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Company screwed out of $5 million by Boston lawyer won't get any of the money back from its bank

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today that if Go-Best Assets Ltd. wants the $5 million disgraced lawyer Morris Goldings stole from it, it's going to have to go after him, rather than the bank from which he drained the money.

In its ruling, the state's highest court said Go-Best failed to prove Citizens Bank not only knew Goldings was pulling off fraud when he had the company transfer the money from its own account to an account controlled by Goldings but that it helped him commit it.

Because there is no evidence that Citizens Bank had actual knowledge of Goldings's intended or apparent misappropriation of Go-Best's funds in Goldings's client account, the bank had no duty in tort to take reasonable steps to prevent the misappropriation. Without such actual knowledge, the bank's duty to notify the board of dishonored checks from "trust accounts" arose only from its contractual duty, not from any duty in tort, so the bank could not be liable to Go-Best for any negligence in fulfilling that duty.

Goldings pleaded guilty in in 2002 to federal wire-fraud charges and admitted to stealing a total of $17 million from clients.

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