Receiver Reaches $100M Settlement with Trustmark Bank in Decades-Long R. Allen Stanford Case

On Jan. 19, 2023, Receiver Ralph S. Janvey and the Official Stanford Investors Committee filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas a motion to approve a $100 million settlement with Trustmark Bank on behalf of investors defrauded by Stanford International Bank and R. Allen Stanford. Trustmark was one of five banks sued for providing assistance to the fraudulent scheme. Fishman Haygood litigators Jim Swanson, Ben ReichardMolly WellsHogan Paschal, and Lara Richards represented the investors. Baker Botts and Castillo Snyder served as co-counsel.

A hearing on the Motion to Approve the Trustmark Settlement is set for May 3, 2023.  Click here to read more on the Receiver’s website.

Litigation in this matter began in 2009, when a group of investors filed a lawsuit alleging that The Toronto-Dominion Bank, Société Générale Private Banking (Suisse) S.A., Trustmark National Bank, HSBC Bank plc, and Independent Bank f/k/a Bank of Houston knowingly participated in the multibillion-dollar SIBL Ponzi scheme, the second largest on record. In 2012, R. Allen Stanford, chairman of SIBL’s board of directors, was sentenced to 110 years in federal prison for orchestrating the fraud.

In early 2022, the Honorable David C. Godbey, U.S. District Judge of the Northern District of Texas, denied summary judgment motions filed by the five banks and ruled that claims related to the banks’ knowing participation in the fraud would be tried. Trial for the four other banks named in the lawsuit is set to proceed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in Houston before Judge Kenneth M. Hoyt on Feb. 27, 2023.

Fishman Haygood regularly pursues cases against financial institutions who assist in fraudulent schemes. Our attorneys have decades of experience litigating securities-related litigations and arbitration. Click to learn more about the firm’s Ponzi SchemesSecurities, and Class Actions/Mass Actions/MDLs practice groups.