Sarasota investor sues bank for malicious prosecution

SARASOTA — Area businessman Marvin Kaplan says he knows what it's like to be wrongly accused — publicly — in a $24 million Ponzi-like scheme. He knows what it's like to be turned into a financial pariah in the town where he had done millions of dollars worth of deals for years.

Now Kaplan is suing the main entity he says put him in that spot: Regions Bank.

Kaplan, in a federal lawsuit filed in Tampa Nov. 9, contends Birmingham, Ala.-based Regions “demonstrated malice” and “proceeded with callous indifference to Kaplan's rights, livelihood and reputation,” when it sued him in 2012.