Citibank (Bahamas) Ltd. is being sued in New York by three Italian nationals who claim they have been cheated out of more than $1 million, The Guardian has learnt.
According to a report in the April 30 edition of the Offshore Business Alert, the dispute relates to the Estate of Carlo Palazzi, a client of Citibank’s New York and Bahamas operations, who died May 13, 2000.
Silvio Villa, Michelina Capasso and Pierangela Melis, all of Rome, Italy, according to the paper, claim that Palazzi called Citibank by telephone from his hospital room four days before he died, designating them as his beneficiaries.
The plaintiffs described themselves as Palazzi’s “closest friends and business partners for most of his life” and cared for him “daily and nightly” after he was admitted to an Italian hospital 18 days before his death.
In a complaint filed at New York State Supreme Court on Jan. 23, they allege that Citibank (Bahamas) employee Georgette Dames formally rejected their claim in a letter dated Feb. 24, 2002.
“The reasons stated in this letter for such rejection were that Palazzi’s oral statement to Rocciolo was insufficient to effectuate a change of beneficiary request because it was not in writing,” it was alleged. Instead, Citibank transferred the “majority” of Palazzi’s assets to his cousins, Maria Luisa De Angeli and Giuliana De Angeli, in April 2002, according to the lawsuit.
Defendants in the lawsuit are Citibank NA, of New York, Citibank Overseas Investment Ltd., of Delaware, Cititrust (Bahamas) Ltd. and Francisco Rocciolo, a Citibank officer based in New York.
The plaintiffs seek damages of more than $1 million, or “the amount of Palazzi’s funds at the time of his death”, alleging breach of contract, negligence, conversion and breach of fiduciary duty.
On Dec. 28, 2001, Citibank dropped all retail customers and closed one office, due in part of the “strategy of business improvement, and cost initiatives with the repositioning of the business in certain geographic areas,” a bank official said at the time.
Citibank has had a presence in The Bahamas since 1960. In 2002, it sold its assets to Nova Scotia Bank.
Local financial experts have estimated that the Bahamas Government lost $12 million revenue in International Business Company fees in 2002, about $4 million for 2000/01 and projected revenue of some $1.5 million for 2003.
By Lindsay Thompson, The Nassau Guardian
