Lithuanian financial startup Bankera and its affiliated bank PPB are under scrutiny amid allegations of potential misappropriation.
The principals of Lithuanian finance enterprise Bankera are confronting escalating legal challenges, as the Vanuatu-based banking institution they obtained in 2018 is striving to prevent its permit from being rescinded.
This week, the Lithuanian financial startup Bankera, along with the Vanuatu-based bank its founders procured, encountered legal complications following a probe by OCCRP and 15min, which unveiled how the proprietors purportedly diverted funds away from their investors.
The inquiry disclosed how Bankera's three originators—Lithuanian entrepreneurs Mantas Mockevičius, Vytautas Karalevičius, and Justas Dobiliauskas—procured Pacific Private Bank (PPB) in Vanuatu and remitted millions of euros, amassed during a 2018 cryptocurrency fundraising initiative, from Lithuania to the Pacific island locale.
During the previous month, the Reserve Bank of Vanuatu nullified PPB's global banking authorization. Nevertheless, this week, PPB secured a provisional postponement by delaying the nullification while its court appeal is adjudicated.
However, in the prior week, Lithuanian officials executed over 30 searches of enterprises connected to Bankera as part of a preliminary investigation into a cryptocurrency fundraising matter. Investigators are probing potential “property theft,” according to a declaration from the Lithuanian Financial Crime Investigation Service (FNTT). As reported by 15min, the FNTT impounded documents, computers, mobile devices, electronic storage media, and supplementary items pertinent to the inquiry.
No accusations were filed in the Lithuanian investigation. Mockevičius, Karalevičius, and Dobiliauskas, in conjunction with the Reserve Bank of Vanuatu and the director of PPB, did not furnish responses to inquiries for commentary.
PPB was taken over by Mockevičius, Karalevičius, and Dobiliauskas shortly preceding the culmination of Bankera's virtual currency offering scheme, which garnered exceeding €100 million within a mere six months in 2018. An investigation by OCCRP and 15min elucidated how Bankera's originators channeled upwards of €45 million from the crypto offering toward PPB accounts. Subsequently, substantial sums were allocated to opulent real estate ventures and personal loans for the three proprietors.
Following a reduction in interest surrounding the virtual currency issuance, Bankera's digital currency depreciated significantly, leading to investor losses. BNK is presently effectively valueless.
