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Hi,
Michael, an officemate borrowed 52k in Feb. He said that he'd pay the money plus interest every payday and even provided me his ATM so I can automatically withdraw from it. Every time I would do so, the account would either have less than 1k or none at all. I asked him nicely about it until I got fed up with his false promises, and I asked for a check to cover the amount. He issued me a PDC. Alas, the check bounced in July
It wasn't until start of July when his scheme started to unravel. One day he took off from the office with several borrowed cellphones (under the pretense that he just needed to text someone). He never came back. We found out that he had borrowed money from many of our colleagues, who were also his friends. Because he had been their "friend" and co-worker for 2 years and he had an Academy for best actor for convincing people that his daughter and wife had died, he earned people's sympathies. When we dug into it deeper, we discovered that he had made out with close to 1M in loans. Some were covered by check, some weren't.
All his victims are now convinced of the deceit. Through an HR hearing, a female co-worker, whom we suspected to be in on the scheme since she was introduced as his cousin but it turned out that they have a daughter together (the same daughter that Michael said had died), finally confessed that she is a victim, too. It turns out that they had been living together and the guy had been taking her money/salary and even asked her to take out loans for him. She is still in the office, taking the heat as a result of his actions but said that she ready to cooperate. They separated in April and Michael stopped responding to her attempts to communicate in July, the day that he disappeared from the office.
Michaels victims have decided to pursue legal actions.
The following are my concerns/questions:
1) In asking an attorney for the cost, these were what were given:
30-50k acceptance fee
1,500 to 3,000 per hearing
5-10% recovery
- are these costs fair?
- is the 5-10% recovery regardless whether we recover anything or not?
2) How long does something like this last? How many hearings are we looking at (assuming that Michael won't be cooperative and even try to flee?)
3) The check issued to some of us turned out to be under the account of the common-law wife. Can we even get him for estafa and for violating the bouncing check law? Will these 2 be litigated separately, hence separate costs? or can the bouncing check support the estafa case to make for a stronger estafa case?
4) Is it true that accumulating 500k in bounced checks is enough for this to be a non-bailable offense?
Unfortunately, all we have to document the events surrounding these facts are the bounced PDCs and email and text communication...plus the common-law wife's statement (can she even testify against him?). Like I said, there was much trust put in him (from his tenure in the company and the "good relationship" he had built with many of us). He leaves in his wake a group of victims, some of whom are bread winners, who lent him their life savings. Now these people have to worry about how to send their kids to school next year.
I appreciate your advice and expertise.
Sincerely,
Maria
Michael, an officemate borrowed 52k in Feb. He said that he'd pay the money plus interest every payday and even provided me his ATM so I can automatically withdraw from it. Every time I would do so, the account would either have less than 1k or none at all. I asked him nicely about it until I got fed up with his false promises, and I asked for a check to cover the amount. He issued me a PDC. Alas, the check bounced in July
It wasn't until start of July when his scheme started to unravel. One day he took off from the office with several borrowed cellphones (under the pretense that he just needed to text someone). He never came back. We found out that he had borrowed money from many of our colleagues, who were also his friends. Because he had been their "friend" and co-worker for 2 years and he had an Academy for best actor for convincing people that his daughter and wife had died, he earned people's sympathies. When we dug into it deeper, we discovered that he had made out with close to 1M in loans. Some were covered by check, some weren't.
All his victims are now convinced of the deceit. Through an HR hearing, a female co-worker, whom we suspected to be in on the scheme since she was introduced as his cousin but it turned out that they have a daughter together (the same daughter that Michael said had died), finally confessed that she is a victim, too. It turns out that they had been living together and the guy had been taking her money/salary and even asked her to take out loans for him. She is still in the office, taking the heat as a result of his actions but said that she ready to cooperate. They separated in April and Michael stopped responding to her attempts to communicate in July, the day that he disappeared from the office.
Michaels victims have decided to pursue legal actions.
The following are my concerns/questions:
1) In asking an attorney for the cost, these were what were given:
30-50k acceptance fee
1,500 to 3,000 per hearing
5-10% recovery
- are these costs fair?
- is the 5-10% recovery regardless whether we recover anything or not?
2) How long does something like this last? How many hearings are we looking at (assuming that Michael won't be cooperative and even try to flee?)
3) The check issued to some of us turned out to be under the account of the common-law wife. Can we even get him for estafa and for violating the bouncing check law? Will these 2 be litigated separately, hence separate costs? or can the bouncing check support the estafa case to make for a stronger estafa case?
4) Is it true that accumulating 500k in bounced checks is enough for this to be a non-bailable offense?
Unfortunately, all we have to document the events surrounding these facts are the bounced PDCs and email and text communication...plus the common-law wife's statement (can she even testify against him?). Like I said, there was much trust put in him (from his tenure in the company and the "good relationship" he had built with many of us). He leaves in his wake a group of victims, some of whom are bread winners, who lent him their life savings. Now these people have to worry about how to send their kids to school next year.
I appreciate your advice and expertise.
Sincerely,
Maria
