BERYL A. HOWELL, District Judge.
This action pits the bankruptcy trustee for a defunct company, U.S. Insurance Group, LLC ("USIG"), against the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC"), acting as receiver for a defunct bank, the Park Avenue Bank ("the Bank"). USIG, through its trustee, seeks to recover $6.5 million from the Bank based on theories of fraudulent transfer, civil conspiracy to deceive and defraud, and conversion. The FDIC has moved to dismiss the Complaint, arguing that it has a superior right to the funds at issue and that the plaintiff failed to exhaust administrative remedies for the conspiracy and conversion claims. For the reasons explained below, the FDIC's motion to dismiss is granted.
On August 13, 2010, the plaintiff, Richard P. Jahn, Chapter 7 Trustee for USIG filed the Complaint in this action against the FDIC in its capacity as a receiver for The Park Avenue Bank. Compl. This action arises out of an alleged fraudulent scheme involving the Bank and its President. The details of this scheme appear undisputed and are important for understanding the legal arguments at issue between the parties here.
During the time period relevant to this case, Charles J. Antonucci was President, CEO, and Director of the Park Avenue Bank. Id. ¶ 5. Antonucci also owned a controlling interest in an entity called Bedford Consulting Group, LLC ("Bedford") and had close ties with a company called Oxygen Unlimited, LLC ("Oxygen"). Id. ¶¶ 5-6.
In the fall of 2008, USIG was experiencing serious financial difficulties and contacted Oxygen for "managerial and financial assistance." Id. ¶ 6. The plaintiff alleges that Oxygen proposed a scheme by which Oxygen would invest or loan $4.2 million to USIG and USIG would borrow an additional $800,000, totaling $5 million in new funding for USIG. Id. ¶ 7. Next, USIG would invest the $5 million in Bedford in exchange for a 40 percent interest in Bedford. Id. USIG would then obtain a $5 million loan from Park Avenue Bank, collateralized by the 40 percent interest in Bedford. Id.
During the period of October 6 through November 10, 2008, the plaintiff alleges that USIG transferred the $6.5 million to Bedford. Id. ¶ 13. However, the plaintiff contends that USIG has never received any interest in Bedford, nor any value in exchange for the funds. Id.
Once the $6.5 million had been transferred from USIG to Bedford, Antonucci directed Bedford to transfer the $6.5 million to his personal bank account. Id. ¶ 15. Antonucci, in turn, then transferred the $6.5 million to the Bank as a purported investment in the Bank's capital. Id. In exchange for his purported capital investment, Antonucci acquired a majority stake in the Bank's holding company, Park Avenue Bancorp, Inc. Id. Thus, in what the parties have referred to as the "round trip transaction," Antonucci managed to purchase control of the Bank for himself using the Bank's own money, after funneling it through Oxygen, USIG, and Bedford.
The plaintiff asserts that it did not have knowledge of Antonucci's manipulation of the funds, and that it did not authorize the misuse of its funds. Id. ¶ 16. Further, the plaintiff contends that the Bank retained the benefits of the transfers and ratified Antonucci's actions. Id. ¶ 17. Additionally, the plaintiff asserts that the Bank continued to charge USIG interest on the loan until the plaintiff filed for bankruptcy. Id.
On April 22, 2009, USIG filed a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition in the Eastern District of Tennessee. Id. ¶¶ 2-3. The bankruptcy court converted the case to one under Chapter 7. Id. On March 12, 2010, the New York State Banking Department closed Park Avenue Bank and the FDIC was appointed as the Bank's receiver. Mem. in Supp. of the FDIC-Receiver's
On November 3, 2009, the plaintiff filed an adversary proceeding in the Eastern District of Tennessee bankruptcy court against Bedford to avoid the transfers made by Bedford and to recover the funds. Compl. ¶ 2; In re U.S. Ins. Group, LLC, 441 B.R. 294, 295 (Bankr.E.D.Tenn. 2010). The plaintiff filed an amended adversary complaint on May 28, 2010, adding Antonucci and the Bank, through its receiver the FDIC, as defendants. In re U.S. Ins. Group, LLC, 441 B.R. at 295. On September 9, 2010, the bankruptcy court dismissed the FDIC from the adversary proceeding due to lack of subject matter jurisdiction, concluding that as a post-receivership suit, the plaintiff's action was barred by 12 U.S.C. § 1821(d)(13)(D). Id. at 298. The bankruptcy court stated that the plaintiff, pursuant to statute, could pursue "its action against the FDIC as receiver for [the Bank] in the district court of the District of Columbia." Id. Accordingly, the plaintiff is pursuing its suit against the FDIC in this Court.
