Suit: Attorney for state ‘orchestrated’ fraud scheme
A New Jersey company is accusing an attorney with the Connecticut Department of Agriculture of “orchestrating” a $1.4 million fraud scheme outside of her duties with the agency, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court last week.
In the lawsuit, Bloomin Properties LLC, a New Jersey-based real estate company, claims Carole Briggs, an attorney who works for the Connecticut Department of Agriculture, sent fraudulent “electronic communications” requesting $1.4 million in “closing funds” for the purchase of a real property.
Company officials were told by “cyber criminals” in October to deposit the $1.4 million in closing costs for the property located in Lavallette, N.J., to a bank account set up by Briggs, the lawsuit said. The email account used by Briggs was nearly identical to the email account for the legitimate settlement agent who was handling the escrow related to the sale, according to the eight-page complaint initiating the lawsuit, which was filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Connecticut.
Connecticut officials are aware of the lawsuit and believe no funds from the Department of Agriculture were involved, according to agency spokesperson Rebecca Eddy.
“We are aware of this situation and have contacted human resources regarding any action needed by the agency,” Eddy said in an email Wednesday morning. “This is a personal matter and to our knowledge did not involve the use of any agency or state funds.”
Briggs could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.
During a recorded interview, Briggs admitted that she had coordinated the deposit and said that she had been “catfished” by a man who she met on an online dating site who told her to open the bank account, according to attorney Harris Freier, with Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C., the law firm hired to recover the money.
“She said the mastermind wasn’t her but a man she met on a dating site who asked her to open the accounts,”
Freier said during an interview Wednesday.
The law firm has no way to confirm that she was “catfished,” a term used to describe a person who uses a fake personality online to scam dating victims and others, Freier said. He called it “extremely rare and unheard of” that an attorney would fall prey to such a scheme. “This is the only case we’ve ever done involving an attorney,” Freier said.
As part of the scheme, Briggs is accused of transferring more than $430,000 of the $1.4 million to a bank account in Mexico, the lawsuit said. She said during the recorded interview that she didn’t profit from the scheme, Freier said. The $430,000 has not been returned, according to the lawsuit. The company was able to recover about $825,000, according to the lawsuit, which claims that Briggs admitted on a recording that she coordinated the $1.4 million transfer.
She had tried to open an account for the transaction with Key Bank but the institution became suspicious and barred her from opening the account, Freier said. A Bank of America branch in Connecticut did allow her to open the account, which received the $1.4 million from Bloomin Properties LLC, he said.
The lawsuit claimed that Briggs had a foreign “associate” who helped her with the fraudulent transaction but that person has not been identified.
“Ms. Briggs intentionally orchestrated and participated in a scam utilizing electronic communications and unlawfully gained access to monies from Plaintiff’s bank account,” the lawsuit states. “Defendant subsequently intentionally and unlawfully misappropriated Plaintiff ’s monies in coordination with an associate.”
Freier said real estate companies that deal with large transaction amounts are particularly vulnerable to this type of scheme. His law firm which specializes in recovering funds from electronic scams, was able to connect Briggs to the fraudulent transaction because she was required to use her actual identification to open the account for the deposit, he said.
The company is seeking actual, compensatory and punitive damages, Freier said in the lawsuit.