Carl Icahn Won’t Like This Either

MANHATTAN (CN) - Charles Lewis, editor of the New York-based "Lewis Letter," rolled a couple for $860,000 by falsely claiming an affiliation with Carl Icahn, then "after many fabricated stalls, delays and excuses," claimed he had put the money into an imaginary "Icahn Bank," the couple claim in court.

Linda Spector Jacobs and Albert Jacobs Jr. sued Charles Lewis dba Charles Lewis Group, in New York County Supreme Court.

Icahn is not a party to this case.

"This lawsuit arises from, among other things, a fraud committed on plaintiffs by defendant, the editor in chief of The Lewis Letter, which claims to provide 'daily insights into the financial markets from one of Wall Street's most experienced investment professionals,'" the complaint states.

"Falsely claiming that he was affiliated with financier Carl Icahn, and after earning plaintiffs' trust over a period of years, defendant lured plaintiffs into investing significant sums of money through him ... with promises of significant returns on their investment. When it came time to repay plaintiffs the principal, interest and gains due to them (and despite reporting that plaintiffs' investments had reaped substantial returns), rather than providing plaintiffs with the sums due and owing to them, defendant claimed that he had re-rolled all of their money over into an entity called the 'Icahn Bank.' Plaintiffs later discovered, however, that the 'Icahn Bank' does not exist, and that defendant, in fact, has no affiliation with financier Carl Icahn."

Lewis refused their repeated demands to return the money, the Jacobs say. They claim that Lewis runs his business out of his home on the Upper East Side.

They demand more than $1 million in damages for fraud, wire fraud, breach of faith, conversion and unjust enrichment.

They are represented by John Gallagher III.

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