Peter Schiffs Euro Pacific Bank suspended by Puerto Rico regulator – Schiff insists no evidence of crime – Regulation Bitcoin News

Peter Schiff-owned Euro Pacific Bank has been suspended by Puerto Rico’s financial regulator. Schiff claims there is “no evidence of crime,” and warns that “accounts are frozen and customers could lose money.”

Puerto Rico regulator suspends Peter Schiff’s bank

Euro Pacific Bank, owned by the infamous bitcoin skeptic and gold bug Peter Schiff, has been suspended by the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions of Puerto Rico, also known as the Oficina del Comisionado de Instituciones Financieras (OCIF).

Schiff insisted that there is no evidence of crime in the bank, and tweeted on Sunday:

Despite no evidence of crime, the authorities in Puerto Rico closed my bank anyway due to net capital issues… As a result, accounts are frozen and customers may lose money.

The Puerto Rican Financial Supervisory Authority announced on June 30 that it has issued a “Complaint and Cease and Desist Order” and a “Temporary Order Designating Trustee” against Euro Pacific Intl. Bank Inc.

“The order gives a mandate to suspend Euro Pacific operations … due to the gross non-compliance with the minimum capital requirements,” OCIF said in detail. “Furthermore, the order imposes on Euro Pacific administrative fines totaling $ 765,000.00 for various violations of the laws and regulations administered by OCIF.” The controller elaborates:

Euro Pacific’s serious insolvency situation constitutes a sufficient legal justification for OCIF to be able to take the administrative action announced today.

Euro Pacific Bank has posted a message on its website, which states: “We will comply by suspending transactions until at least July 7, 2022, to assess their request.”

Lack of compliance, Schiff claims he has a buyer for Euro Pacific Bank

Schiff has tried to sell Euro Pacific Bank, but he claims that OCIF has blocked the sale.

‘I have a buyer for the bank. But regulators will not let me sell it, “tweeted Schiff, claiming that the buyer is” highly qualified “and has promised to” inject capital far beyond regulatory minimum requirements. “

The Bitcoin skeptic said: “They want to liquidate it so that the media, the tax authorities and the J5 can pretend that it is closed for tax evasion and money laundering, even though there was no evidence for any of them in the bank.”

In another tweet, Schiff admitted that his bank does not comply with Puerto Rico’s minimum capital requirements. He explained:

My team did not understand the rules. We were new to PR [Puerto Rico]. We were required to keep more capital than we thought.

“I was prepared to add the extra, but the OCIF commissioner told me I did not need it, since the defect would be cured under the terms of the sale,” he claimed.

In response to a question on Twitter about how much the deficit was and how long capital requirements had been a problem, Schiff said: “There were millions.”

Euro Pacific Bank was under investigation by the tax authorities of five countries in 2020. Schiff admitted that he was accused of tax evasion, but emphasized that the accusations were false and that no charges were brought.

What do you think of Peter Schiff’s Euro Pacific Bank situation? Let us know in the comments section below.

Kevin Helms

An Austrian economics student, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open source systems, network effects and the intersection of economics and cryptography.