Pequeños bancos internacionales de Puerto Rico se asoman en los Pandora Papers – Centro de Periodismo InvestigativoCentro de Periodismo Investigativo
The main banks with a historical presence on the Island have had EBI subsidiaries, including Banco Popular, Firstbank, Citi, Oriental and UBS. But in addition to these financial institutions, there are other lesser-known faces in this industry. The multinationals General Electric (1996-present), GlaxoSmithKline (1998-2008) and Wyeth (2004-2010) have had IBE in Puerto Rico, according to OCIF data. General Electric is the only one that still has an active IBE. OCIF indicated that it provides financing services for the purchase of household goods to people outside of Puerto Rico.
In the case of IFEs, the law allows them to do much more than an international bank. The list of activities allowed by EFI is extensive and flexible: investment management, financial advisory, real estate, buying and selling of metals, usurious loans, insurance and cryptocurrencies.
The first two EFIs established in Puerto Rico – PR Asset Portfolio 2013-1 International, LLC and PR Asset Portfolio Servicing International, LLC – are dedicated to the sale of delinquent loans in the real estate sector. Both belong to the same company, Caribbean Property Group (CPG), one of the main investors in Dorado Beach Ritz Reserve and Paseo Caribe. It also has three hotels and a corporate complex in Costa Rica.
Other EFIs in the same line of business include Blackheath, a subsidiary of the Blackstone group, owner of the Ritz Carlton hotel in Isla Verde, VRM, owned by businessman Rafael Rojo Montilla, and Blue Water, registered under Jim Taubenfeld, owner of Me Salvé. .
Between 2013 and 2018, OCIF issued 58 EFI licenses. And in just two years, 2017 and 2018, it approved 24 applications. Then the volume dropped dramatically – in the last two years only four licenses have been issued.
“I have seen a change in OCIF and the first specific change is the rigor they apply to EFI applications. At one point, a lot of licenses were approved in a short time, ”said Colón.
Zequeira attributed the decline to recent changes in tax rates that went into effect under the new 2019 Incentive Code and are applied prospectively.
In nearly 10 years, OCIF has only denied eight EFI requests, according to data provided by the agency.
There are also those who, despite obtaining their license, abandoned the idea.
In February 2014, the Venezuelan David Brillembourg Capriles registered an international bank in Puerto Rico under the name Brilla Bank International LLC. It never met the annual reporting requirement and the State Department terminated the entity in December 2018. EFI’s license was terminated in 2016.
Brilla Bank also obtained a license on the island of Dominica, but it was revoked in 2017.
Asked by the CPI, Brillembourg Capriles said that he intended to open an investment bank in Puerto Rico, but that he never operated. Since 2018, it has had a decree of Law 22 that exempts foreign residents on the island from contributions. It is also the developer of Loopland, a tourist residential project for millennials in the old Roosevelt Roads naval base in Fajardo.
The Pandora Papers place the businessman as director of STG SA, a public limited company in Panama. Although the entity remains in force and appoints him president, Brillembourg Capriles assured that he has not had any business in Panama for more than 10 years.
Brillembourg Capriles is also listed in offshore companies in Barbados, according to the Paradise Papers investigation. In 2017, Luis Benshimol sued him, who alleged that he created an “elaborate shell game” by using money from the sale of a hotel for his personal gain. Brillembourg Capriles denied the complaint and the complaint was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.
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