Wolf v. Banco Nacional De Mexico

MEMORANDUM OF OPINION AND ORDER

SCHWARZER, District Judge.

This case of first impression requires the Court to decide whether a time deposit in a foreign bank is a “security” within the meaning of the 1933 Securities Act and the 1934 Securities Exchange Act.

In 1981 plaintiff Wolf deposited $20,000 in each of two ninety-day accounts and in one six-month account with the defendant Banco Nacional de Mexico (Banamex). Plaintiff’s dollars were converted at the time of deposit into pesos and could not be withdrawn before the accounts matured. The attraction of the accounts was the high interest they…