Euro Pacific bank is a scam

[ATNTESTING]

I've emailed Wigberto Lugo Mender through his website. Yeah I'm probably naive but sick to‌ wait for updates in this group.
And I've also emailed a journalist who wrote an‍ article about this case in october 2022. Just in order to keep her/him updated about⁠ what's going on. We had many articles from september to december 2022. Now nothing. Tomorrow⁤ I'll search for other journalists. Time to wake them up.

If someone can speak spanish,⁣ you can email [email protected]
They wrote this Clientes de bancos internacionales recuperan su dinero
Maybe they have clearer/better updates?

 

[orion7352]

I think⁣ we all have to seriously think about going to Puerto Rico . What the Receiver⁢ is planning is a situation that sounds like another account freeze would happen in USA.︀

That would give the Receiver an ideal situation for him where he gets to charge︁ more fees until all our money ends up in his bank account.

@ATNTESTING - sadly︂ I don't think you are going to get a reply from the Receiver. He doesn't︃ care about customers , that's one thing that is clear. Otherwise he would be more︄ forthcoming with information on the EPB website.

 

[ATNTESTING]

I don't believe about the Eastnet issue or the account in the US.
I don't say︀ Peter is lying but he's just reporting what they told him.
They clearly try to︁ fool us and save as much time as they can. Why? I have no idea.︂
What they need is pressure!
Pressure from journalists/medias? from a lawyer? from customers? Going there︃ like a tourist won't change anything to them I think.

 

[orion7352]

Well maybe we can hire a lawyer in Puerto Rico then to pressure the⁣ Receiver but then how can we be sure a lawyer in Puerto Rico can be⁢ trusted to do a good job on our behalf?

Ultimately the Receiver is only answerable︀ to OCIF - the ones who started this whole mess in the beginning!

 

[ATNTESTING]

We are supposed to have a lawyer but impossible to talk to him⁤ or know who he is...
But I'm definitely okay to share the fees altogether!

 

[orion7352]

Well that lawyer was in Portugal dealing with the freeze on the account‍ there. He wouldn't be relevant for any problems in Puerto Rico. We would need a⁠ Puerto Rico lawyer.

So we could hire a lawyer to represent customers interests and make⁤ representation to the Receiver/OCIF?

So what do others think of that idea?

 

[maurof]

I think we should attack OCIF in all possible way. Email bombing, social media exposure⁣ shitty storm with faces of the responsible peoples exposed and the story of what’s going⁢ to happen. The same for Lugo Mender Group to destroy their credibility. Low rating everywhere︀ google, LinkedIn, Facebook and so on…

 

[regi]

The question‌ is how long will we wait for any move with our funds and what will‍ this lawyer be able to do then. Peter said a few pages ago that any⁠ involvement of third parties in the process of releasing money can extend it. So the⁤ key question is which way is faster. I would be in favor of taking a⁣ person there to speak on our behalf. But if we end up spending the money⁢ on the rep and losing the extra months on negative interest. Then it might be︀ a dead end.

 

[ATNTESTING]

I feel you're pissed⁤ like all of us but hiring a lawyer would be more reasonable I think haha.⁣ But I agree with involving medias. I sent an email to one of them already.⁢ The one who wrote this Schiff/Euro Pacific Bank (EPB) and Puerto Rican Regulator reach agreement︀ on details of final liquidation of EPB and guarantee return of all depositors' funds, as︁ promised by Schiff her email [email protected] .
But would be great if you could reach︂ the one who wrote this Clientes de bancos internacionales recuperan su dinero
Anyone speak spanish︃ here?

 

[orion7352]

Yes all fair points you︀ make. It's difficult to know what the right thing to do is . But at︁ the moment it seems the Receiver is pursuing actions that might actually harm customers interests.︂

 

[ATNTESTING]

I'm sure the receiver has︀ been informed of the novo bank release the first day, means 22nd february...
What did︁ he do so far?
And we can't put pressure on this little thing because it︂ might harm him and slow down everything?

 

[regi]

All our doubts lead to one conclusion. We need⁤ to get all of them OCIF/Receiver/Novo to keep us informed of their progress. We can't⁣ wait like this. We are the victims here and we deserve it. What's more, if⁢ something doesn't work, there must be some goddamn deadline. Acting on the principle of "we︀ do it, when we're done we say it" is clearly playing to our disadvantage.

 

[JoeOhNo]

The eastnet issue seems like a bad excuse, especially now when suddenly the receiver opened‌ a bank account in US and wants to transfer the funds there. So, the money‍ is in Novo Banco and there is no problem with transfering them to some US⁠ bank account but they cant be migrated to Qenta? Seems a bit fishy at least.⁤

Im sorry for being blunt but Im mentally depleted with this situation and have no⁣ vitality to beat around the bush so Ill just be straight.
All those ideas like,⁢ mail bombing, media involvement, physical presence in PR - in my opinion are childishly naive︀ and worth crap.
Its like 20-30 pages of comments allready of these kind of ideas︁ and no serious plan. Are we at kindergarden? Please get serious.

The only possible plan︂ is a class action lawsuit, against OCIF, preferably ,if thats even possible, in US court.︃ Its the only way to make an actuall impact.

If we dont start organising towards︄ some real solution instead of running around like children shouting around then we will be︅ threated like children and eventually we will get screwed.

