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The trustee for Peregrine Financial Group is considering bringing claims against JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and U.S. Bancorp (USB) for allegedly permitting the embezzlement that brought down the brokerage last summer.
May 10 -
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has sued U.S. Bank for its role in the Peregrine Financial collapse, alleging that it failed to properly handle the failed brokerage's customer accounts.
June 5 -
U.S. Bancorp CEO Richard Davis' lack of interest in bank deals, and enthusiasm for M&A opportunities in the payments business, are signs of the times.
July 18
Regulators asked a federal court Thursday to reject a bid by U.S. Bank (USB) to dismiss a lawsuit over its alleged role in Peregrine Financial's embezzlement scandal.
In its opposition, the CFTC argued that U.S. Bank inappropriately based its motion to dismiss on a challenge to the adequacy of regulators' evidence rather than on the validity of the allegations themselves.
"These arguments are not properly resolved on a motion to dismiss," the CFTC said in the court filing.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission
U.S. Bank, a unit of $352 billion-asset U.S. Bancorp (USB) in Minneapolis, filed a motion to dismiss the CFTC case earlier this month.
"U.S. Bank did not know about the Peregrine Ponzi scheme-indeed we were a victim of the same scheme," Tom Joyce, a spokesperson for U.S. Bancorp, said in an email. The CFTC's lawsuit seeks to impose on the bank responsibilities it had and alleges violations that it never committed, he said.
"Banks are not responsible for losses generated by customers who are fraudsters; nor are they responsible for the lapses of regulators," Joyce said. "This lawsuit is an inappropriate attempt to reassign blame to our bank."
A trustee of the Peregrine estate said in May that it
