Huang v. Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER Plaintiff Yen Hwa Huang (“Plaintiff”), who pleads that she was defrauded out of her life savings by scammers pretending to be Chinese officials who instructed her to wire large sums of money to bank accounts in Hong Kong, brings this action asserting state law claims for aiding and abetting fraud, aiding and abetting conversion, negligence, and violation of Article 4A of the Uniform Commercial Code (“UCC”). Plaintiff asserts claims against 100 unknown individuals and entities that are allegedly “in some way liable” for her loss of the more than one million dollars she wired to various bank accounts in response to the fraudulent contacts (Does 1 through 100); the bank that held the accounts to which she wired the funds; and the bank that processed those wire transfers (Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation LTD (“HSBC Hong Kong”) and HSBC Bank USA N.A. (“HSBC USA,” or the “Bank”), respectively). This Court has jurisdiction of this action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. section 1332. Defendant HSBC USA moves pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) and 9(b) to dismiss all four of Plaintiff’s claims. The Court has reviewed thoroughly the parties’ submissions and, for the following reasons, HSBC USA’s motion to dismiss is granted as to each of Plaintiff’s four causes of action, although Plaintiff will be permitted to file a motion for leave to amend her fourth claim, for violation of UCC Article 4A, within 30 days. BACKGROUND The following facts are drawn from the allegations set forth in the Amended Complaint and are taken as true for the purposes of this motion to dismiss. On or about August 9, 2019, Plaintiff received a telephone call from a person purporting to work for the Chinese Consulate in New York. (Docket entry no. 15 (Am. Compl.) 8.) The caller informed Plaintiff (who was formerly a Chinese citizen) that she was being investigated for fraud and money laundering, and Plaintiff was led to believe that she would be arrested and extradited to China if she failed to cooperate with the investigation. (Id.

8-15.) Plaintiff was told that, in order to clear her name, she would have to grant the “investigators” access to her bank account, regularly check in with them, and refrain from telling her family or friends about the investigation. (Id.