I’ve had the same thing happen with Citi. No warning, just woke up and found mine and my wife’s accounts frozen pending closure. I’m sure heads will roll when they realize who they’ve upset, but as for me I never found out.
Usually when there’s no reason provided it’s because an account tripped some anti money laundering rule(s). Someone in a compliance team then reviews the account and makes a determination.
By US law you can’t tell the customer that you’re closing their account because you thought it was “suspicious.” You just do it and then submit a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) to FinCEN.
I can see how a high net worth individual could have account activity that looks like money laundering, but given his long history with the bank would be surprised if this decision was made automatically or by some junior analyst. It must have been escalated to someone senior, and they must have known who he was and still made the decision.
I don't understand the response of "Bitcoin". I mean, his money didn't vanish, right? They just are firing him as a customer, and they aren't the only bank in the world.
I would imagine the relevance is this individual was CFO of PayPal and the general attitude of replies to the tweet can be summed up as "you reap what you sow".
Not sure how he can expect sympathy... And yet he gets it; must be the short memory of the internet. Paypal made many people miserable with their ‘fraud protection’ so I guess he should totally understand this course of action.
I have very little sympathy for anyone behind Paypal, even past founders, having their accounts frozen now. I should be better, but I just don't have that kind of charity in me at the moment.
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[ 4.8 ms ] story [ 42.4 ms ] threadBy US law you can’t tell the customer that you’re closing their account because you thought it was “suspicious.” You just do it and then submit a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) to FinCEN.
I can see how a high net worth individual could have account activity that looks like money laundering, but given his long history with the bank would be surprised if this decision was made automatically or by some junior analyst. It must have been escalated to someone senior, and they must have known who he was and still made the decision.
> Paypal closed my business account, and kept $5000 for 6 months. No explanation, no one to discuss with.
Some of the Twitter responses make this sound like poetic justice.
Lowest ranked banks: Wells Fargo, Bank of America, HSBC, First National, Citibank, Chase
It's not really surprising for the second lowest ranked bank to close accounts without warning.
I have very little sympathy for anyone behind Paypal, even past founders, having their accounts frozen now. I should be better, but I just don't have that kind of charity in me at the moment.
May you reap what you sow.