On June 23, 2023, a federal judge in St. Paul ordered BMO Harris Bank to pay pre- and post-judgment interest on the $564 million jury verdict awarded to Robins Kaplan client Douglas A. Kelley in one of the largest Ponzi scheme cases in U.S. history, bringing the award and BMO’s total liability to over $1 billion.
The case involved former Wayzata fraudster Tom Petters, who was convicted and sentenced to 50 years in prison for fraud using accounts held at M&I Bank, which was acquired in 2011 by BMO Harris Bank. In November 2022, a Minnesota jury found that BMO aided and abetted breaches of fiduciary duty by Petters and his cohorts in using an M&I checking account to launder nearly $74 billion in Ponzi scheme proceeds between 2002 and 2008. The jury awarded approximately $564 million in damages to Kelley in his capacity as trustee for the BMO Litigation Trust.
“We are thrilled with this outcome and Judge Wright’s incredibly detailed Order on these issues. We can now move to our final step in getting justice for Mr. Kelley so he can repay those folks who lost money because of BMO’s actions,” said lead trial counsel Michael Collyard.
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