Financial company had major role in downfall of Espírito Santo empire

A small Swiss financial company now known as Eurofin Holding SA, set up in 1999 primarily to handle transactions for the Espírito Santo family and their companies, is “at the heart of” the alleged accounting problems and fraud that caused the collapse of Portugal’s Banco Espírito Santo,

the

Wall Street Journal

reported.

Eurofin, which was partly owned by an Espírito Santo company until 2009, “played an important role in buttressing Espírito Santo’s finances,” the


Journal


report said. Eurofin moved money between the family’s entities, “often in ways that were difficult for outsiders to detect,” the article said.

Carlos Costa, governor of Portugal’s central bank, has said the moving of funds among Espírito Santo companies constitutes fraud, the


Journal


report said.

Eurofin gradually began offering wealth management services to other families, although its main mission was to serve the Espírito Santo family, according to the report. “Eurofin helped package large sums of debt from various Espírito Santo companies, which were then sold to the bank’s customers,” the


Journal


article said.  (Source:


Wall Street Journal


, Aug. 13, 2014.)