The Complaint sets forth three counts against the FDIC as receiver for the Bank: (1) fraudulent transfer pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 548(a)(1)(B), (2) civil conspiracy to deceive and defraud, and (3) conversion. Prior to filing this Complaint, the plaintiff filed a proof of claim against the Bank with the FDIC. Compl. ¶ 1. The FDIC denied the claim by letter dated June 17, 2010. Id.
In response to the plaintiff's Complaint, the FDIC has moved to dismiss this action under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6). First, the FDIC argues that Count I for fraudulent transfer should be dismissed for failure to state a claim for relief under Rule 12(b)(6) because a federal statute grants the FDIC a superior right to the funds in question. Def.'s Mem. at 8-9. Second, the FDIC argues that Counts II and III for civil conspiracy to defraud and conversion must also be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction under Rule 12(b)(1). Id. at 5-8. Specifically, the FDIC argues that the civil conspiracy and conversion allegations set forth in the Complaint exceed the scope of the proof of claim filed by the plaintiff with the FDIC, which only asserted a claim for fraudulent transfer. Id. Thus, the FDIC contends that the plaintiff therefore failed to exhaust its administrative remedies for these claims.
The FDIC's motion to dismiss is presently before the Court. For the reasons explained below, the motion is granted.
To survive a motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), a plaintiff need only plead "enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face" and to "nudge[] [his or her] claims across the line from conceivable to plausible." Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007); Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). Although detailed factual allegations are not required, the Complaint must set forth "more than an unadorned, the defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me accusation," Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1949, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009), and may not merely state "a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action." Twombly,
A court must dismiss a case when it lacks subject matter jurisdiction. McManus v. District of Columbia, 530 F.Supp.2d 46, 62 (D.D.C.2007). "Plaintiff bears the burden of proving subject matter jurisdiction by a preponderance of the evidence." Am. Farm Bureau v. U.S. EPA, 121 F.Supp.2d 84, 90 (D.D.C.2000); accord Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 561, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992). It is well established that, in deciding a motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, a court must construe the allegations in the Complaint liberally but "need not accept factual inferences drawn by plaintiffs if those inferences are not supported by facts alleged in the complaint, nor must the Court accept plaintiffs' legal conclusions." Speelman v. United States, 461 F.Supp.2d 71, 73 (D.D.C.2006); see also Hohri v. United States, 782 F.2d 227, 241 (D.C.Cir.1986), vacated on other grounds, 482 U.S. 64, 107 S.Ct. 2246, 96 L.Ed.2d 51 (1987). The Court must be assured that it is acting within the scope of its jurisdictional authority and therefore must give the plaintiffs' factual allegations closer scrutiny when resolving a Rule 12(b)(1) motion than would be required for a Rule 12(b)(6) motion for failure to state a claim. See Macharia v. United States, 334 F.3d 61, 64, 69 (D.C.Cir.2003); Westberg v. FDIC, 759 F.Supp.2d 38, 41 (D.D.C.2011); Dubois v. Wash. Mut. Bank, No. 09-2176, 2010 WL 3463368, at *2 (D.D.C. Sept. 2, 2010); Hoffman v. District of Columbia, 643 F.Supp.2d 132, 135-136 (D.D.C.2009); Grand Lodge of Fraternal Order of Police v. Ashcroft, 185 F.Supp.2d 9, 13-14 (D.D.C.2001). In evaluating subject matter jurisdiction, the Court, when necessary, may look outside the Complaint to "undisputed facts evidenced in the record, or the complaint supplemented by undisputed facts plus the court's resolution of disputed facts." Herbert v. Nat'l Acad. of Sci., 974 F.2d 192, 197 (D.C.Cir.1992) (citing Williamson v. Tucker, 645 F.2d 404, 413 (5th Cir.1981)); see also Alliance for Democracy v. FEC, 362 F.Supp.2d 138, 142 (D.D.C.2005).
The Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 ("FIRREA") bars judicial review of claims against the FDIC as a receiver unless a claimant first files an administrative claim with the FDIC pursuant to 12 U.S.C. § 1821(d)(5). See 12 U.S.C. § 1821(d)(13)(D); see also Freeman v. FDIC, 56 F.3d 1394, 1399-1400 (D.C.Cir. 1995) (explaining that 12 U.S.C. § 1821(d) creates a jurisdictional bar that requires a claimant to exhaust administrative remedies before bringing a claim or action in court against the FDIC as receiver). If the FDIC disallows an administrative claim, the claimant may then seek district court review in either the district in which the depository institution's principal place of business is located or in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. 12 U.S.C. § 1821(d)(6)(A).
