IRS Accused of Orchestrating Bank Shutdown for PR Stunt

Summary

Puerto Rico's Europacific Bank was shut down on June 30th, 2022, not due to insolvency or illegal activity, but as part of a quid pro quo arrangement between the IRS and Puerto Rico's Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions (OSF). Internal IRS and OSF emails reveal the IRS needed a high-profile shutdown to compensate for its failed 'Atlantis' investigation, which found no evidence of wrongdoing by the bank. The shutdown was presented to the public as an independent OSF action, but evidence shows it was a coordinated effort negotiated with the IRS, supported by Puerto Rican officials, and planned months in advance. The IRS and its J5 partners, a global tax enforcement group, then launched a publicity campaign falsely claiming the bank facilitated tax evasion and money laundering, despite their own investigations yielding no proof. This coordinated effort aimed to create a public success story for the J5 and salvage the IRS's reputation. The bank's owner, who filed a FOIA lawsuit and a civil rights lawsuit, claims the bank was 100% reserve with no debt, and no customers were ever in danger, indicating no emergency existed. The transcript also touches on allegations of abuse of power by a former OSF commissioner in an unrelated matter, suggesting a pattern of misconduct.