Fairfield Sentry Limited (In Liquidation) v. Union Bancaire Privee, UBP SA

United States Bankruptcy Court, S.D. New York·Decided July 29, 2025·No. 10-03636·Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

In re: Chapter 15

Fairfield Sentry Limited, et al. Case No. 10-13164 (JPM)

(Jointly Administered) Debtors in Foreign Proceedings. FAIRFIELD SENTRY LTD. (In Liquidation), et al.,

Plaintiffs, Adv. Pro. No. 10-03636 (JPM) v.

ABN AMRO SCHWEIZ AG a/k/a AMRO (SWITZERLAND) AG, et al.,

Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS

APPEARANCES:

HARNIK LAW FIRM Attorneys for Vorarlberger Landes- Und Hypothekenbank AG (n/k/a Hypo Vorarlberg Bank AG) 1225 Park Avenue New York, NY 10128 By: Stephen M. Harnik

BROWN RUDNICK LLP Attorneys for the Plaintiffs, Joint Liquidators Seven Times Square New York, NY 10036 By: Jeffrey L. Jonas David J. Molton Marek P. Krzyzowski JOHN P. MASTANDO III UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY JUDGE

I. INTRODUCTION Pending before the Court is the motion of Vorarlberger Landes- Und Hypothekenbank AG (n/k/a Hypo Vorarlberg Bank AG) (“Hypo” or “Defendant”), to dismiss the Fifth Amended Complaint (the “Amended Complaint” or “Am. Compl.”) for lack of personal jurisdiction. Mot. to Dismiss (the “Motion”), ECF1 No. 817. The parties did not request oral argument on the Motion, and instead indicated that they were resting on the papers. See Letter re: Status of Remaining Oral Arguments, Ex. A, ECF No. 1323. For the reasons set forth herein, the Court DENIES the Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss. II. JURISDICTION The Court has jurisdiction over this matter pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1334 and 157 and the Amended Standing Order of Reference dated January 31, 2012 (Preska, C.J.). This Court previously concluded that it has subject matter jurisdiction over this and related actions. See In re Fairfield Sentry Ltd., 2018 WL 3756343 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. Aug. 6, 2018) (“Fairfield I”); see also Stip. Order, ECF No. 577. Personal jurisdiction is contested by the Defendant and will be discussed below. III. BACKGROUND This adversary proceeding was filed on September 21, 2010. See ECF No. 1; see also Amended Complaint Against All Defendants (the “Complaint” or “Compl.”), ECF No. 8. Kenneth M. Krys and Greig Mitchell (the “Liquidators”), in their capacities as the duly appointed

Liquidators and Foreign Representatives of Fairfield Sentry Limited (In Liquidation) (“Sentry”),

1 Citations to this Court’s electronic docket refer to the docket of Adv. Pro. No. 10-03636-jpm unless otherwise noted. Fairfield Sigma Limited (In Liquidation) (“Sigma”), and Fairfield Lambda Limited (In Liquidation) (“Lambda” and, together with Sentry and Sigma, the “Fairfield Funds” or the “Funds”) filed the Amended Complaint on August 12, 2021. See Am. Compl., ECF No. 679. Via the Amended Complaint, the Liquidators seek the imposition of a constructive trust and recovery

of over $1.7 billion in redemption payments made by Sentry, Sigma, and Lambda to various entities known as the Citco Subscribers. Id. ¶¶ 1–2, 205–06; id. Exs. A–C.2 Of that amount, Defendant allegedly received over $1.8 million through redemption payments from its investment in Sentry. Memorandum of Law in Opposition to Vorarlberger Landes- Und Hypothekenbank AG's Motion to Dismiss the Fifth Amended Complaint (the “Opposition” or “Opp’n”) at 1, ECF No. 1113; see also Declaration of Lena Konanova in Support of the Liquidators’ Opposition (“Konanova Decl.”) Exs. 2, 18–27, 37, ECF No. 1114 (Redemption Records). A. THE BLMIS PONZI SCHEME This adversary proceeding arises out of the decades-long effort to recover assets of the Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (“BLMIS”) Ponzi scheme.3 See Am. Compl. ¶ 1, ECF No. 679. The Citco Subscribers allegedly invested, either for their own account or for the

account of others, into several funds — including Sentry, Sigma, and Lambda — that channeled investments into BLMIS. Id. ¶¶ 2, 5, 15.

