Aussie Court Finds 60 Minutes Defamed Peter Schiff Seven Times In “Exposé” That Led Up To Bank Shut Down

We wrote back in August that well known Austrian economist Peter Schiff had settled with Puerto Rican banking regulators, who had suspended operations at the bank after alleging that it had failed to meet capitalization requirements. 

There was also an investigation into whether or not Schiff’s bank helped people launder money or evade taxes, which came after baseless accusations were leveled at Schiff, culminating in a “gotcha”-type exposé that ran on Australian Nine Network’s “60 Minutes”.

Now, an Australian Court has found that the “gotcha” moment that may have put the entire ball into motion, disrupting Schiff’s business and personal life for years, actually “conveyed seven defamatory imputations” about Schiff and his bank.

Schiff wrote in a press release this week that “the Federal Court of Australia, in a detailed 48 page decision dated September 23 (NSD 1086 of 2021), found that Australia’s Nine Network, producer of “60 Minutes/Australia,” reporter Nicholas McKenzie, and producers Charlotte Grieve and Joel Tozer had published and conveyed seven imputations which are defamatory about financial expert and banker Peter Schiff and his Puerto-Rico-based Euro Pacific Bank in its October 18, 2020 TV broadcast.”

“Specifically, the judge found that these defendants defamed Schiff and his bank in seven specific defamatory imputations, such as ‘permitting his bank, Euro Pacific, to be used as a vehicle for around one hundred Australian customers to commit tax evasion,’ and that Schiff, himself, ‘committed tax fraud’,” the release says. 

As a result, Schiff is now calling for the U.S. Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service to suspend IRS Criminal Enforcement Chief, James Lee, for his use of similar false innuendo during a press conference that took place in Summer 2022 in Puerto Rico. 

“No criminal charge was ever brought against Schiff or anyone connected to the bank,” the release says. 

Recall, the 60 Minutes hit piece was laboriously broken down and explained almost immediately, in depth, by Schiff for over an hour and a half, on his own YouTube channel in the days after it aired.

“Why would anyone want to shut down a bank flush with cash, no debts, no loans, with a highly-qualified buyer committed to injecting millions in capital well in excess of regulatory requirements, ready to buy the entire bank at a fair market price. Then put the bank into receivership, needlessly tying up customer deposits for months, then sell off all the bank’s assets to the same buyer at a fire-sale price?” Schiff asked in the press release.

“The 60 Minutes hit piece created an unfair cloud over me that led to the bank being shut down.”

“The investigation found nothing. The bank didn’t help people launder money or evade taxes. So why is it getting shut down?” Schiff asked earlier this year.