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Lawsuit of the week: Architectural and design firms claim former accountant forged signatures to embezzle thousands [National Iraqi News Agency (Iraq)](National Iraqi News Agency (Iraq) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership Architects Designers Planners and MCM Interiors Ltd. are suing former accounting employee Catherine Dawn Maki, her spouse, Michael Zelick, HSBC Bank Canada, the Toronto-Dominion Bank, the Bank of Montreal, Amex Bank of Canada and the Royal Bank of Canada after Maki allegedly forged signatures on cheques to embezzle more than $868,000 from the companies. Musson Cattell and MCM filed a notice of civil claim in BC Supreme Court on October 9, claiming Maki was an accountant for the firms from April 2002 until her resignation in March 2013. According to the claim, between March 2007 and February 2013, Maki allegedly forged signatures and fraudulently endorsed cheques to misappropriate the companies' money. She allegedly prepared false vendor invoices and had a partner in the firm with signing authority sign cheques, or would forge a partner's signature and deposit the funds into her TD account, her husband's Bank of Montreal account, or her AMEX or RBC visa accounts. In all, Maki and Zelick allegedly converted $868,384 of the companies' money for their own use, which included buying property in Surrey in 2009. The plaintiffs seek damages for fraud, conversion, deceit, breach of contract, money had and received and unjust enrichment, and for negligence against the banking defendants. The allegations have not been proven in court and the defendants had not filed responses by press time. All rights are reserved for National Iraqi News Agency / NINA (c) 2014 Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info). |