A major class action lawsuit has been filed against Berkshire Bank, accusing the financial institution of aiding and abetting Miles Burton Marshall, the Upstate New York man charged with orchestrating a $100 million Ponzi scheme that defrauded nearly 1,000 investors.

Fox Rothschild Partners Robert Elgidely, Catherine Youngman and Joseph DiPasquale are representing Fred Stevens, the court-appointed Plan Administrator and Assignee of 369 investor-victim claims. Stevens and a putative class of investor-victims allege that Berkshire Bank enabled the Ponzi scheme by not closing the accounts or reporting Marshall to law enforcement authorities despite repeated red flags, suspicious activities and an explicit warning from another financial institution over the course of eight years.

According to Elgidely, “Mr. Stevens’s pre-suit investigation revealed compelling evidence supporting his allegations that Berkshire Bank had actual knowledge and rendered substantial assistance to Marshall’s Ponzi scheme. While touting its commitment to the community in its marketing materials, Berkshire Bank allowed Marshall to victimize members of the community so that it could profit from his substantial deposit account balances. Indeed, Berkshire Bank appeared to have a 'silence for the sake of profits' policy. We look forward to presenting these facts to the federal district court so it can determine Berkshire Bank’s liability to the thousands of investor-victims of Marshall’s scheme.”

The class of investor-victims is represented by Peiffer Wolf Partners Jason Kane and Dan Centner, and Scott Silver, Peter Spett, and Ryan Schwamm of Silver Law Group. The lawsuit was filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York.

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