The Layfield Law Firm Obtains a $5.225 Million Dollar Verdict in Prime Bank Instrument Fraud Case

Nov. 28, 2012 - PRLog -- Los Angeles, California – After a seven day jury trial in Orange County Superior Court, Case No. 30-2011-00507384, the jury returned a 12-0 verdict for fraud and awarded $5.225 million against the two remaining defendants who participated in a fraudulent scheme to steal a total of $1.55 million from several victims. Philip J. Layfield, attorney for Plaintiffs stated, “Timothy P. Gates and Rhett L. Shepard claimed during trial that because they never actually spoke with the victims, they could not be held responsible.  The jury followed the law and held these two accountable for their actions despite a defense strategy that was poorly devised.  These defendants thought they could fool the jury like they fooled their victims.”

Attorney Philip Layfield of the Layfield Law Firm represented the plaintiff, an Australian entrepreneur and former pro rugby player who started an electronic payment processing company named Total Access Payments (TAP) on December 29th of 2009, TAP wired $1 million into an escrow account at Commercial Escrow Services, Inc. (“CES”) in Pleasant Hill, CA, Unbeknownst to TAP, the escrow company that was supposed to protect them, failed to perform its duties competently. Rather than perform under the agreement, the Defendants and other co-conspirators produced forged documents in order to direct escrow to wire TAP’s money for their own benefit.

After TAP realized its money was long gone, it hired The Layfield Law Firm in an attempt to recover its lost money.  The Layfield Law Firm and its lead attorney Philip J. Layfield spent almost two years investigating and locating the wrongdoers.  During the litigation, it was discovered that several of the parties purchased homes, cars, lavish travel and withdrew large sums of cash to further their fraud and avoid honoring their commitments.  

During the litigation, The Layfield Law Firm was instrumental in getting the escrow company, CES, shut down by the State of California because it learned that dozens of unlicensed and unscrupulous characters were utilizing CES to effectuate their Prime Bank Instrument fraud.  As a result of CES being shut down, dozens of lawsuits have been filed across the country stemming from CES’ role as escrow agent for Prime Bank Instrument Fraud.  In addition to the shutting down of CES, The Layfield Law Firm has been cooperating with the FBI in an effort to secure indictments for the participants in this scam as well as others.

Philip J. Layfield further commented, “We are going to continue filing lawsuits on behalf of victims of Prime Bank Instrument Fraud across the country.  This is an epidemic on a global basis that has been largely ignored by authorities until now.  Millions of dollars are being stolen every month from victims of this scheme and we are going to keep up the pressure on these scam artists until they are out of business.”

The Layfield Law Firm specializes in complex business litigation and catastrophic personal injury matters in California and across the country.  The main office is located in Marina Del Rey, California, with additional offices located in Santa Monica, Manhattan Beach, Palm Springs, Newport Beach, and Ventura. If you have been a victim of Prime Bank Instrument Fraud or Film Financing Fraud, please contact our office at (800) 558-5679 or go online at http://www.layfield-law.com.

Contact:

Philip J. Layfield (424) 835-6100 or Philip@pjllawfirm.com