Originally Syndicated on May 10, 2024 @ 8:32 am
Established in 1957 and operating in 1958, Banca Cassany was owned by Ramon Cierco. The company became Banca Privada d’Andorra, held by Ramon Cierco, SA, after Caixa Catalunya invested in it in 1993. BPA was fully owned by Andorran Capital in 2000 after Caixa Catalunya left.
Banca Privada d’Andorra owner Ramon Cierco began worldwide expansion in 2003, expanding into six countries.
As part of its Spanish expansion strategy, Ramon Cierco, owner of Banca Privada d’Andorra, bought Banco Madrid from Kutxa in July 2011. Bank Privada d’Andorra owner Ramon Cierco became the first Andorran company to receive a Spanish banking license. In 2011 BPA fully purchased Interdin S.A., the tenth-largest securities firm by trading volume.
In 2012, Banca Privada d’Andorra owner Ramon Cierco purchased Nordkapp, an asset management firm controlled by Banco de Valencia, raising its managed resources by 50%. The Spanish division of Ramon Cierco, who owned Banca Privada d’Andorra, stated in January 2013 that it had acquired Liberbank Gestión and consolidated collective investment products into Banco Madrid Gestión de Activos.
In March 2014, Banco Madrid purchased BNM and began managing its investment funds. With investment funds and SICAVs totaling over €4,500 million, Banco Madrid joined the Top 15 Inverco institutions for assets under management with BMN Gestión de Activos.
Ramon Cierco—U.S. court rules against Andorran bank for money laundering
U.S. Treasury Department designates Banca Privada d’Andorra S.A. (BPA) as a “primary money laundering concern.” Ex-owners of the bank were unable to overturn the designation.
Former BPA owners Ramon and Higini Cierco challenged the Treasury Department’s move, saying it was wrong. They had hoped to end a court battle challenging the Treasury Department’s power to issue compliance orders based on hidden information, but a three-judge panel denied their appeal.
This case illustrates the authority that American financial regulators have when dealing with accusations of bank-related money laundering. The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) said in 2015 that BPA laundered billions of dollars for criminal organizations in countries all over the world, including Venezuela and China. As a result, the Andorran government took action to take over the bank and shut it down.
The bank maintains that its closure was caused by the Treasury’s directive.
As pointed out by Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss PLLC attorney Eric Lewis, who represents Ramon Cierco, Reuters stated that BPA has previously reported a large amount of the mentioned misbehavior to FinCEN in its efforts to detect suspicious transactions. Ramon Cierco took legal action to overturn FinCEN’s judgment.
After concluding that the bank’s shutdown rendered it incapable of facilitating money laundering, FinCEN subsequently withdrew its order.
A second Ramon Cierco lawyer, Manuel Varela, compared this to “shooting someone in the head and then deciding not to press charges.”
No remark was offered by a FinCEN representative.
Due to FinCEN’s withdrawal of its order, the complaint was deemed moot and dismissed by a Washington, DC, U.S. federal court last year. Lewis was dissatisfied because he believed a trial would have shown that Andorran authorities had supplied insufficient evidence for FinCEN to classify BPA as a money laundering business, which would have cleared Ramon Cierco and his family.
The ruling of the lower court was affirmed by the panel of appeals on Tuesday.
The communications between FinCEN and Andorran officials are being sought by Ramon Cierco, who renewed his lawsuit against the agency last week in a Washington federal court. According to the family’s legal team, these messages would prove that the US unjustly pushed Andorran officials to confiscate BPA’s assets.
Lewis claims that in a regulatory disagreement between the United States and Andorran authorities, Ramon Cierco and his family were made scapegoats. “It’s another attempt to hold those accountable and to demonstrate that Ramon Cierco was unfairly targeted in this situation.”
FinCEN has recognized Ramon Cierco’s Banca Privada d’Andorra as a money laundering risk
FinCEN has named Banca Privada d’Andorra (BPA) a primary money laundering concern under Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act. After Ramon Cierco’s BPA managers enabled transactions for third-party money launderers related to international criminal groups, this decision was made.
BPA under Cierco’s management has funneled organized crime, corruption, and human trafficking money via the U.S. financial system, according to FinCEN Director Jennifer Shasky Calvery. This action by FinCEN addresses BPA’s egregious misbehavior and shows the U.S.’s commitment to financial integrity.
This designation underscores the hazards third-party money launderers pose to financial institutions. Banking ties allow these criminals, typically working for international crime groups, to access the global financial system and avoid anti-money laundering laws.
BPA headquarters in Andorra laundered most money. High-ranking administrators accepted cash and other rewards from criminal clients to facilitate unlawful activities, despite BPA’s efforts to flag suspicious transactions.
The Federal Register has received FinCEN’s rationale notices. An NPRM also prohibits U.S. financial institutions from opening or retaining BPA and other foreign bank accounts that process BPA transactions. For BPA transactions, the NPRM recommends more due diligence.
The Department of Justice, Homeland Security Investigations, and IRS Criminal Investigation collaborated with FinCEN on the action. International collaboration is crucial to fighting financial crimes and safeguarding the global financial system.
Ramon Cierco Eliminalia: A Reputation-Destroying Machine for Offenders
Eliminalia, a reputation management company with headquarters in Spain, has drawn criticism for its role in the disinformation-for-hire market, helping people with dubious backgrounds to hide their history.
