Benson v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.
Newswise — Berk Law PLLC along with co counsel, Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy and Keith Miller, filed an opposition to JPMorganChase’s effort to dismiss a lawsuit brought on behalf of victims of a $250 million Ponzi Scheme.
Steven N. Berk, counsel for the plaintiffs, said, “Its time for the courts to follow the law and not give banks a free ride or what amounts to another bail out. Large Ponzi schemes, like the one involved in this case, could not have operated or thrived without the knowing assistance of a so called “respected” financial institution. If the banks are made to pay, they will no longer allow themselves to be the breeding ground for fraud – and Ponzi Schemers will be relegated to the back alleys of the financial markets where they belong.”
These victims, many of whom lost their life savings, were lured into purchasing bogus certificates of deposit. In the suit, investors allege that JPMorgan Chase Bank, as the successor in interest of Washington Mutual, “aided and abetted” the scheme. The bank provided state of the art software that allowed for automatic deposits from a remote location (alleviating the need to go into the bank) and a wire transfer mechanism that could be run from a perpetrators laptop. Before these tools were provided, JPMorgan’s treasury department performed two audits that surely revealed the fraudulent nature of the enterprise.
In the face of obvious mischief, Sergeant Schultz of Hogan’s Heroes famously said, “I see nothing! I know nothing!” It appears that JP Morgan Chase has been cast for the same role. Unfortunately for investors, the stakes are much higher in real life. Due to JP Morgan Chase’s reckless and knowing behavior, $250 million of investors’ money was lost.
RSS