The Superior Court of Justice — Ontario has dismissed a motion for summary judgment from Toronto-Dominion Bank, which sought to dismiss a multi-billion dollar claim against the bank by the liquidators of Stanford International Bank Ltd. (SIB).
According to the court’s ruling on the motion, TD was SIB’s main correspondent bank until the Antigua-based bank was exposed as a massive Ponzi scheme in 2009, and collapsed. In 2011, the liquidators commenced an action against TD on behalf of SIB and its customers, seeking damages of US$5.5 billion for alleged negligence and knowing assistance. Those allegations have not been proven.
“Essentially, the claim alleges that as SIB’s correspondent bank from the 1990s to 2009, TD failed to act in accordance with the standard of care applicable to a reasonable banker,” the motion decision says.
“The plaintiffs allege that TD failed to conduct proper due diligence before it started providing banking services to an Antiguan off-shore bank, and compounded its negligence by continuing to provide banking services to SIB for 20 years. They allege that TD ignored public information and red flags that should have led it to terminate SIB’s access to TD’s facilities, report the conduct of Stanford and others to the appropriate authorities, and/or freeze SIB’s accounts,” the decision says.
TD brought a motion seeking a summary judgment to dismiss the claim on the basis that it came after the two-year limitation period had expired. TD argued that the bank’s previous liquidators ought to have known that SIB had a claim against TD before Aug. 22, 2009, based on the widespread publicity surrounding the case, among other things.
However, the court dismissed the motion, ruling that it could not determine, without a trial, when a possible claim against TD could have been discovered.
“The issue of when the former officeholders ought to have known that SIB had a potential claim against TD cannot be fairly adjudicated on this motion and is a genuine issue for trial,” the decision says.