Bank account closed- and they are NOT RETURNING MY MONEY

mcplums

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Have you ever been asked by Fidor to explain where you got the funds to invest with?
Could they have sent you a message and you missed it?

Yes they asked, I told them, then they shut it down.

mcplums

colsten wrote: »

Let's say the money is found to be involved in any form of money laundering. Do you think the account holder would get it back?

Fortunately I'm not money laundering.

Do you think there are any lawful ways a bank can close account and not give the money back, in my instance?

The only explanation I have is that they assume, without evidence, that I am money laundering, and that therefore they assume I will not pursue them for my money back. I am pursuing them (via the European Commission) so hopefully when they are unable to prove money laundering I will get it back.

DCFC79

jonnygee2 wrote: »

You really should give up the Bitcoin trading. Whatever you are making, it's not worth the potential consequences.

I completely agree.

jonnygee2

Fortunately I'm not money laundering

How sure are you though? A huge amount of bitcoin is used in crime. You don't think you've traded any that were the proceeds of a crime, but the bank disagrees, and you can be sure they have evidence.

colsten

mcplums wrote: »

Fortunately I'm not money laundering.

In which case, if the bank agree with you, you will get your money back once they have concluded their investigation.

mcplums

colsten wrote: »

In which case, if the bank agree with you, you will get your money back once they have concluded their investigation.

Yes, apparently they don't agree, hence why I am complaining and getting it back via an arbitration body. This is not just a matter of opinion. They need to cite evidence- hopefully the arbitration body will force them to reveal what 'evidence' they have.

mcplums

jonnygee2 wrote: »

How sure are you though? A huge amount of bitcoin is used in crime. You don't think you've traded any that were the proceeds of a crime, but the bank disagrees, and you can be sure they have evidence.

They can't possibly have evidence since they cannot see any details of any bitcoins I've bought or sold. All they can see are GBP going in (from me) and going out (to a bitcoin exchange).

As for whether I'm complicit in money laundering or not (regardless of whether they can tell)- what matters, legally, is less whether or not bitcoin I sold was used in a crime, what matters is that I took the appropriate KYC/AML steps at all times. Otherwise every bank in the world would be !!!!ed. It is not possible to 100% prevent money being used for money laundering, all you can do is take the appropriate steps to prevent it. Which I do, by obtaining ID for all customers, source of funds for large purchases, etc etc. Furthermore, the KYC/AML laws do not even apply to bitcoin anyway- so what I've been doing is well above and beyond my legal duty. I have spoken to the FCA who are very clear on this point.

mcplums

jonnygee2 wrote: »

Yes, there are lawful ways by which banks can close accounts and withhold money.

You really should give up the Bitcoin trading. Whatever you are making, it's not worth the potential consequences.

Thing is, it seems to me that the potential consequences are in fact zero. The more I've read about my problem and discussed with various people, the more convinced I am that they will be forced to return it. Of course, if I'm actually in breach of any KYC/AML laws by doing what I'm doing then the potential consequences would be grave. But I'm not.

Why should I act like I'm doing something wrong when I'm not?

John_G_Jones

mcplums wrote: »

Yes, apparently they don't agree, hence why I am complaining and getting it back via an arbitration body. This is not just a matter of opinion. They need to cite evidence- hopefully the arbitration body will force them to reveal what 'evidence' they have.

They will never reveal it to you. The penalties for facilitating money laundering are massive (I.e. billions, not millions) and banks have a legal duty to freeze the accounts and investigate. They may want to know what you were using it for, was it gambling or payments, and if payments why would you use a currency that’s so frequently used for crime?

Edited to add, I see that you previously had a Santander account frozen for the same thing,

I'm fairly sure I know why it's blocked. I use my account for bitcoin arbitrage. I had about £800k of volume go through it in a 6 month period (never cash though).

So you seem to be either using the account for business and if not, look to be acting exactly as someone in the layering stage of money laundering would be. Quite why you think a U.K. bank will be happy to facilitate this is beyond me, what do you think is in it for them having someone abuse their account in this way?

brianposter

Have the FOS said that you cannot complain to them about FidorUK ?

And why is the small claims court not adequate as Fidor do appear to have some UK presence ?