In the summer of 2020, a Munich court issued a garnishment order to seize the bank accounts of CySEC-regulated Hoch Capital Ltd (file number 1539 M 46463/20). One of the payment processors involved was Deutsche Handelsbank, a notorious scam facilitator. As ordered, Deutsche Handelsbank submitted the data to the court and froze the Hoch Capital Ltd account, which held over €909,000. The company and its individuals are under investigation by German prosecutors for its massive involvement in many investment fraud cases as well as money laundering.
First Addresses For Scammers
Besides ING subsidiary Payvision, FCA-regulated MoneyNetInt, or Danish KBH Andelskasse, Deutsche Handelsbank was one of the first addresses for binary options and broker scammers. FinTelegram has dozens of payment receipts from various scams that prove that the victims made deposits to the scams via Deutsche Handelsbank. In many cases, regulators have issued public warnings against the scams, but Deutsche Handelsbank has not been bothered. It continued to launder stolen money for its scam clients.
Turning A Blind Eye To Scam Facilitation?
Germany is an excellent country for scammers and their facilitators. The collapsed high-risk payment processor Wirecard could become a DAX-listed unicorn because of a protective regulator and lax law enforcement. They turned a blind eye to it. Deutsche Handelsbank for sure belongs to the worst “supervised” enablers comparable MoneyNetInt, Payvision, and KBH Andelskasse.
The supervisory authorities in the different countries have taken action and put pressure on these financial institutions to close down or restrict their onboarding activities.
- MoneyNetInt has voluntarily restricted its onboarding activities since June 2021 after communication with the FCA,
- the MoneyNetInt affiliate GlobalNetInt (now Payswix) in Lithuania was fined with €350,000 because of money laundering problems issues.
- Payvision is being shut down by ING because of problems with scam facilitation and money laundering, law enforcement is investigating the money laundering allegations.
- KBH Andelskasse is being wound up because of money laundering problems.
- Deutsche Handelsbank announced in July 2021 that it would close down its payment business activities.
Deutsche Handelsbank announced in July 2021 that it would close down its troubled payment business activities. Evidently, the management thinks that walking away from the shady past is enough. But it surely isn’t
So What About Criminal Proceedings And The Victims?
The European Funds Recovery Initiative (EFRI), founded by the auditor and tax advisor Elfriede Sixt, filed a money laundering complaint against Deutsche Handelsbank in December 2020 based on ample evidence of scam facilitation. The public prosecutor’s office is currently investigating the matter.
In November 2022, EFRI sent a written demand to the Management Board of Deutsche Handelsbank on behalf of the affected victims, demanding recognition of the damage and restitution payments to the victims.
Based on the legal situation and case law, there is a mandatory liability of a financial institution if it intentionally or grossly negligently facilitates fraud schemes.
Elfriede Sixt, EFRI principal
EFRI refers, among other things, to several reports of the German regulator, BaFin, stating that the management of Deutsche Handelsbank was well aware that the compliance department was massively understaffed and that its IT system did not meet regulatory requirements. The failure to meet or violate regulatory standards would entitle victims to restitution payments under German law.
On November 23, 2022, EFRI received a reply from the management of Deutsche Handelsbank, denying any responsibility for the harm done to tens of thousands of victims. So EFRI has to do the following steps and start filing civil proceedings and provide more proof for the criminal proceedings.
So although the supervisory authorities are well aware of the issues at the banks and the harm done to ten of thousands of victim, no supervisory authority feels responsible for the victims and leave them alone.
Share Information
If you have any information about Deutsche Handelsbank or have lost funds to scams via the financial institution, please let us know via our whistleblower system, Whistle42.
