A federal judge has pulled the plug, for now, on former Chicago Bulls' star Toni Kukoc's lawsuit against Swiss bankers he accused of allowing his former financial advisor and a personal banker to siphon off more than $11 million from Kukoc’s Swiss bank accounts.
On March 29, U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman ruled judges in Illinois, including federal judges, can't preside over Kukoc's claims, in large part because the banking entities he is suing are based in Zurich and Lugano, Switzerland, respectively. It is not enough that Kukoc may have been in Illinois at the time the alleged misconduct occurred to allow Chicago courts to be the legal forum selected for the case, the judge said.
The judge did not rule on the merits of Kukoc's claims, only saying she cannot hear the case he brought against the Swiss banks.
"Considering the total picture, exerting jurisdiction over Defendants would not comport with the notions of fair play and substantial justice, as Plaintiff fails to show Defendants purposefully availed themselves of the forum state," Judge Coleman wrote. "Consequently, Plaintiff did not suffer from forum-related activities." (emphasis in original)
The judge gave Kukoc 30 days to file an amended complaint to try again after addressing the judge's findings.
Kukoc filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court in August 2022 against Banca Svizzera Italiana, of Lugano, Switzerland, and EFG International AG, of Zurich, Switzerland. According to the complaint, EFG acquired BSI in 2016.
The lawsuit was moved by the bank defendants to federal court in Chicago.
The lawsuit centers on allegations pertaining to fraud allegedly perpetrated against Kukoc by Kukoc’s longtime “’friend’ and financial advisor,” identified in the complaint as Paolo Banfi, and a personal banker at BSI, identified as Paolo Zola.
Kukoc, originally of Croatia, joined the Chicago Bulls in 1993, after years of high-level success in European basketball.
Kukoc became a mainstay on the team, and was one of the stars, along with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, who helped lead the team to its second “threepeat,” winning three NBA titles from 1996-1998.
From 1999-2005, Kukoc played for the Philadelphia 76ers, Atlanta Hawks and Milwaukee Bucks.
At the time he filed the complaint, he served as an advisor to Chicago Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf, and resided in suburban Highland Park.
According to the complaint, Banfi served as Kukoc's financial advisor beginning in 1991. However, Kukoc accused Banfi, who he also described as a friend, of allegedly working with Zola to "raid" millions of dollars from Kukoc's accounts.
That allegedly included using a mortgage in Kukoc's name to invest $7.5 million in a Swiss hotel project, without Kukoc's knowledge or consent, after allegedly forging Kukoc's signature.
Further, Kukoc asserted the men allegedly "worked together to execute a series of unauthorized money transfers in which millions more dollars were transferred from Kukoc's BSI accounts into Banfi's pockets." According to the complaint, Banfi and Zola allegedly pushed through more than 300 such transactions.
Neither Banfi nor Zola are named as defendants in the action.
Rather, Kukoc asserts the Swiss banks should pay for allegedly failing to stop their employee, Zola, and Banfi from engaging in the alleged scheme.
Kukoc's complaint includes counts of aiding and abetting fraud; aiding and abetting civil theft; aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty; and breach of contract, against BSI and EFG, as its successor.
According to the complaint, Kukoc allegedly learned of the alleged fraud in 2014, but asserted his claims were still valid under Swiss debt enforcement procedures.
Kukoc is seeking unspecified compensatory damages from EFG, at least equal to the value of the money that was allegedly fraudulently transferred from Kukoc's accounts from 2004-2007.
In the ruling, Judge Coleman said she could not rule on the merits of Kukoc's claims, because she lacked the jurisdiction to hear the claims against the Swiss banks, because their connections to Illinois were not strong enough.
Kukoc said he lived in Illinois throughout the allegedly fraud scheme, and he allegedly received "extensive communications" from the banks in Illinois. He asserted this should amount to "purposeful availment" of Chicago as a legal forum.
But Judge Coleman said general mailed communications from the banks "did not keep the fraudulent activity going."
"And, because the Court does not know the nature of the 'conversations' Plaintiff had with BSI employees, it cannot conclude these conversations assisted in the tortious conduct either," Coleman wrote.
Kukoc is represented in the actions by attorneys Scott F. Hessell and Sean M. Koller, of the firm of Sperling & Slater P.C., of Chicago.
The bank defendants are represented by attorneys Jonathan S. Quinn, Andrew G. May and Benjamin Boris, of the firm of Neal Gerber & Eisenberg LLP, of Chicago.