We need a leader, someone serious︆ enought about a case, but someone that has both his feet on the ground.

 

[ATNTESTING]

I agree with you!!
And that was the idea of orion7352︈ on message #989

Who's in?
After maybe start to create a whatsapp/viber group coz we︉ may have to share personal info I guess.

​

 

[JoeOhNo]

There are few problems.
First - I dont see any real leader here ( me‌ included ).
Secondly - its suprising to me but there is not a lot of‍ us. How much money do we actually represent? Ok, one of us is 2 mln⁠ USD. Quite a sum. But I assume rest of us, including me, where not holding⁤ millions in EPB. Some of us ( not including me this time ) are probably⁣ holding below 100k usd in there.
Thirdly - we would need a way to reach⁢ possibly all the clients. I have an idea for that but wont say it here︀ on the forum where everyone can see it.
Fourthly - to be honest, its to︁ early for a real class action. Why? Because the portugal freeze was legitimate so if︂ You substract the time the bank was under inspection then its like 3 months of︃ receiver doing his mumbo jumbo. So do we really have something hardcore against him? We︄ need to catch him with his pants down ( probably the act of wiring the︅ funds to US bank and converting it all to USD with terrible FX losses would︆ be such a moment to sue as this would be clear acting against clients of︇ EPB ).

 

[orion7352]

I was thinking we need a lawyer or︈ someone to represent customers interests so that the Receiver acts in the best interest of︉ all customers, that they can speed up the Receiver and try to dissuade these silly︊ ideas of using a California bank .

At the moment we do have Peter Schiff︋ doing some of this. But I do understand that some don't believe some of the︌ stories coming from the Receiver via Peter. Well we would have that potential problem even︍ from a lawyer if we hired one.

At the moment the biggest problem we have︎ is that we are kept in the dark, so we don't know what the problems️ are and what urgency there is to fix the problems. Meanwhile the Receiver keeps taking‌ our money for what appears to be very little effort. The Receiver is incentivised to‍ take as long as possible and complicate things unnecessarily.

 

[Martin Everson]

Now this is‍ worrying if receiver just randomly decided himself to move money to a US mainland bank.⁠ Plus having clients suffer the likely high currency conversion and wire costs as you say⁤ is not in their interest. It makes no sense for this to be done so⁣ I have to assume again there is more to the story than meets the eye.⁢

I agree something is not right here with all of︄ this. You know how difficult it is to open a new correspondence account for an︅ offshore bank and in USD and especially one with reputation like EPB has has right︆ now? What bank would welcome EPB in a correspondence banking relationship right now and why?︇ This receiver performed a miracle in any case or bank he is using in mainland︈ US is so desperate for income they plan on scalping for wire fees and FX︉ to make it worthwhile. However that is speculation on my part based on what Peter︊ has said about likely high FX/wire fees.

Also if it is not a correspondent account︋ that was opened but just a normal account then why is EastNet services and swift︌ connection needed. One would just use banks wire services and wire under the banks name.︍ It simply does not at all add up. You guys are only hearing one side︎ of story here. But I hope you get your money back anyway.

I agree bringing those funds into mainland US could open‌ doors to other issues if there has been a single client who used EPB for‍ any illicit activities involving the U.S. I am not saying anything wrong will be found⁠ but it could delay things.

P.S Worse case some of you are looking at EUR⁤ -> USD when money is sent to US bank from Novo and then USD ->⁣ EUR when money is sent to you plus wire fees....ouch. Wonder who will cover those⁢ loses.

 

[ATNTESTING]

I agree it's only 3 months. I'm patient︈ like most of us here but since I heard lame excuses such as Eastnet and︉ wiring funds to the US, I feel that something wrong is going on in the︊ background.
And wiring what? I thought they couldn't wire anything because of Eastnet issue.
I don't understand why Peter accepts to heard these excuses. Is there an agreement with EPB/Peter/Qenta/Novo/OCIF/Receiver︋ that we're not aware of?
I'm not into conspiracy but if we wait too long,︌ I'm not sure it's going to be in our favor.
Then, do we really need︍ a leader to start doing something? Not sure. Let's make a group and discuss a︎ possible lawsuit or hiring a lawyer in Puerto Rico who can assist us and put️ the right pressure to the receiver.

When I heard the lame excuses, I don't know‌ why EPB and Peter didn't take the initiative to hire a lawyer. Some of them‍ are already in Puerto Rico.
I agree with︆ your idea to work with a lawyer in Puerto Rico. Or in the US, I︇ don't know.

 

[Radko]

Interesting that the Receiver feels entitled⁠ to take customers funds from Novo, which are in foreign currencies, and exchange those funds⁤ into USD at whatever exchange rate he gets, plus all the fees associated with that⁣ type of transaction, he is obviously not thinking about the customers.
On top of that⁢ he now wants to review every wire, one by one, so 11 months of waiting︀ around hasn't give him enough time to do all that? This is really getting Ridiculous.︁

All this seems to be getting worse and worse just because the Receiver is highly︂ incompetent.

I feel like a pig in a truck on my way to the slaughter︃ house.

 

[regi]

We've known about︁ incompetence for some time. Information about checking transfers one by one has two subliminal information.︂ One: you're still waiting for the money. Two: you will pay me for that, I︃ do time-consuming work.