2 At the time of the filing of the Amended Complaint, the Plaintiffs made no specific allegations as to the exact amounts received by any of the beneficial shareholders. With respect to Hypo, the Amended Complaint states in relevant part that “[b]ased on Fund records, some or all of the Redemption Payments made to the Citco Subscribers may have been paid to an account holder or holders associated with the Beneficial Shareholder, Vorarlberger Landes UND Hypothekenbank Aktiengesellschaft.” Am. Compl. ¶ 112, ECF No. 679. The Amended Complaint alleges that several other defendants may have received redemption payments made to the Citco Subscribers. Id. ¶¶ 34–112. This opinion concerns only those payments that the Plaintiffs allege were paid to Hypo. 3 The Court will not recount all details concerning the Ponzi scheme perpetrated by Madoff. Details of that scheme have been recounted by many courts. See, e.g., In re Madoff, 598 B.R. 102, 106 (S.D.N.Y. 2019), aff’d 818 F. App’x 48 (2d Cir. 2020). Fairfield Sentry was a direct feeder fund in that it was established for the purpose of bringing investors into BLMIS, thereby allowing Madoff’s scheme to continue. Id. ¶¶ 5; 133–34; see also In re Picard, 917 F.3d 85, 93 (2d Cir. 2019) (“A feeder fund is an entity that pools money from numerous investors and then places it into a ‘master fund’ on their behalf. A master fund —

which Madoff Securities advertised its funds to be — pools investments from multiple feeder funds and then invests the money.”). BLMIS used investments from feeder funds, like the Fairfield Funds, to satisfy redemption requests from other investors in the scheme. Id. ¶¶ 5–7, 13. Without new investors, BLMIS would have been unable to make payments to those who chose to withdraw their investments, and the scheme would have fallen apart. Id. ¶¶ 7–8, 12–14, 134. The Amended Complaint alleges that investors received payments on account of their shares in the Fairfield Funds based on a highly-inflated Net Asset Value (“NAV”). Id. ¶ 7. The Citco Subscribers and the beneficial shareholders were allegedly such investors. Id. To calculate the NAV, administrators used statements provided by BLMIS that showed “securities and investments, or interests or rights in securities and investments, held by BLMIS for the account of

Sentry.” Id. ¶ 136. In fact, no securities were ever bought or sold by BLMIS for Sentry, and none of the transactions on the statements ever occurred. Id. ¶ 137. The money sent to BLMIS by the Fairfield Funds for the purchase of securities was instead used by Bernard Madoff to pay other investors or was “misappropriated by Madoff for other unauthorized uses.” Id. The NAVs were miscalculated, and redemption payments were made in excess of the true value of the shares. Id. ¶ 139. The Fairfield Funds were either insolvent when the redemption payments were made or were made insolvent by those payments. Id. Hypo is a “corporate entity organized under the laws of Austria” with a registered address in Bregenz, Austria. Id. ¶ 112. Hypo allegedly invested into and redeemed shares of Sentry through several companies within the Citco corporate family. Opp’n at 4-5, ECF No. 1113. Investments into the Funds were registered in the name of Citco Fund Services (Europe) B.V., and Citco Global Custody N.V (together, “Citco Global Custody”). Id. Citco Bank Nederland N.V. Dublin Branch (“Citco Bank”) allegedly carried out subscriptions and redemptions on behalf of Hypo and other investors. Id. Citco Bank and Citco Global Custody (collectively, the “Citco

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Fairfield Sentry Limited (In Liquidation) v. Union Bancaire Privee, UBP SA, (N.Y. 2025).

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