Stanford Fraud Case Headed for Trial

In 2009, a group of Stanford International Bank, Ltd. (SIBL) 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.

On Jan. 20, 2022, the Honorable David C. Godbey, U.S. District Judge of the Northern District of Texas, denied the five banks’ summary judgment motions and ruled that claims related to the banks’ knowing participation in the fraud will proceed to trial. Fishman Haygood litigators Jim Swanson, Ben Reichard, Molly Wells, Hogan Paschal, and Lara Richards represent a committee of investors and individual investors defrauded in the scheme.

For many years, this matter, Rotstain et al. v. Trustmark National Bank, et al., S.D. Tex. Case No. 4:22-cv-09000, formed part of the multi-district litigation (MDL) arising from R. Allen Stanford’s Ponzi scheme. The MDL (MDL No. 2099) is currently pending in the Northern District of Texas. Judge Godbey, who oversees the MDL, simultaneously with his summary judgment order, issued an order resulting in the matter’s remand for trial to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Fishman Haygood regularly represents individuals who have invested in Ponzi schemes. The firm pursues claims against both the companies and the individuals who have orchestrated the fraud as well as any third parties who knowingly participated in or aided and abetted the fraud. Fishman Haygood attorneys also have vast experience in litigating other securities-related litigation or arbitration. Click to learn more about the firm’s Ponzi Schemes, Securities, and Class Actions/Mass Actions/MDLs practice groups.