Estonian P2P lenders Envestio and Kuetzal declared bankrupt
Collapsed Estonian peer-to-peer lenders Envestio and Kuetzal have officially been declared bankrupt.
Business registry documents in Estonia show Andres Hermet was appointed as bankruptcy trustee for both companies this month.
The move means investors will have to file claims with the bankruptcy trustee to try to get their money back.
Claims forms can be obtained by emailing [email protected].
Investors raised the alarm on Envestio in January after it seemingly shut down while still holding €33m (£27.87m) of lender funds.
Concerns also emerged over who owns Kuetzal and who its borrowers really are.
The Estonian police force has since launched a fraud investigation into the platforms.
“Estonian police has started two criminal investigations regarding both crowdfunding platforms,” Estonia’s police and border guard board said in a statement.
“Our first objective in the investigations is to find out whether it was a fraud and the platforms were created with the purpose of deceiving people, or the websites were closed due to a bad investment.
“Estonian police are cooperating with police within the European Union in order to simplify the process of making an application regardless of where you are located.
P2P investors had been planning separate legal action against the platforms but it is unclear if this will still go ahead if they are in bankruptcy proceedings.
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