In a poignant sign of the deepening financial crisis, two families are suing Deutsche Bank claiming that the bank's involvement in pushing them to invest in a "virtually risk-free" Aravali Fund cost them $13 million - and drove their longtime friend and financial adviser to commit suicide out of guilt.
A spokesman for Deutsche Bank did not return calls for comment from Huffington Post.
According to Courthouse News Service:
The Spain family plaintiffs say they lost $3 million; the Duncan Family claims to have lost $10 million. The Spain family claims Deutsche Bank employee Arthur Kreidel, with the late Russell Smith, was primarily responsible for persuading them to throw $3 million into Arivali.
The Duncan family says their friend and longtime investment adviser, Russell Smith, sent them a letter just before he killed himself, suggesting they contact his attorney, "for possible redress." The defendants are Deutsche Bank Alex Brown, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Arthur Kreidel, Mark Young, Aravali Fund LP, and Aravali Partners LLC. Mark Young is or was the president of Aravali Partners.The families claim Deutsche Bank and its defendant employees persuaded them through misrepresentations to invest $13 million in the "virtually 'risk free'" Aravali Fund, then lost the money. Both families claim that Deutsche's Bank misrepresentations of Aravali were so blatant it caused Smith, both families' longtime financial counselor, to commit suicide in October.
The suicide letter, which was appended to the lawsuit, begins:
"Since you are reading this, I have just taken my life. It was necessary because the alternatives were totally unpalatable. I consider you a friend first and a client second. That said, I had a fiduciary relationship with you that charged me with putting your interest first. I can say that I always tried to do that. However, some of the investment recommendations that I chose did not work out the way I had anticipated. I regret that very much.