AMENDED OPINION AND ORDER This lawsuit — brought by AJ Energy LLC, a small limited liability company based in Nevada, against Woori Bank, a South Korean bank — centers on an extraordinary claim: that Woori Bank stole eight billion euros. According to AJ Energy, three billion euros intended for its account were transferred to Woori Bank in 2015 only to disappear completely and, despite that experience, another five billion euros were transferred to Woori Bank in 2017, only to meet the same fate. If that sounds like a tall tale, it is because it almost certainly is. Documents attached to AJ Energy’s operative complaint lead to only one plausible inference: that the two wire transfers, upon which all of AJ Energy’s claims in this case depend, didn’t happen. Documents beyond the operative complaint — including one or more documents that are almost certainly forgeries — make that conclusion nearly inescapable. On these bases and others, Woori Bank moves, pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, to dismiss AJ Energy’s claims and moves, pursuant to Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, for sanctions. AJ Energy, undeterred, cross-moves for sanctions of its own. For the reasons that follow, Woori Bank’s motions are both granted, AJ Energy’s motion for sanctions is denied, and AJ Energy’s claims are dismissed with prejudice. BACKGROUND In evaluating Defendants’ motion to dismiss, the Court may consider “facts stated on the face of the complaint, in documents appended to the complaint or incorporated in the complaint by reference, and…matters of which judicial notice may be taken.” Allen v. WestPoint-Pepperell, Inc., 945 F.2d 40, 44 (2d Cir. 1991). Accordingly, the following facts are drawn only from the First Amended Complaint (“FAC”), its exhibits, and the documents it incorporates.1 AJ Energy is a Nevada limited liability company, the nature of whose business is not alleged in the FAC. ECF No. 19 (“FAC”), 1. On September 21, 2015, AJ Energy entered into a joint venture agreement and “Business Asset agreement” with NRG CO, Ltd. (“NRG”), a Korean company, and Hestiun Finance Limited (“Hestiun”), “a company registered in the United Kingdom,” to “make and manage investments in the Republic of Korea.” Id.
12, 14, 19. Under the terms of these agreements, Hestiun was to provide three billion euros (the source of which is not alleged in the FAC) for investments; AJ Energy was to “arrange the investment funds” and manage them alongside NRG; and the funds were to pass from Hestiun to AJ Energy and NRG by way of a “common account” shared between Deutsche Bank AG, a financial institution based in Frankfurt, and Woori Bank, which is based in South Korea. Id.
