Investor Matteo Quintavalle's Depository Pacific Bank in Costa Rica Sued By U.S. Clients

The polemic and high-profile investor Matteo Quintavalle has been barred from leaving Costa Rica for six months. Quintavalle, originally from Italy, is under investigation after 17 of his client-investors filed a complaint. The investors alleged that they were no longer receiving payments as per their agreements with Quintavalle.

The plaintiffs also said that Quintavalle claimed his company-the Depository Pacific Bank-was affiliated with Banco de Costa Rica (Bank of Costa Rica). These claims were denied by Bank of Costa Rica in a statement released just days ago.

Costa Rica has restricted travel for not only Quintavalle but also for four of his business associates. All are under investigation for illicit association and for fraudulently offering credit, according to press representatives from Costa Rica's Judicial Branch.

Quintavalle's lawyer, Rafael Gairaud, says the investors' money was safe and guaranteed, and denies that payments were missed. For his part, Quintavalle told a local television news channel that the investors' concern was possibly caused by promises of high returns made by someone other than himself, though he did not specify who. "[If] that person offered absurd returns, it's his responsibility," he said.

Quintavalle, 34, emerged suddenly into the Costa Rican limelight in March with an unsuccessful attempt to buy La Liga Deportiva Alajuense (The Alajuelan Sports League), one of Costa Rica's top two soccer teams, for $3 million. He has invested in hotels and other businesses, particularly in the regions of Quepos and Manuel Antonio, on the central Pacific coast.

In April, Costa Rica's financial oversight body, the General Superintendence of Financial Entities (SUGEF) fined Quintavalle's company, Depository Pacific Bank, for the unauthorized use of the term "bank" in the company name. In early June, Bank of Costa Rica closed 11 of Quintavalle's accounts, which held a total of $10.5 million.

After the origin of Quintavalle's money was questioned, the investor said he arrived in Costa Rica with $4 million in funds-given to him by U.S. investors-which he had since turned into $28 million. Quintavalle has repeatedly claimed that his business is legitimate, and that he is being persecuted in Costa Rica because he is gay.

Your Latin America Insider,

Suzan Haskins
for International Living

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