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Euro Pacific bank is a scam

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Hello,

I am new to this discussion and I am an EPB opt-out customer. It‌ has been ~2 months without an update and was wondering what is happening.
I have‍ emailed the OCIF and the trustee (both through the website and directly) but have had⁠ no reply. The EPB support service wont tell me anything as I am an opt-out⁤ customer. I am also not able to join the cost sharing legal team of customers,⁣ as it is too expensive for me.

Can someone please tell what is happening as⁢ we all want (and some of us really need) our money back. Are there any︀ new emails for contact on feed back and updates?

Thank you all.
 
I understand that it's easy‍ to blame the Receiver, but I do not believe the Receiver is dragging out the⁠ process. He would have returned the funds to customers last year, had he been able⁤ to get the money out of Novo bank.

Either way, I do believe that when⁣ the Receiver wrote that the liquidation of EPB had stopped (or as he wrote "stayed"),⁢ he knew that this was going to take a very long time.

What I don't︀ like about the Receiver is that given the amount of money that he is charging︁ every single quarter, he could at least take one minute of his time to inform︂ the customer.
 
So, what you︁ are saying is that the only thing stopping us from getting our money back is︂ for Novo Bank to release them ?
 
I don't know if there are other problems, but Novo bank not releasing the funds⁠ is the main one.

Unfortunately the Receiver doesn't feel the need to inform us.
 
That's a very good question, but the Receiver has never told us anything other than‍ "he can't get the money out of Novo bank."
It would be nice if he⁠ told us why Novo bank is not releasing the funds, and more importantly, what is⁤ he doing about it, has he hired a lawyer in Portugal to try to speed⁣ up the process? Only the Reveiver can answer these questions.

If I had to guess,⁢ I'm pretty sure Novo bank didn't keep the funds in cash, more than likely they︀ bought long-dated treasuries to make some money, but long-term treasuries have lost a lot of︁ their value during the last few years, so if they sell those treasuries they will︂ lose a lot of money.

During the last few years a number of banks have︃ faced the same problem, some of them have been bailed out, as it was the︄ case with Silicon Valley bank.
I'm not saying that Novo is in need of a︅ bail out, the bank is making money, but they are probably holding onto those long-term︆ treasuries for as long as they can, so they don't end up losing money.

Only the Reveiver knows exactly what's going on, but I do wonder if he is doing︇ anything about it, or if he is just waiting hoping that at some point Novo︈ bank will release the funds.

I have no doubt that Novo bank is going to︉ hold on to the funds for as long as they can.
 
Whatever the reason for⁠ the delay we may never know. However the receiver does appear on paper to be⁤ a very qualified and credible individual from what I have read below on his website despite what I may have thought in past. This leads me to believe any issues⁣ could be outside his control and he is simply the scapegoat for negative sentiment over⁢ this all 🙁.

---- quote start

Mr. Wigberto Lugo Mender, Esq., CPA, is admitted to︀ the P.R. Supreme Court, the Circuit Court of Appeals for the First District and the︁ U.S. District Court for the Judicial District Court of Puerto Rico. He is graduated of︂ the University of Puerto Rico School of Law, Cum Laude. He also has a dual︃ bachelor’s degree in business administration and accounting from the University of PR., Cum Laude.

He has exposure in multiple disciplines and has gained diverse working experience with financing, legal, bankruptcy,︄ estate liquidation and general financial consulting assistance to business of all sizes and in different︅ industries. He has served as attorney in several of private and commercial clients, particularly︆ commercial, insolvency and inheritance matters. Currently appointed as a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Trustee for the︇ Judicial District of Puerto Rico, he has work in liquidation of assets pertaining to bankruptcy︈ estate and an Estate Administrator and Trustee in the Puerto Rico First Instance Court, with︉ involvement in administration of assets in contested proceedings including individuals, partnership and corporations.

Prior to︊ his current work profile, he has worked as Bankruptcy Analyst for the U.S. Trustee Office,︋ U.S. Department of Justice and for Arthur Andersen & Co., in San Juan, Puerto Rico.︌ He has also active as Speaker for several bankruptcy seminars sponsored by the local state︍ CPA board, Colegio de Abogados de Puerto Rico, the American Bankruptcy Institute and Past Member︎ of the Comision de Quiebras del Colegio de Abogados de Puerto Rico. He has been️ designated as Treasurer of Puerto Rico Bankruptcy Bar.

--- quote end
 
The receiver does not respond to questions, can't uphold basic promises such as more frequent‌ updates and have made pointless requests to us even though their plan has not been‍ accepted and blames OCIF even though they know that OCIF can't accept anything until all⁠ the assets are in the recievers posession.

We don't know if Novo bank came through⁤ or not, but it is possible that they can't pay due to the reserve limitations⁣ the ECB put on them in the past.

Moral of the story: don't put your⁢ money in the bank, beccause once you do, it is not yours anymore.
 
From what I know most of the customer funds already at Qenta. In fact Qenta‌ has more than enough to fully repay all the opt ins. The problem is most‍ of the opt out money is still at Novo bank. So they have been waiting⁠ to be able to re pay all customers before they repay any customer. Since its⁤ possible that after all is said an done a less than 100% distribution will be⁣ made, they don't want to advantage some customers over others. Of rouse this whole thing⁢ is ridiculous, and if OCIF cared about customers they all would have been repaid a︀ long time ago. In fact, is the OCIF Commissioner cared about customers she never would︁ have put the bank into receivership and would have allowed one of several interested parties︂ to buy the bank. There was no need for any of this, other than as︃ a PR stunt so the J5 could pretend they shut down a bank that was︄ helping customers evade taxes and launder money. The customers are just collateral damage.
 
By the way, do I need to take any action as an opt-in customer?
Quenta has never contacted me for registration on their website or for document uploads (like passport‌ etc).
 
I don't mean to sound rude or offensive, but why does there appear to be⁤ favorable treatment for Opt-in customers over Opt-out customers? We were all customers of EPB and⁣ we all had the same risk, therefore shouldn't we all get the same haircut of⁢ funds?
 
That has been their approach. That's why the opt⁤ ins have not been given their money, even though Qenta has more than enough cash⁣ to make all the opt in whole. Qenta got all the gold that was in⁢ storage, plus millions in cash that had been transferred to IB. The opt out money︀ is mostly still at Novo Bank.

Are finland and sweeden part of the EU?
 
More than a decade with rates at basically 0%, as soon as‍ rates started climbing they took our money. Now with rates at +5% every party involved⁠ in the liquidation process is making money off of our money, that's the reason why⁤ no one wants to this situation to be over.

Peter, I'm still︊ getting statements from the fund managers, which tells me that the funds are still somehow︋ trading, no one has liquidated those after more than 2 years, any idea how I︌ can ask to sell all the shares that I have in all the different Mutual︍ funds?
 
No, I didn't even known the mutual funds still existed. I assumed they were liquidated︁ and shut down. I will check.
 
Thank you, please check‍ if I can tell Qenta to liquidate all my shares.
I also don't know if⁠ the Silver is with Qenta, or somewhere else, I would like to liquidate that as⁤ well.
 
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