Independence - Ch 6

“Mr. Bongiovi, thank you can you please explain to me where this accusation is stemming from, I can assure you my organization is not in the habit of”

“I honestly don’t care what you’re in the habit of, you allowed someone to open an account in my name, with my social security number, that account was then used fraudulently to embezzle money from me through my record company. From the bank statements I’ve seen we’re talking about a few million dollars at this point that is missing. This stops today.” Jon took the bank statement out of his paperwork, “Here are the accounts numbers please close the accounts and issue the cashier’s check.”

Mr. Jacobson punched the account number at the top of the paper into his computer and quickly pulled it up. “I’m sorry Mr. Bongiovi but I’m not able to close this account without the joint account holder.”

“I’m sorry Mr. Jacobson because what you are failing to understand is this account was opened fraudulently, Doc did not have my permission to open the account,” He pulled his driver’s license out of his wallet and handed it to the VP. “Look at the signatures, Doc signed both of our names, that is not even the correct spelling of my name that he signed.”

“I’m sorry Mr. Bongiovi but there are policies.”

His hand flew to his hair, “Policies? Are you fucking kidding me? There are things called laws that your bank just decided to ignore. Millions of dollars is lost due to your incompetence. Get real I don’t give a damn about your policies. Close the damn account, NOW.”

“Mr. Bongiovi,”

He couldn’t take this, this guy was a complete idiot, “Vedrò questa banca in caso di fallimento, prima ho fatto. Vi sono inutili per me.” (I will see this bank in bankruptcy before I'm done. You are useless to me.) He muttered in Italian before he spoke to him in English. “Mr. Jacobson I apologize, did I fail to introduce you to my lawyer? Please meet Ms. Kylee Scott.”

Kylee took that moment to coldly address the VP. “Without cooperation Mr. Jacobson, we have no recourse but to pursue legal action against your bank for the complete and willful allowance of Doc McGee to commit forgery 1, embezzlement from his employer and identify theft.”

“Ma’am we here at First State Bank uphold the highest standards,” Mr. Jacobson began only to be cut off by Jon mumbling, “Norme sul modo di strappare la gente.” The VP stammered a bit not being able to understand what Jon was saying and continued, “However looking at the information I can see there was a minor mishap on normal protocol.”

Jon wanted so bad to go off on him but Kylee caught him putting her hand on his arm. Then a detached voice explained, “Mr. Jacobson, you’re minor mishap cost my client over $1.4 million, with the public fear going around about identity theft we will easily be awarded 10x that, a case I tried in New York on similar charges ended up costing the bank $25 million by the time I was done. You have a responsibility to your customers as insured by the FDIC and you failed to uphold that basic fiduciary responsibility, which I know your stakeholders will not look lightly upon that fact. I highly recommend you close the account my client is requesting it will look better to potential jurors.”

“Ms. Scott I can’t just release this kind of money on your say so.”

“Why you already released it on one person’s say so, call Polygram records, the people that have been depositing the money in the account in the first place, they will tell you who’s money it is so you can give it back. Here’s the business card of the President of the Company, call him. But make sure you tell Becky at the front desk that you’re with me or she’ll give you the run around and put you on eternal hold.” Jon advised.

“I think I might just do that. Please excuse me.” Mr. Jacobson stood to leave.

As the door closed Jon looked to Kylee, “I want to rip his head off.”

“If you don’t control your anger you’ll get nothing, if you keep your mouth shut I’ll get you your money back.”

“Oh and you’re so perfect at this.” Cockiness oozed from every pore of his body.

“Jon do you want this to go south right now?”

“No, of course not.”

“Then let me handle this, keep a reign on your damn temper, I understand you are upset but you have to keep it together and let me deal with it legally. There is a skill set required in the world of law, I have it, you don’t, and that’s why you hired me. So let me do my damn job.” She hissed as the door opened.

Mr. Jacobson walked in at that moment with another man that hadn’t been in the room before.

“Mr. Bongiovi and Ms. Scott, we spoke with Polygram records and a cashier’s check is being drawn up now. If you could please sign these papers, our CFO can make sure the money is put together for you right away.”

Jon wanted to look shocked at the change in demeanor but that would portray weakness so he kept his mouth shut and took the papers from Mr. Jacobson handing them immediately to Kylee.

“Mr. Bongiovi we need your signature.”

“Do you honestly think after how bad you’ve messed things up I’m going to sign anything without my lawyer looking at them?”

“No, of course not.” Nervously the VP looked over to his CFO.

“Jon is not signing this form. Everything else I’m fine with but we are not waiving our rights to legal action, nice try Mr. Jacobson, your bank is liable to my client in this situation and there will be retribution given, hopefully by Mr. McGee but I’m not ruling out taking action against this institution as well.”

The rest of the meeting went as smoothly as possible. Once the bank all but admitted error, Jon had his cashier’s check for $2.1 million, within minutes and he took Kylee by the arm escorting her to the limo. Luckily for them Doc didn’t decide to pull this stunt in some poor community, a bank in LA had that kind of money at its disposal easily enough.

Once in the limo, Jon was able to call the pilots to let them know to make the flight plan back to NJ.

“Jon, we might have a problem getting back to New Jersey.” The pilot informed him.