Court Approves $54 Million Settlement Between Comerica and Ponzi Scheme Investors
From the Desk of Jim Eccleston at Eccleston Law:
A California federal judge has initially approved a $54.2 million agreement between Comerica Bank and a class of about 8,000 investors, who accused the bank of abetting a Ponzi scheme by Woodbridge Group. Nearly 61% of the class are members of the Woodbridge Liquidation Trust while the rest are individual investors, according to the motion for approval.
The agreement pays aggrieved investors based on a formula, which calculates the investor’s outstanding unpaid principal minus all pre-bankruptcy distributions. The settlement reaches the limits of Comerica’s insurance coverage, according to a source familiar with the matter. The investors obtained class certification in April after accusing Comerica of aiding and abetting the Woodbridge scheme by ignoring Woodbridge’s history of fraud, a notice of investigations by regulators as well as alerts from its proprietary fraud detection system.
Eccleston Law LLC represents investors and financial advisors nationwide in securities, employment, regulatory and disciplinary matters.
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