Bitcoin Critic Peter Schiff indicted in Tax Evasion controversy

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Popular Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff has become embroiled in a tax evasion allegation. According to reports, the American investor is part of a tax evasion probe involving multiple countries.

The probe report alleges that Euro Pacific Bank, a Puerto Rico based bank founded by Schiff had been facilitating tax evasion.

Schiff’s Bank named as a severe organized crime threat by Authorities

Melbourne paper The Age further reported that Euro Pacific bank has been targeted by a coordinated operation which was set in response to the Panama Papers leak.

Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission has identified the Euro Pacific bank as a severe organized crime threat. This has forced the commission to put the bank under the commission’s anti-money laundering regulations.

Euro Pacific maintains business relationships with some of the biggest financial institutions in the world, including the New York Federal Reserve, Japan’s Mizuho Bank, the UK’s NatWest Bank and Canada’s Bank of Montreal (BMO).

Australian authorities believe that the bank helped its Australian clients launder huge sums of money and evade taxes in the country. This is a serious accusation and one that could lead to the arrest of some of the top stakeholders in the bank including Schiff.

Schiff has protested his innocence in response to the allegation in an interview with Australia’s Channel 9. During the interview, he confirmed that Euro Pacific received a visit from the IRS working in partnership with the Australian Taxation Office earlier in January.

He said that after the visitation, the bank had complied with several information requests and had nothing to hide.

We somehow got caught up in whatever’s going on, but there are no valid allegations against the bank. I can tell you there is no tax evasion going on at the bank. The bank is not facilitating anything.

As expected the reaction by the crypto community was largely negative with many surprised that a notable critic of Bitcoin have been involved in alleged money laundering.