Chistopher J. Gray. P.C. and its co-counsel filed an Amended Complaint in the consolidated class action lawsuit against, among others, Bank of America and certain commodities Futures Commission Merchants alleging aiding and abetting commodities fraud in connection with a fraudulent "Ponzi" scheme known as Agape operated by a man named Nicholas Cosmo (who has also been charged with several crimes by the United States government arising out of the same scheme).
The Amended Complaint, filed July 17, 2009, alleges that Bank of America aided and abetted Cosmo and Agape's scheme by:
a. allowing Cosmo, a convicted felon, to open, direct, control and haveextraordinary access to at least two dozen accounts under different names (among which accounts Cosmo regularly made multi-million dollartransfers of funds);
b. enabling Cosmo and Agape to transfer investor funds between different named accounts, in effect, "sweeping" all monies into one account controlled by Cosmo;
c. providing Agape with confidential customer account information for Agape to utilize in soliciting new investors;
d. assigning one or more representatives to work directly out of Cosmo's office, which was approximately 28 miles from the branch where Agape and Cosmo had their bank accounts;
e. providing its on-site representatives at Agape with bank equipment and/or computer systems to enable them to directly access Bank of America'saccounts and computer systems, monitor and check account balances, accept deposits and issue checks, directly from Agape's office; and
f. approving and effecting, on a regular basis, transfers of up to $100 milliondollars in wires from Agape's accounts to commodities and futures trading firms.
The Amended Complaint further alleges that Bank of America provided Agape and Cosmo with this extraordinary assistance even though Bank of America's onsite representatives had actual knowledge that Cosmo was commingling investor money, diverting investor money to his own accounts, engaging invirtually no legitimate business whatsoever and speculatively trading investor money in the commodities markets as an unregistered commodities pool.
The defendants' response to the Amended Complaint is due to be filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York on August 31, 2009. The Amended Complaint and the indictment of Cosmo are accessible below.
09.7.17 cac.pdf (147.25 kb)
cosmo indictment.pdf (388.21 kb)