A bank regulator in Puerto Rico says it has suspended the operations of a boutique online bank that has been the focus of an international tax-evasion investigation and is owned by Peter Schiff, the outspoken libertarian economist and money manager. The regulator, the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions of Puerto Rico, issued the cease-and-desist order on Thursday against Euro Pacific Bank, which is based in San Juan, for having inadequate capital levels and compliance controls. Two years earlier, an international group of tax authorities known as the J5 opened an investigation into activities that allowed the bank to serve as a vehicle for suspected tax evasion and money laundering. “Euro Pacific has a long history of noncompliance,” the office’s commissioner, Natalia Zequeira Díaz, said in a statement. She added that the bank regulator 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.”

Source: International New York Times July 01, 2022 02:26 UTC