A $330 million class-action lawsuit accuses LandAmerica 1031 Exchange Services and Sun Trust Banks Inc. of defrauding clients by using their money to pay off other clients.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California by four LandAmerica clients on behalf of about 400 customers, characterizes the companies' actions as a Ponzi scheme.

It alleges SunTrust allowed LandAmerica to take money from exchange customer accounts and give it to other clients whose money was locked up in auction-rate securities, a type of investment once considered safe. It says the firms either engaged in or allowed the breach of fiduciary duty, the commission of fraud, and intentionally did not disclose vital information.

The complaint is the latest in a string of lawsuits and filings made after the exchange company and its Henrico County-based parent, LandAmerica Financial Group Inc., filed for bankruptcy protection Nov. 26. Since then, 60 complaints, many alleging fraud and breach of contract, have been filed against the exchange company in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond.

Read the full story here on the Richmond Times Dispatch website.