until the last deposit︁ is returned. Staying in business generates losses, that ultimately would be paid by the remaining︂ depositors once the bank ran out of its own capital.

 

[Radko]

Thanks Peter, I did wonder about︆ the possibility of transferring customer's deposits to another Puerto Rican bank, so not even that!︇
If she was worried about the reputation of the bank's customers as being criminals or︈ tax evaders, then by that same rule she should worry about every single customer in︉ every Puerto Rican bank, so absurd!

 

[Pschiff]

Well I was falsely accused of using EPB to help criminals launder money⁤ and evade taxes. In fact, 60 Minutes claims the sole purpose the bank was created⁣ was to cater to criminals. Those accusations were not made against other PR banks. But⁢ 60 Minutes did claim that Puerto Rico had lax regulations, which enable the bank to︀ work with criminals. So that did tarnish the entire jurisdiction. The Commissioner missed an opportunity︁ to stand up for the bank and to take a stand against the media and︂ its false accusations, but she refused. In stead she enable the false narrative to continue,︃ which I think backfired and harmed Puerto Rico's banking industry even further.

 

[Radko]

I truly believe that's the end result, the Commissioner harmed Puerto Rico's banking industry by︂ the actions that she took, personally I will never transfer a single penny to Puerto︃ Rico again, and I know of at least 3 people that had accounts at another︄ bank in Puerto Rico, Ocean Blue, who have since closed their accounts and have gone︅ to Dubai, maybe opening a new EuroPacific Bank in Dubai for international investors would be︆ a great idea, given everything that's been happening, people are more than ever in need︇ of a full reserve bank such as EPB.

 

[Pschiff]

I agree︀ completely. But I am done with banking. I've lost enough money. Plus, I don't not︁ think its a good idea for anyone to bank with a bank that I own,︂ or have any significant ownership interest in. I'm clearly a target, and I would not︃ want to put anyone else in the cross hairs.

 

[Radko]

That's exactly why I mentioned Dubai, far away from the IRS, Dubai will be⁣ extremely happy to have a full reserve bank in their jurisdiction, you've been there recently,⁢ you've seen how attractive it's become, and wouldn't it be sweet to take customers away︀ from the useless Puerto Rican jurisdiction and bring them to Dubai, there is such a︁ shortage of full reserve banks, and a strong demand for those types of banks these︂ days, give it some thought, I wouldn't let this experience affect me on future business︃ opportunities, quite the opposite.

 

[orion7352]

I know a lot of us have suffered over the last 8 months and we‌ want to vent our anger and frustration.

Yes some of that has been directed at‍ Peter.

But I think he deserves a lot of credit for not running away after⁠ he did the deal with OCIF. He could easily have washed his hands of the⁤ whole saga and walked away - but he has come to this forum. We certainly⁣ get more information from him than EPB/The Receiver/OCIF.

Time will tell if we ever get⁢ our money back.