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BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA, USA – Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BERK) owned-Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC), Apollo (NYSE: APO) owned-Anywhere Real Estate, Inc. (NYSE: HOUS) and Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (NYSE: FNF) were named as Co-Defendants in the (Verified) First Amended Complaint for one count of civil fraud, the Plaintiff’s first case in the United States District Court, Central District of California, Case No. 2:22-CV-04557-GW (SK).
All three CEOs, Bank of America Corporation’s CEO, attorney Brian T. Moynihan; Anywhere Real Estate’s CEO, Ryan M. Schneider; and Fidelity National Financial’s former CEO Randy Quirk and current CEO, Michael J. Nolan, conspired and coordinated the fraud scheme, code-named “Project Phoenix” at the highest corporate levels. The scheme involved members of Comcast NBC Universal (NASDAQ:CMCSA) ‘Real Housewives’ and ‘Million Dollar Listing’ franchises such as Erika Girardi and disbarred attorney, Italian-native Tom Girardi, who was recently federally indicted for fraud in California.
The Plaintiff, California citizen 54-year old Nicholas Phipps White, Chairman and CEO of The Hollywood Land Development, LLC with his actual wife, 52-year old Mirga Phipps White, MBA, married on July 21, 2010, were existing Bank of America business and consumer customers in Beverly Hills, CA when the fraud occurred by the three Co-Defendants.
The Plaintiff alleges that Bank of America Corporation, formerly “Bank of Italy” on February 26, 2021, unlawfully permitted ‘Housewife’ Erika Nichole Girardi, posing as the Plaintiff’s manufactured wife “Erika Nichole White” and widow to deposit his $27,459,774,612 U.S. Treasury check from the Sovereign Towers settlement, in Nicholas White’s name, into an illicit global Merrill Lynch business account #649-13284. This fraudulent account was previously opened on June 7, 2019 in Coral Gables, Florida, more than 3,000 miles away from the Plaintiff’s home in California.
Soon after, Bank of America Corporation proceeded to use the Plaintiff’s U.S. Treasury check for their $25B stock buy-back, announced on April 15, 2021, and also wired 10% of the Plaintiff’s funds to Tom Girardi’s account at Camden Capital Partners, LLC, Los Angeles serving as a “kick-back” for assisting the Bank in forging the Plaintiff’s identifying information. Tom Girardi falsified “live” birth certificate and created a fraudulent marriage record for both a fictitious “Nicholas Britt White” and “Erika Pope White” from Ventura County, CA. Tom Girardi also assisted Bank of America Corporation with the fraudulent Italian passport the Bank illicitly used for the Plaintiff, a U.S. citizen, for identification to open the fraudulent global Merrill Lynch account, established intentionally by the Bank, outside of the of purview of the IRS.
Additionally, the 39-year old accountant and single mother, Heidi Planck, a former employee at Camden Capital Partners LLC, where the Bank wired the funds to Tom Girardi, went permanently missing after the Plaintiff conducted his “proof of life” at Bank of America on October 20, 2021. Heidi Planck had previously worked at the Douglas Elliman Beverly Hills offices, featured in NBC Universal’s ‘Million Dollar Listing’ franchise.
All three (3) Co-Defendants maintained the false narrative that the Plaintiff was deceased as part of the “Project Phoenix” scheme and made a deliberate decision to continue to reward Erika and Tom Girardi, along with their ‘Housewives’ and ‘Million Dollar Listing’ associates, with at least 35 Merrill Lynch VISA credit cards, luxury cars (such as a recently repossessed 2019 Alfa Romeo) for Erika Girardi who posed as “Erika White.” Additionally, the Bank provided them access to cash through the Bank of America Corporation owned Zelle platform on their “Erica” app, while the Bank laundered the Plaintiff’s funds to the California Wildfire Fund, which was run by a Girardi associate, former attorney John Trotter.
Furthermore, Comcast recently fired NBC Universal CEO Jeff Shell, who lives in Beverly Hills, whose ‘Housewives’ and ‘Million Dollar Listing’ franchises were involved in the Bank of America Corporation and the Co-Defendants scheme to use the Plaintiff’s funds for the purchase of more than eight (8) U.S. properties. One notable property included the July 2, 2019 “anonymous” $119,750,000 purchase of the 123-room “The Spelling Manor” listed by the now deceased Jeff Hyland, in addition to Rick Hilton, of Hilton and Hyland.
More recently, Bank of America Corporation along with other Co-Defendants, allowed additional real estate transactions using the Plaintiff’s funds, disguised as “anonymous” purchases, including the $55M vacation residence for Tom Girardi, the ‘Housewife’ Heather Dubrow’s “Chateau Dubrow” located in Orange County, CA, listed with ‘Million Dollar Listing” Douglas Elliman realtor, Josh Altman; and, a $55M primary residence purchase for Girardi, the former property of Universal Pictures actor Mark Walhberg, “71 Beverly Park” located in Beverly Hills, CA.
The civil fraud case, Nicholas Phipps White vs. Anywhere Real Estate, Inc., Bank of America Corporation, and Fidelity National Financial, Inc. was filed on July 2, 2022 with the Honorable Federal Judge George H. Wu. A (Verified) Amended Complaint was filed on March 23, 2023 and served on Bank of America Corporation, which resulted in Merrill Lynch’s President Andy Sieg’s sudden departure on March 30, 2023.
SEC FINRA complaints are pending for Bank of America’s Chairman and CEO Bryan Moynihan and Merrill Lynch’s Andy Sieg. A complaint has been filed against Dr. Narek Torosyan, who signed the fraudulent death certificate which Bank of America Corporation intentionally used in the “Project Phoenix” scheme. In addition, a California Bar complaint is pending on Berkshire Hathaway’s Charlie Munger, who advertised the “Erika White” fraud in The Daily Journal publication.
The Plaintiff has pledged to assist the 684 Victims in the Girardi Bankruptcy Trustee case, who are owed approximately $550,881,512. The civil fraud claim will require Bank of America Corporation to return the Plaintiff’s funds by liquidating the stock purchased with his funds, or utilize the Corporation’s $25B insurance policy that was established with Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE: MMC).
The Sovereign Towers project “Sovereign Tower I” featured a planned Marriott-dual branded Ritz-Carlton/St. Regis 32-story 800-room luxury hotel sold to The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF). Nicholas Phipps White is the 100% percent owner of both the privately-held California-based, non-partisan The Hollywood Land Development Company, LLC and the Sovereign Towers project.
Mr. Nicholas Phipps White, born in New Haven, Connecticut, is the great-great grandson of prominent philanthropist U.S. Senator Lawrence Phipps of Colorado, Treasurer of Carnegie Steel, who architected U.S. Steel the first billion-dollar company in the world. He is the son of Yale-educated architect Lawrence Phipps White AIA, the Managing Director of The Sovereign Towers. He is also the grandson of Harvard-educated Brigadier General Nicholas Allen USAF, Judge Advocate General and former Assistant Secretary of Commerce for International Affairs for the United States of America.