(iStock)
By:
Team of Hukumindo
The bankruptcy of a fintech company called "Synapse" caused thousands of customers in America to suffer losses. Due to the impact of bankruptcy, many customer balances were lost. Even if totaled, the losses are said to reach trillions of rupiah. Synapse is a fintech providing a platform that allows other fintech companies, such as Yotta and Juno, to offer banking services without having to have their own banking license. However, Synapse suddenly closed and filed for bankruptcy in April 2024. At the same time, the company froze customer funds held at partner banks such as Evolve Bank, American Bank, AMG National Trust, and Lineage Bank.[1]
As a result, fintech customers who are members of the Synapse network cannot access balances of around US$ 265 million or Rp. 4.3 trillion (exchange rate of Rp. 16,248/US dollar) for more than six months. What's worse, after the partner bank succeeded in opening access to customer funds, around US$ 90 million or Rp. 1.46 trillion in customer funds were lost and their whereabouts are unknown. Regarding this, CNBC then spoke to dozens of customers who had lost their balance. These customers have savings ranging from US$ 7,000 (Rp. 113.73 million) to more than US$ 200,000 (Rp. 3.24 billion). Starting from FedEx couriers, small business owners, teachers, to dentists.[2]
A customer named Kayla Morris lost money worth US$ 282,153.87 or Rp. 4.58 billion. In the hearing regarding the claim for loss of funds, he said that his account was locked for six months after the problem occurred. At that time he hoped that his money was still safe. However, it turns out that his money may not be returned in full, because Evolve is said to only be paying US$ 500 or Rp. 8.12 million. "We were told that Evolve would only pay us $500 of my balance of $282,153.87. This was a complete mess," Morris said.[3]
Then there is also a customer named Andrew Meloan, a chemical engineer from Chicago, who claims to have savings of around US$ 200,000 in Yotta. However, so far, the money has only been returned from Evolve in the amount of US$ 5 or Rp. 81,240. "When I signed up, they gave me an Evolve account number. Now they say they only have $5 of my money, and the rest is somewhere else. I feel like I've been cheated," Meloan said.[4]
A similar thing also happened to one of Yotta's customers, Zach Jacobs, who said he had savings of US$ 94,468.92 or Rp. 1.53 billion, but would only get a refund of US$ 128.68 or the equivalent of Rp. 2.09 million. Because of this, he started taking action to create an association with other victims called 'Fight For Our Funds'. This is done so that the victims can get more attention from the media and politicians. There were at least 3,454 people who registered with the group with total funds lost reaching US$ 30.4 million or Rp. 493.93 billion. This shows how massive the impact of Synapse's fintech bankruptcy is on customers in the US. Meanwhile Synapse and its partners, including Evolve Bank & Trust, are still blaming each other about improper balance transfers. "When you tell people this, it's like, 'There's no way this could happen'. But a bank just robbed us. This was the first great bank robbery in American history," Jacobs said.[5] And if you have any legal issue in Indonesia territory, contact us for business inquiry, feel free in 24 hour, we will be glad to assist you.
*) For further information please contact:
Mahmud Kusuma Advocate
Law Office
Jakarta - Indonesia.
E-mail: mahmudkusuma22@gmail.com
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References:
1. "Perusahaan Ini Bangkrut, Duit Ribuan Nasabah Rp 1,4 T Lenyap", www.detik.com., Ignacio Geordi Oswaldo, 09 Jan 2025, Diakses pada tanggal 20 Januari 2025, Link: https://finance.detik.com/fintech/d-7724407/perusahaan-ini-bangkrut-duit-ribuan-nasabah-rp-1-4-t-lenyap?mtype=mpc.ctr.A-boxccxmpcxmp-modelA
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
