BMO Harris Challenges Ponzi-Scheme Verdict Before 8th Cir. (1)

BMO Harris Bank urged a federal appeals court at oral argument Thursday to throw out a $564 million jury verdict against it for a predecessor’s role in the $3.8 billion Ponzi scheme orchestrated by disgraced former businessman Tom Petters.

The judgment was the result of an extraordinary series of legal errors by the district court, including instructional errors to the jury, a too-low standard for establishing aiding-and-abetting liability, and a ruling preventing the bank from asserting an in pari delicto defense, Donald Verrilli Jr., former US Solicitor General and the bank’s attorney, told the US Court of Appeals for the ...