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California resident Alex Shah has filed a complaint in the Orange County Superior Court against Citi, BMO Bank, Wells Fargo, and Comerica Bank. The individual has accused the banks of unlawfully seizing funds from his accounts due to the conversion of money into bitcoins.
The plaintiff claims that the banks violated the California Commercial Code by gaining control over his personal accounts and making payments to third parties without legal justification. Shah’s complaint states that the five banks collectively took over $720,000 from him to reimburse the Kwik Trip store chain.
Shah’s first bank transfer occurred in May 2025, amounting to approximately $990,000 — the funds were moved from a Kwik Trip account at Wells Fargo to Shah’s account at BMO Bank. A second bank transfer, made 11 days later, was for $3.4 million and followed the same process. Subsequently, Shah transferred funds from his BMO Bank accounts to personal accounts at Citibank, Wells Fargo, and Comerica Bank, and then converted all assets into bitcoins. Two weeks after the initial bank transfer, Wells Fargo froze Shah’s funds. The client asserts that the bank did not inform him that the transfers could have been directed to fraudsters.
The plaintiff admitted to being caught up in a complex cryptocurrency fraud scheme, alleging that the bank facilitated suspicious money transfers. Ultimately, five banks withdrew funds from his personal accounts that he insists are unrelated to the fraudulent scheme.
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The lawsuit indicates that Shah entered into an agreement with a representative of the California company Rec Solar USA, Nathan Janowicz. Shah was to receive money transfers from Rec Solar’s corporate clients, convert their funds into bitcoins, and then send them to specified crypto addresses. He was promised commissions for this service. In May 2025, Shah executed bank transfers totaling over $4 million. The plaintiff contends that during these transactions, the banks never alerted him to any suspicious activity.
However, the banks later suspected that the transferred funds were linked to cyber fraud — a perpetrator was impersonating corporate clients, convincing organizations to transfer money to Shah’s accounts.
In October 2025, Shah lodged a complaint with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). According to the Californian, the U.S. Secret Service, which investigates financial crimes, recognized him as a victim of fraud. No criminal charges have been filed against Shah as of yet.
Last year, another California resident, Ken Liem, sued Asian banks Fubon Bank, Chong Hing Bank, and DBS Bank, accusing them of inaction that allowed crypto fraudsters to steal $1 million from him.
