Source: Cointelegraph
Original: “Reportedly, Bankera Founders Used ICO Funds to Purchase Real Estate Worldwide”
According to a report by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), the founders of the cryptocurrency fintech company Bankera misappropriated funds raised during the project's 2018 ICO to purchase luxury properties around the world.
In a report on April 28, OCCRP cited leaked company records and bank statements indicating that nearly half of the 100 million euros (approximately 114 million USD) raised by Bankera through the ICO was transferred to a bank in Vanuatu, a South Pacific island nation, which was acquired by the project's founders Vytautas Karalevičius, Justas Dobiliauskas, and Mantas Mockevičius.
Reportedly, shortly thereafter, this Vanuatu bank began issuing millions of euros in loans to companies owned by the three, aimed at building a luxury real estate portfolio—including a villa on the French Riviera and high-end properties in Lithuania, the project's country of origin.
Leaked records and reports show that these funds were used to provide loan guarantees to other companies, which were then used to acquire high-end real estate.
According to the OCCRP report, the Vanuatu bank also directly provided millions of euros in "personal use" loans to the three founders.
It is reported that the founders' attorney denied any fraud allegations related to the ICO but declined to comment on specific transactions.
Cointelegraph has reached out to Bankera for comment but has not received an immediate response.
Bankera: Overpromised, Underdelivered
Bankera had promised to become "the bank of the blockchain era," offering a full suite of retail and institutional investment services while supporting the storage and trading of mainstream cryptocurrencies.
Many investors were attracted to the Bankera (BNK) token ICO due to its promise of discounted rates on Bankera service products and the opportunity to receive weekly BNK dividends.
However, one Bankera ICO investor revealed to OCCRP that these weekly dividends quickly fell "significantly below the promised amount." It is reported that the profit distribution scheme was terminated in 2022.
The report also indicated that Bankera had promised to obtain an EU banking license but has yet to achieve this.
According to CoinGecko data, despite raising 100 million euros through the ICO, the fully diluted valuation of the BNK token is currently only 975,710 USD.
Bankera continues to offer cryptocurrency-related banking services and maintains an active social media presence on LinkedIn, while its activity on the X platform is relatively low.
Related: Abu Dhabi Institutional Giants Join Forces to Launch Dirham Stablecoin
免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。
