NJ
Complicated matter and hope I'm in the right category.
I'm a business broker who had a deal between buyer and seller. Seller was out of country and wanted me to handle the sale while in his absence. Buyer wanted to buy business and gave me a Non Refundable deposit on a Thursday. Told him it had to be in certified funds since he was wiring the balance of the purchase price into the seller's account on Monday for a quick and easy closing. Deposit was not in certified form. Because time was of the essence I went to a check cashing place to make sure everything was OK. They cashed the check and those funds were placed to the side. FYI - due to the nature of the transaction the amount was MY commission for the transaction.
Two days later the check cashing place contacted me claiming the check was no good. Contacted the maker of the check and he stated that he would transfer funds accordingly. Monday came and the buyer did not want to close on the business then went MIA dispite my multiple attemps to contact him.
Check cashing place came looking for their funds. I had been under the assumption that the buyer had rectified this matter and made good on the bad check.
Several months later I get a call from a detective wanting me to hand over 3500 to the maker of the bad check otherwise I was going to get locked up. Basically he lied to the detective and claimed I committed fraud since the check should never have been cashed. I went to the department and providedall paperwork prooving that I committed no action that would consitute any wrong doing. They treated me as if I was a criminal and wanted a check made payable to the maker of the bad check immedietly.
To make a long story short, I contacted the check cashing place and found out that they filed a civil complaint against the maker of the bad check as well as me. I understand why they did after all they were victimized. The other guy never made good on the check. I told them I would take care of this and pay them directly so they are made whole. Just trying to do the right thing.
I contacted the detective's office to let them know what was going on. I asked what is my recourse against the maker of the bad check and he went ballistic saying I have no claim and he could come down and lock me up for committing fraud saying that if I pay the check cashing place "this will all go away."
Check cashing place never filed anything with this police department. I have a strange feeling that the maker of the bad check must know someone.
In any event, I'm going to do the right thing by the check cashing place but what recourse do I have against the party that passed the bad check so I am made whole. Civil? Criminal?
Complicated matter and hope I'm in the right category.
I'm a business broker who had a deal between buyer and seller. Seller was out of country and wanted me to handle the sale while in his absence. Buyer wanted to buy business and gave me a Non Refundable deposit on a Thursday. Told him it had to be in certified funds since he was wiring the balance of the purchase price into the seller's account on Monday for a quick and easy closing. Deposit was not in certified form. Because time was of the essence I went to a check cashing place to make sure everything was OK. They cashed the check and those funds were placed to the side. FYI - due to the nature of the transaction the amount was MY commission for the transaction.
Two days later the check cashing place contacted me claiming the check was no good. Contacted the maker of the check and he stated that he would transfer funds accordingly. Monday came and the buyer did not want to close on the business then went MIA dispite my multiple attemps to contact him.
Check cashing place came looking for their funds. I had been under the assumption that the buyer had rectified this matter and made good on the bad check.
Several months later I get a call from a detective wanting me to hand over 3500 to the maker of the bad check otherwise I was going to get locked up. Basically he lied to the detective and claimed I committed fraud since the check should never have been cashed. I went to the department and providedall paperwork prooving that I committed no action that would consitute any wrong doing. They treated me as if I was a criminal and wanted a check made payable to the maker of the bad check immedietly.
To make a long story short, I contacted the check cashing place and found out that they filed a civil complaint against the maker of the bad check as well as me. I understand why they did after all they were victimized. The other guy never made good on the check. I told them I would take care of this and pay them directly so they are made whole. Just trying to do the right thing.
I contacted the detective's office to let them know what was going on. I asked what is my recourse against the maker of the bad check and he went ballistic saying I have no claim and he could come down and lock me up for committing fraud saying that if I pay the check cashing place "this will all go away."
Check cashing place never filed anything with this police department. I have a strange feeling that the maker of the bad check must know someone.
In any event, I'm going to do the right thing by the check cashing place but what recourse do I have against the party that passed the bad check so I am made whole. Civil? Criminal?