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OnlyFans Creators Are Being Denied Maltese Bank Accounts

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A Maltese adult content creator has been left feeling frustrated and discriminated against after being refused a Maltese bank account.

Jordan Grech, known as Mr Jewels on popular adult social media and subscription site OnlyFans, is planning on opening a new kiosk focused on healthy, affordable food. However, his plans to open up a new business account at a leading local bank was halted after his application was denied this week.

“I am being treated like a criminal because I have sex on camera and get paid good for it,” Grech told Lovin Malta.

“I was told that my application was being denied because of what I do – which is earn money from porn. I feel 100% discriminated against – I’m not doing anything illegal or evading tax or anything of the sort, yet I’m not allowed to open a new bank account in Malta.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/CJ0w1d8H8rV/

Having become self-employed over the last year after leaving his previous job, Grech said he had provided his tax returns and VAT certificate when applying for the business account months ago.

However, a meeting this week resulted in the termination of his application. 

“Everything was going well until I mentioned OnlyFans as well as using Revolut during a meeting this week… 30 minutes after our meeting I get a call saying the application had been denied – they had never even mentioned declining before I mentioned OnlyFans.

“They basically told me, you have everything in order, but we aren’t going to give you an account because you do porn, even though you’ve done everything we asked for months, we don’t like what you do,” Grech said in frustration.

“They pretty much told me they don’t deal with things like that, and I’m thinking, it’s money, that’s exactly what you deal with, even when it’s all above board,” he continued.

Maltese banks are known to be conservative in their methods and procedures, and often have strict requirements and criteria for acceptance or denial of new accounts, but Grech has now been left feeling like he is being treated like a criminal by the institution.

“I feel disappointed and infuriated, I’m trying to progress in this country, get my kiosk up and running to provide healthy, affordable food, and it is frustrating.”

OnlyFans provides a platform for adult entertainers to earn money as part of a subscription fee. During the Covid-19 pandemic, transactions rose seven-fold, to around €2 billion in revenue, and more and more people are opening accounts as a secondary or tertiary income in the global gig economy.

Lovin Malta spoke to other OF creators who said they hadn’t run into bank issues themselves, though they had never explicitly mentioned that part of their income being earned through the adult platform.

Watch Lovin Malta’s feature Island Pornstars below, taking a deeper look into the lives of modern Maltese adult content creators:

https://www.facebook.com/LovinMalta/videos/3622134784514351

What do you make of the bank’s denial?

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Johnathan is an award-winning Maltese journalist interested in social justice, politics, minority issues, music and food. Follow him at @supreofficialmt on Instagram, and send him news, food and music stories at [email protected]

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