Law360 (October 18, 2023, 10:04 PM EDT)--Bank of America was dismissed unfairly from litigation over its alleged involvement in the $3billion TelexFree Ponzi scheme, victims of the scheme told a Boston federal judge Wednesday.

In a Wednesday motion, a proposed class of TelexFree victims told U.S. District Judge Timothy S. Hillman to reconsider a June decision in which he granted a summary judgment bid by the bank and dismissed the plaintiffs' sole surviving claim of tortious aiding and a betting against the bank.

The proposed class told Judge Hillman that he'd made the decision as Bank of America waged a "campaign of misdirection designed to deflect the court's attention away from irrefutable evidence" that it had knowingly facilitated the Ponzi scheme.

They emphasized that under Massachusetts law, providing routine services might constitute substantial assistance to something like a Ponzi scheme if  it's coupled with actual knowledge of wrongdoing.

"The court has been misled away from this foundational and broadly accepted principle," the investors claimed, contending that the bank facilitated tens of millions of dollars in transactions for TelexFree after closing its accounts by letting another defendant in the action, International Payment Systems, as a conduit for TelexFree money.

In Judge HiIIman's June order ending Bank of America's involvement in the action, he found that the plaintiffs had advanced "a very narrow theory of plausible liability" concerning the bank, contending that the bank's liability" rested on a single transaction" referenced in the action.

On Wednesday, the plaintiffs said that "irrefutable evidence" both old and new supported their claim that the bank should face their suit and "amply establishes that [BofA] continues to withhold highly relevant evidence to which plaintiffs are entitled before facing summary judgment."

The motion is filed inexpansive multidistrict litigation over the roles several financial institutions played in theTelexFree scheme, and the victims have alleged that the defendant banks provided accounts and "other services that theTelexFree insiders used to collect and abscond with massive amounts of money from their victims."

The victims are represented by Robert J. Bonsignore and Melanie A. Porter of Bonsignore Trial Lawyers PLLC, James M. Wagstaffe of WVBR Law Firm, J. Gerard Stranch IV, Michael G. Stewart and Kyle C. Mallinak of Stranch Jennings & Garvey PLLC, GeoffC. Rushing and R. Alexander Saveri of Saveri & Saveri Inc., D. Michael Noonan of Shaheen & Gordon PA, Ronald A. Dardeno of the Law Offices of Frank N. Dardeno, and Steven W. Rhodes.

Bank of America is represented by Kenneth I. Schacter, Ari M. Selman and S. Elaine McChesney of Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP.

The case is In Re: TelexFree Securities Litigation, case number4:14-md-0256, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

--Additional reporting by Katryna Perera. Editing by Jay Jackson Jr.