In Count I of the Complaint, the plaintiff seeks to avoid the transfer by
12 U.S.C. § 1821(d)(17) (emphases added). The FDIC argues that if the allegations of Count I of the Complaint are accepted as true, as they must be in deciding a motion to dismiss, then they establish a fraudulent transfer that defrauded the Bank and the FDIC, and that, pursuant to Section 1821(d)(17), the FDIC as receiver has a superior right to the funds at issue. Def.'s Mem. at 9. While USIG may have been a victim of the same fraudulent scheme as the Bank and the FDIC, the FDIC's position is that its rights under FIRREA trump the plaintiff's right to recover the funds now held by the FDIC as receiver for the Bank.
The plaintiff counters that the FDIC has misconstrued its rights under the statute in at least three ways. First, the plaintiff argues that, under Subparagraphs (B) and (D), any superior right of the FDIC is "limited to property `recovered' as a result of transfers `avoided under Subsection (A)'" of Section § 1821(d)(17). Pl.'s Opp'n at 4. Here, the plaintiff points out that the FDIC has not initiated any actions to
The plaintiff's first argument concerns whether any superior rights of the FDIC under Section 1821(d)(17) are limited to property "recovered" as a result of transfers avoided under Subsection (A) of Section 1821(d)(17). The FDIC contends that Section 1821(d)(17) entails two distinct sets of rights — the right to avoid transfers, addressed in Subparagraph (A), and the right to recovery of property, addressed in Subparagraph (B). See Reply Mem. at 7. While the FDIC does not cite any case law for this proposition, a comparison with a bankruptcy trustee's powers to avoid transfers and recover property is instructive because Section 1821(d)(17) parallels the fraudulent transfer avoidance and recovery provisions of the Bankruptcy Code. See 5-548 Collier on Bankruptcy ¶ 548.01 ("The avoidance and recovery powers granted to the FDIC under [12 U.S.C. § 1821(d)(17) ] mirror those of section 550 [of the Bankruptcy Code], permitting the FDIC not only to avoid the transaction, but to recover, with court permission, its money equivalent from the initial and later transferees.").
"Avoidance is the setting aside or nullification of a transaction." Id. ¶ 548.10. "Nullification generally means that the
Subparagraph (D) of the Section 1821(d)(17) states, in pertinent part, that "[t]he rights under this paragraph of the [FDIC] ... shall be superior to any rights of a trustee or any other party (other than any party which is a Federal agency) under Title 11." 12 U.S.C. § 1821(d)(17)(D). Thus, by the language of the statute, the FDIC's superior rights extend to all rights "under this paragraph" — i.e., all rights under Section 1821(d)(17) — and not merely to the right of recovery set forth in Subparagraph (B). If Congress had intended to limit the FDIC's superior rights to the right of recovery alone, the statute presumably would have specified that "the rights under subparagraph (B)" shall be superior to those of a trustee. This conclusion is especially evident from the fact that Subparagraph (C), which limits the FDIC's right of recovery against good faith transferees, is phrased in precisely that manner. See 12 U.S.C. § 1821(d)(17)(C) ("The [FDIC] ... may not recover under subparagraph (B) from... any transferee that takes for value ... in good faith...."). Accordingly, the Court rejects the plaintiff's argument that any superior right of the FDIC is limited to property "recovered" as a result of transfers "avoided under Subsection (A)" of Section § 1821(d)(17). Rather, Section 1821(d)(17) provides the FDIC with the right to avoid transfers and the right to recover property and makes these rights superior to comparable rights of the bankruptcy trustee.
The next question is whether the FDIC may rely on its rights under Section 1821(d)(17) as a shield to prevent the plaintiff
To succeed on a fraudulent transfer claim under Section 1821(d)(17), "the F.D.I.C. must show that the transfer was made by the debtor of the financial institution within five years of the F.D.I.C.'s appointment as conservator or receiver, and that that debtor `voluntarily or involuntarily made such transfer or incurred such liability with the intent to hinder, delay, or defraud the insured depository institution, the [FDIC] or other conservator, or any other appropriate Federal banking agency.'" Elio, 39 F.3d at 1245 (quoting 12 U.S.C. 1821(d)(17)(A)). The plaintiff contends that USIG is not a "debtor" with respect to the transfers it seeks to avoid under Count I — the transfers of money from USIG to Bedford, for which USIG contends it is a creditor. Pl.'s Opp'n at 4 n. 5. Further, the plaintiff submits that even if it is deemed a "debtor," "there is no allegation in Count I of the Complaint that USIG transferred the funds at issue with intent to hinder, delay, or defraud the Bank." Id. at 4. These arguments are unavailing.
