Big Bankruptcy Case Discovers Forged Attorney Opinion Letters
When opinion letters apparently written by a prominent New Jersey lawyer were sent to Merrill Lynch Business Financial Services in 2004 along with alleged fake financial statements, the bank reportedly took the documents at face value. Relying on them, it issued a multimillion-dollar loan to a now-bankrupt company.
But now it seems clear that attorney Ben Becker had nothing to do with the letters. He says the signatures weren’t his, the purported secretary initials don’t match his own secretary’s, the font was different than the one he uses, the firm letterhead was outdated and, “most importantly, the substance of the letters is unknown to me,” reports the New Jersey Law Journal. There is a reprint of the article in New York Lawyer (reg. req.).
His disavowal of the opinion letters, which summarize then-pending litigation against PITTRA G.B. International of Morristown, N.J., was also bolstered by the fact that an accounting firm mentioned in the documents says it had no connection to them either.
The case, which is now being reportedly being pursued by Merrill Lynch and at least one other bank as a loan fraud matter, as they seek repayment from PITTRA loan guarantors, may offer a cautionary tale to other banks and businesses.
Back in the days when banks had personal relationships with those to whom they lent money, such forged opinion letters likely wouldn’t have passed muster, according to James Scarpone, a lawyer at the Newark, N.J., law firm Robertson Freilich Bruno & Cohen. He represents the Chapter 7 trustee in the bankruptcy case.
“Old-fashioned bankers used to make phone calls. They used to talk to live people,” says Scarpone. “Now everything is paper.”
