Regulators in Puerto Rico have issued a cease-and-desist order to a bank that is owned by bitcoin critic Peter Schiff, which has been the subject of an international investigation over tax evasion and money laundering.
Vijest je izazvala brzu reakciju nekih članova bitkoin zajednice, koji su iskoristili priliku da podsjete starog neprijatelja na ograničenja tradicionalnih finansija, dok su veličali o akreditivima BTC-a otpornim na cenzuru.
Puerto Rico’s Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions ordered the shut down of San Juan-based Euro Pacific International Bank over allegations of insolvency and a lack of compliance and internal controls, prema za The Washington Post.
In 2020, a group of tax authorities called the Joints Chief of Global Tax Enforcement, or J5 began investigating Schiff’s bank “to put a stop to the suspected facilitation of offshore tax evasion and money laundering by the bank.”
Vlade SAD-a, Australije, UK, Kanade i Holandije stvorile su J5 2018. za borbu protiv međunarodnih finansijskih zločina koji uključuju utaju poreza i pranje novca.
Regulator: Euro Pacific has a history of non-compliance
“Euro Pacific has a long history of noncompliance,” Natalia Zequeira Díaz, a commissioner with the Puerto Rico regulator, was citirano kao da kaže.
She added that the Office would “not allow or tolerate any financial entity with a license issued by the government of Puerto Rico to operate outside the law or ignore the clear mandates of applicable laws and regulations.”
U nalogu o prekidu i odustajanju je navodno navedeno da je Euro Pacific imao neto gubitak od oko 751,000 dolara u 2019. i prikupio skoro 4 miliona dolara ukupnog gubitka. Dodaje se da je na kraju 2020. godine banka imala negativan kapital od 1.3 miliona dolara:
“As such, the entity is classified as insolvent,” the order stated. Euro Pacific had a net loss of roughly $550,000 during the first three months of this year, it said. Following the order, clients have lost access to their accounts and withdrawals have been halted.
Peter Schiff denies the bank is insolvent
Šif je osnovao Euro Pacific banku 2011. godine, osnivajući podružnice na Karibima, i navodno je otvorio 15,000 računa u roku od dvije godine od početka rada. Šest godina kasnije, banka je dobila licencu na američkoj teritoriji Portorika i tamo se preselila.
But deposits have slumped to $150 million in the wake of the J5 probe and customers have left. Writing on Twitter, Schiff negiran the bank was insolvent. “It has more than enough cash on hand to pay every depositor in full tomorrow,” he claimed, adding:
“The bank itself has no debt. But regulators won’t allow anyone to withdraw funds at the moment. The long investigation exonerated the bank.”
Earlier, Schiff said he invested $7 million of his own money into Euro Pacific, but the Puerto Rico regulator told him the money was not part of the institution’s capital.
The economist revealed that he negotiated a deal to sell the bank to a Houston-based entity for $24 million – a plan turned down by the regulator.
“The only explanation is the IRS and J5 blocked the sale, so they could use the closure of my bank as a successful example of their crackdown on money laundering and tax evasion, even though their own investigation proved the bank did nothing to facilitate any financial crimes,” he complained.
Schiffovo zatvaranje banke izaziva podsmijeh
In cryptocurrency circles, Peter Schiff is known for his oštre kritike of bitcoin (BTC). In one of his many criticisms, the gold bug said that bitcoin fails as both money and a store of value because it lacked utility and intrinsic value.
Reacting to Euro Pacific Bank’s closure, several members of the bitcoin community took the opportunity to mock Schiff over his past uncharitable comments on crypto. They also touted bitcoin’s credentials as a censorship-resistant currency that can fix issues of unwanted government interference.
“The bitcoin karma Gods have slaughtered Peter Schiff’s business,” Max Keiser, a popular bitcoin proponent, prezren. “I told him to kupiti bitcoin at $1, $10, $100, $1,000 – He never even spent 10 minutes studying it. Now he’s gonna pay the price.”
Twitter user Darshan Ashok shouted: “This is the punishment you deserve for all the yelling about BTC.”
“Shoulda bought bitcoin grandpa,” said another.
odricanje
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Source: https://beincrypto.com/bitcoin-critic-peter-schiffs-bank-closed-alleged-tax-evasion-money-laundering/