There is no requirement in the statute that USIG be a debtor with respect to any particular avoidable transfer. Rather, the FDIC may avoid an intentionally fraudulent transfer "of ... any person who the [FDIC] ... determines is a debtor of the institution...." 12 U.S.C. § 1821(d)(17)(A). The plaintiff's allegations
The Court now must consider whether Subparagraph (C) negates the FDIC's claim to the money. Subparagraph (C) provides, in pertinent part, that the FDIC "may not recover under subparagraph (B) from ... any transferee that takes for value ... in good faith; or ... any immediate or mediate good faith transferee of such transferee." 12 U.S.C. § 1821(d)(17)(C). The plaintiff argues that, at a minimum, the FDIC can have "no `superior rights' with respect to recovery of the $2.3 million loaned by the Bank to USIG" because USIG accepted the loan proceeds for value, in the form of the promissory note, and in good faith. See Pl.'s Opp'n at 5; see also Compl. ¶ 30 ("The Bank, through its agent, Antonucci, has wrongfully transferred and acquired proceeds of loans acquired in good faith by USIG pursuant to the loan agreements."). The Complaint does not allege that USIG had any knowledge of the fraudulent scheme embodied in the Oxygen proposal.
The FDIC does not dispute the plaintiff's allegation that USIG took the $2.3 million loan for value as a good faith transferee. Rather, the FDIC, relying on the language of Subparagraph (C), argues that this fact is only relevant where the FDIC is attempting to exercise its right to recovery
This outcome is consistent with the purposes of Section 1821(d)(17), which, broadly speaking, gives the FDIC priority in recovering fraudulently transferred funds to which a bankruptcy trustee may have a competing claim. Accordingly, the motion to dismiss Count I is granted.
Both parties agree that this Court is without subject matter jurisdiction to hear the plaintiff's claims for civil conspiracy and conversion if the plaintiff did not exhaust administrative remedies for those claims by submitting an appropriate administrative claim to the FDIC. Pl.'s Opp'n at 6; see also Freeman v. F.D.I.C., 56 F.3d 1394, 1399-1400 (D.C.Cir. 1995) (explaining that 12 U.S.C. § 1821(d) creates a jurisdictional bar that requires a claimant to exhaust administrative remedies before bringing a claim or action in court against the FDIC as receiver). It is also undisputed that the administrative proof of claim the plaintiff filed with the FDIC does not mention any claims for civil conspiracy or conversion, but rather refers only to a $6.5 million claim for fraudulent transfer under 11 U.S.C. §§ 548 and 550. See Proof of Claim, Exhibit 1 to the Declaration of Kathleen M. Balderston, dated December 22, 2010. Thus, the dispute between the parties centers on whether this proof of claim gave the FDIC sufficient notice of the conspiracy and conversion claims, despite not identifying those claims.
The plaintiff argues that the relevant inquiry for the Court is "whether the proof of claim provided the FDIC with such notice of the claim as to enable the FDIC to expeditiously and fairly evaluate it." Pl.'s Opp'n at 7. The FDIC responds that, even under this standard, the plaintiff's conspiracy and conversion claims are barred because these are entirely new legal theories of recovery for which the proof of claim gave no notice at all. Reply Mem. at 2-3. The law supports the FDIC's position.
The plaintiff relies on two cases from outside this Circuit to support its argument: Branch v. FDIC, 833 F.Supp. 56 (D.Mass.1993) and Nants v. FDIC, 864 F.Supp. 1211 (S.D.Fla.1994). In Branch, the plaintiff's complaint included seven new transactions that had not been listed in the plaintiff's original administrative proof of claim filing. Branch, 833 F.Supp. at 59. The Branch court allowed the plaintiff's complaint to stand, despite the addition of these transactions. The new transactions in the Branch complaint, however, were consistent with the "broad pattern" of transfers detailed in the plaintiff's
For the reasons discussed above, the FDIC's motion to dismiss is granted.