Banco Privado Português (, , abbr. BPP) was a Portuguese private bank based in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

. Founded by João Rendeiro it is currently in

liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a Company (law), company is brought to an end. The assets and property of the business are redistributed. When a firm has been liquidated, it is sometimes referred to as :wikt:wind up#Noun, w ...

. On 24 July 2009, Paulo Guichard and Salvador Fezas Vital, two former board

committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

members of BPP were suspended by

Banco de Portugal The Banco de Portugal (, ) is the National central bank (Eurosystem), national central bank for Portugal within the Eurosystem. It was the Portuguese central bank from 1846 to 1998, issuing the Portuguese escudo, escudo. Since 2014, it has also ...

, and joined João Rendeiro in the BPP case, to be indicted for falsifying accounts, tax crimes and

money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...

. On 15 April 2010, the

, Portugal central bank, "after verifying the impossibility of recapitalization and recovery efforts of this institution", ordered the

of the Banco Privado Português. On 11 October 2010, the Polícia Judiciária conducted searches at the homes of former officials of the BPP under the scope of an investigation into suspected money laundering and

fraud In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrato ...

. On 11 February 2013, João Rendeiro, Fezas Vital and Paul Guichard, former members of the board

were charged by the Public Ministry with

, in a matter of a

Collective investment scheme An investment fund is a way of investment, investing money alongside other investors in order to benefit from the inherent advantages of working as part of a group such as reducing the risks of the investment by a significant percentage. These ad ...

that damaged hundreds of clients for an estimated 41 million euros. In May 2015, assets from João Rendeiro were seized to pay a 4.7 million euro fine from the Bank of Portugal. On 29 September 2021, João Rendeiro announced in his personal blog he would not be returning to Portugal for his trial, and international arrest warrants were issued for him. On 11 December 2021, Portuguese police announced Rendeiro had been arrested in South Africa. The arrest was made at Umhlanga Rocks,

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL (abbreviated as ICPO–INTERPOL), commonly known as Interpol ( , ; stylized in allcaps), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime cont ...

's National Crime Bureau in

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

, acting on an Interpol Red Notice. On 13 May 2022, Rendeiro was found dead in his prison cell in Westville Prison, Westville, KwaZulu-Natal. The cause of death was ruled to have been suicide. The extradition of Rendeiro to Portugal was planned to be decided in court in June 2022.https://www.rtp.pt/noticias/mundo/joao-rendeiro-morreu-na-prisao-na-africa-do-sul_n1404831 (in Portuguese)

References

External links

BPP Homepage
Defunct banks of Portugal Banks established in 1996 2010 disestablishments in Portugal Banks disestablished in 2010 Former investment banks Portuguese companies established in 1996 {{Portugal-stub