Banco Espirito v. BDO Internat'l

Description

Re-trial in accounting fraud litigation.

From CVN's prior coverage of the first trial...

This trial will determine whether BDO Seidman was an agent of BDO International, thus making the international accounting network potentially liable for a $500M+ judgment against US network member BDO Seidman.

The trial court ruled that the Banco Espirito's evidence could not have established agency, but the Florida Court of Appeal ruled that the plaintiff was entitled to a trial on whether BDO Seidman had acted as the international accounting network's agent, and thus the international accountancy network might be vicariously liable for the judgment against its network member BDO Seidman.

In the underlying case, Banco Espirito Santo's professional malpractice claim against accounting firm BDO Seidman resulted in a jury award of $170M in compensatory damages and $352 in punitive damages. Portugal's third largest bank alleged that BDO had conducted negligent audits for one of BDO's clients, failing to discover a $220M fraud that cost Banco Espirito $170M.

View free video clips from the case:
Plaintiff's opening statement -- Clip 1
Plaintiff's opening statement -- Clip 2
Defense's opening statement -- Clip 1
Defense's opening statement -- Clip 2
Testimony of Paul van Elten, BDO International Secretary -- Clip 1
Paul van Elten -- Clip 2
Paul van Elten' -- Clip 3