Manning & Kass Associate Linna T. Loangkote Goes Above the Call of Duty

In May of 2017, Manning & Kass partner Rinat Klier-Erlich received a panicked call from a client after hours. Almost three weeks earlier, the client’s homebuyer had received a phishing email, purportedly from the escrow company, with new instructions on where to wire a $126,000 deposit. Weeks later, the homebuyer asked the real estate agent for an update on the transaction, and the agent stated that the escrow company had not received the funds.

The homebuyer was the victim of wire fraud. At approximately 7:00 p.m., Ms. Erlich asked associate Linna T. Loangkote to look into the matter. Ms. Loangkote went above and beyond the call of duty, quickly assembling a list of facts, presenting it to the banks involved, and advising the client to contact law enforcement immediately.

Being sympathetic to the client's distress, "I went after that money like it was my own," said Ms. Loangkote. "Being a lawyer helped."

Ms. Erlich states, "Previously I was told by a FBI agent that the chances of recovery are extremely low if more than three days pass after the money is wired. " By 8:00 a.m. the following morning, the perpetrator's account was frozen. All the funds were recovered, and wired back to the homebuyer the same week that the fraud was discovered. "This too is untypical," says Ms. Erlich, "because dealing with two banks on both ends usually takes several days."

The firm's client was exceptionally pleased with their attorneys' fast, effective fraud-fighting action.