TD Bank trial in $4.5 bln Stanford Ponzi scheme lawsuit ends

The three-month trial of a lawsuit against Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO), in which the liquidators of the collapsed Antigua bank of former Texas financier Robert Allen Stanford are seeking $4.5 billion in damages is expected to end on Wednesday.

A written judgment from the court is expected in a few months.

In closing arguments at the Ontario Superior Court this week, lawyers for the court-appointed joint liquidators of Stanford International Bank (SIB) alleged negligence and “knowing assistance” by TD in providing a correspondent banking account that Stanford used to perpetuate fraud.

TD’s lawyers said the bank did not know about the fraud, and that damages should be limited to the estimated $5 million in profit from its relationship with SIB.

Stanford is serving a 110-year prison term in the United States after being convicted in…