The Reserve Bank of Vanuatu has revoked the international banking license of Pacific Private Bank (PPB), following revelations that the institution had been used to channel tens of millions of euros raised from investors in a cryptocurrency venture into private accounts and luxury properties. The decision marks a rare but significant regulatory response to a cross-border financial scandal involving cryptocurrency, offshore banking, and alleged self-dealing by the founders of Lithuanian fintech firm Bankera.

The move came after an April investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and Lithuanian news outlet 15min exposed how Bankera’s founders – Lithuanian businessmen Mantas Mockevičius, Vytautas Karalevičius, and Justas Dobiliauskas – used PPB to transfer more than 45 million euros raised during their 2017–2018 initial coin offering (ICO) out of Lithuania. These funds, investigators found, were subsequently diverted into shell loans, luxury real estate purchases, and even personal accounts belonging to the same trio.

The revelations have cast a long shadow over both Vanuatu’s offshore banking industry and Lithuania’s fintech sector, which had previously touted Bankera as a success story of European cryptocurrency innovation.

According to leaked bank statements and company records obtained by OCCRP and 15min, the three Bankera founders used their control over PPB to underwrite a network of loans to companies they also owned. These firms then used the proceeds to acquire properties worth millions of euros, including a €1.1 million villa on the French Riviera, as well as multiple real estate holdings in Lithuania.

Even more troubling, millions of euros were reportedly loaned directly to the founders themselves – with transfers often........

© Blitz