Flyers coach suing Bank of America

MONTREAL - Peter Laviolette is seeking at least $3 million in damages for fraud from Bank of America, it was confirmed Friday night by a Florida attorney whose firm is representing the Flyers coach.

Contacted in Montreal, where his team is getting ready to play the Canadiens on Saturday night, Laviolette said he did not want to comment.

In court last week, Laviolette claimed Bank of America convinced him to mortgage his properties and invest the proceeds in high-risk funds that "utterly collapsed," Courthouse News (CN) reported.

The investments were apparently made shortly after Laviolette led the Carolina Hurricanes to the 2006 Stanley Cup.

According to the lawsuit in Palm Beach County Circuit Court, Bank of America laid out the plan in a 12-page brochure that included projections of real-estate values and investment values to substantiate its return on investment claims.

One such document projected that by leveraging the properties, the Laviolettes would increase their net worth resulting from these assets from $8.1 million after 30 years to almost $22.1 million - a gain of nearly $14 million, the complaint states, according to the Florida attorney.

At the time, Laviolette and his wife, Kristen, owned a home in Raleigh, N.C., and two homes in Florida. They still own all three.

The Laviolettes, CN reported, said they later learned that the high-return investment projections relied on "artificially inflated values for their properties and an unreasonable rate of return."

The couple is seeking seeks at least $3 million and rescission of the three loans, according to CN.

Laviolettes is represented by Eric Horbey of Lazer, Aptheker, Rosella and Yedid in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Reached Friday, a representative from the firm confirmed the CN report and said he would not have any further comment at this time.