The Fax Forgery Case

Here is the link to the Second Circuit case mentioned in Alan's recent post.  The lawyer was involved in a legal dispute with his former broker. He was accused of having faxed a forged court order to opposing counsel from his home fax. The case featured fax experts called by both the prosecution and defense. The faxed order purported to return a pending matter to a federal judge from the magistrate judge. The evidence showed that whoever composed the fax had an intimate knowledge of the case, which the defendant/lawyer did. The fax took over three minutes. The defendant denied throughout knowing anything about the fax, saying that he may have attempted to telephone opposing counsel at the time but did not connect. There was evidence that such an attempted call would have taken no more than 41 seconds.

The jury convicted on all counts and the court upheld each conviction. The defendant was subject to an enhanced sentence because he had used his skills as an attorney to compose the fake order. (Mike Frisch)