On Tuesday, a jury in the U.S. said that Canada’s Bank of Montreal’s U.S. branch had to pay more than $550 million in damages because of a Ponzi scheme run by a Minnesota businessman. This cost the bank a total of C$1.12 billion ($834.2 million).
In 2009, a federal jury found businessman Thomas Petters guilty of running a $3.65 billion Ponzi scheme and gave him a 50-year prison sentence.
The lawsuit in Minnesota tried to get back almost $2 billion in damages that Petters had taken out of an account at Marshall & Ilsley Bank. In 2011, the Bank of Montreal bought Marshall & Ilsley Bank and took on its liabilities.
When the fraud was found out in 2008, these amounts could no longer be used to pay back creditors, a trustee said in a lawsuit.
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The bank was found guilty on a count alleging that its unit “substantially assisted or encouraged” businessman Petters to violate the law.
The Canadian bank said it would file an appeal to challenge the jury’s decision and the money it gave.
A spokesperson for the bank’s unit said in a statement, “We are disappointed with the jury’s decision, which is not based on the facts or the law.”
As part of the provision, Bank of Montreal said it would take a charge of C$830 million after taxes during the fourth quarter.
(1 US dollar = 1.3426 Canadian dollars)