CDR CRANCES S.A.S., plf-ap, v. FIRST HOTELS & RESORTS INVESTMENTS, INC. (a/k/a LES PREMIERS INVESTISSEMENTS HOTELIERS & VILLEGIATURE, INC.) def-res, BOARD OF MANAGERS OF THE TRUMP WORLD TOWER CONDOMINIUM def

8835N. CDR CRANCES S.A.S., plf-ap, v. FIRST HOTELS & RESORTS INVESTMENTS, INC. (a/k/a LES PREMIERS INVESTISSEMENTS HOTELIERS & VILLEGIATURE, INC.) def-res, BOARD OF MANAGERS OF THE TRUMP WORLD TOWER CONDOMINIUM def — Kellner Herlihy Getty & Friedman, LLP, New York (Douglas A. Kellner of counsel), for ap — Stern Tannenbaum & Bell LLP, New York (David S. Tannenbaum of counsel), for First Hotels & Resorts Investments, Inc., res — Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, Washington, DC (Carl J. Nichols of the bars of the State of Virginia and the District of Columbia, admitted pro hac vice, of counsel), for HSBC Bank USA, N.A., res — Order, Supreme Court, New York County (O. Peter Sherwood, J.), entered May 8, 2012, which denied plaintiff’s motion for leave to amend its complaint, unanimously affirmed, with costs.

Plaintiff brought this action to force the sale of property owned by defendant First Hotels & Resorts Investments, Inc., the mortgage on which was held by defendant HSBC Bank USA, N.A. First Hotels was one of many entities owned by nonparties Leon Cohen, Maurice Cohen and Sonia Cohen. It is undisputed that the Cohens engaged in a web of fraudulent activity that resulted in the loss to plaintiff of hundreds of millions of dollars and that they used their accounts at HSBC to move money that plaintiff alleges was at least in part fraudulently obtained. Plaintiff sued the Cohens, among others, and obtained judgments against them from courts in New York and Florida. In seeking to collect on the judgments, plaintiff issued subpoenas to HSBC, inter alia. HSBC responded to the subpoenas, albeit not always to plaintiff’s satisfaction.