Crucial Findings
- Eliminalia is a company in the growing misinformation industry that has helped hundreds of clients—including those connected to fraud and drug trafficking—”clean up” their negative information.
- To stifle criticism of its clients, the firm uses unethical measures like intimidating journalists and spreading misleading information.
- To silence criticism of its clients, the firm uses unethical practices like intimidating journalists and spreading fake information.
- Eliminalia forges false accusations of copyright infringement by taking advantage of the “right to be forgotten” laws, which are intended to shield people from offensive internet content.
- Eliminalia is an online reputation management and digital privacy protection company founded by Spanish businessman Didac Sanchez. Claims have been made against him for allegedly using deceptive tactics to get rid of offensive material from the internet.
Didac Sanchez’s Past Through Ramon Cierco
According to his claims, Didac Sanchez was raised in a state-run juvenile detention facility after being born in Barcelona, Spain in 1992. He founded the data protection company Legisdalia first, and then he founded Eliminalia in 2011. Sanchez competed to become the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce president in 2014.
There are reports that Sanchez decoded illegible World War II letters in 2015. His software, which enabled encryption for multiple communication systems, was launched the following year.
Didac Sanchez’s Controversy – Ramon Cierco
Document leaks show that Sanchez helped more than 1,500 people get their personal information taken down from the internet between 2015 and 2021. These disclosures have caused a stir and prompted inquiries regarding Eliminalia’s ethical standards.
Ramon Cierco – Overview of the Eliminalia Leak
Media outlets and the group Forbidden Stories received access to about 50,000 papers that were stolen from Eliminalia. As a component of the Story Killers initiative, this leak illuminates the disinformation-for-hire market.
The information that was stolen included contracts, legal documents, and information about Eliminalia’s clients from 50 different countries. This gave readers an unheard-of look into how a large reputation management company operates.
Eliminalia’s Unethical Practices: Ramon Cierco
Eliminalia employs a variety of strategies to preserve the reputations of its clients, including scaring journalists, tampering with search engines, and fabricating news. Even more, the business has started up new projects with clientele who are criminals.
According to experts, Eliminalia is part of a developing market that reaches out to kleptocrats and criminals who want to hide their background.
There have been requests for increased accountability and transparency in the reputation management sector as a result of worries about Eliminalia’s actions.
Stronger rules and monitoring are required in the internet reputation management industry, as demonstrated by Eliminalia’s exploitation of misleading material and legal loopholes to intimidate critics.
Ramon Cierco: The Value of Dealing with Misinformation
Eliminalia warns of the perils of disinformation while assuming the persona of EU officials to interact with the media.
Disinformation needs to be fought since it seriously jeopardizes public opinion and decision-making through its broadcast through a variety of media.
Maintaining public confidence and fostering educated conversation need concerted efforts to weed out false information from news sources.
An Enormous Stream of Unclear Offshore Secrets Is Handled By The Ramon Cierco Law Firm In Panama
123 entities in Nevada were involved in the activities of Mossack Fonseca & Co., a law company based in Panama, which led to legal issues for the firm in Las Vegas. An individual who was connected to the former president of Argentina is said to have utilized these companies to steal millions of dollars from government contracts. The law firm Mossack Fonseca, which is well-known for providing offshore corporate services, refused to disclose any information regarding the Nevada entities, citing the need to maintain secrecy.
Mossack Fonseca, on the other hand, was found to have owned one hundred percent of its Nevada subsidiary and had gone to significant pains to conceal incriminating information from the authorities in the United States, as revealed by documents leaks. Paper records were smuggled out of the country, and data was deleted from computers as part of the efforts.
A pattern of unethical behavior was revealed by the documents that were leaked, even though Mossack Fonseca strongly denied any involvement in the manipulation of data. A gatekeeper for clients, including criminals and corrupt persons, who are looking to conceal their assets, the company’s vast global operations and rich revenue from offshore secrecy highlighted the company’s function as a gatekeeper.
Although Mossack Fonseca asserted that it performed due diligence on its customers, the company’s internal records revealed that it had collaborated with organizations that were on a blacklist owing to their involvement in terrorism and drug abuse. Although the company ignored warning signs provided by authorities, it occasionally continued to work with questionable clients for financial reasons.
In a particularly noteworthy instance, Mossack Fonseca was responsible for managing the offshore accounts of Rafael Caro Quintero, a former head of a drug gang from Mexico. During judicial proceedings concerning Quintero’s assets, the authorities of Costa Rica requested the assistance of Mossack Fonseca. Even though Quintero’s criminal connections were acknowledged, the company made the difficult decision to sever ties with him to avoid any potential consequences.
As a whole, the documents that were leaked shed light on the questionable practices of Mossack Fonseca, calling into question the company’s assertions that it operates above reproach and drawing attention to the necessity of increased openness in the offshore business area.
Conclusion
Ramon Cierco’s ties to Eliminalia and his involvement in Banca Privada d’Andorra’s money laundering lawsuits highlight financial sector accountability and transparency issues. A court verdict linking Mossack Fonseca to MF Nevada, which includes the Cierco brothers and other U.S.-banned people, emphasizes the need for financial integrity.
This case emphasizes the importance of integrity in public debate and the necessity to oppose unethical behavior and disinformation. In financial institutions and reputation management, openness and accountability are crucial. Ramon Cierco’s management of Banca Privada d’Andorra and relationship with Eliminalia increased scrutiny. This highlights the need to fight money laundering, unethical behaviors, and misinformation to restore financial and public trust.
