CHARLES RONALD NORGLE, District Judge.
This collateral lawsuit is a fragment of a $179 million Ponzi scheme. Harvard Savings Bank and Harvard Illinois Bancorp, Inc. (collectively, "Plaintiff") lost about $18 million by investing in the scheme. Plaintiff now seeks to recover $3 million from its insurance provider Security National Insurance Company ("Defendant"), who has declined coverage for the loss. Before the Court is Defendant's motion for summary judgment. For the following reasons, the motion is denied.
Three people orchestrated the $179 million fraud scheme: Nikesh A. Patel
The Rural Development arm of the USDA "has a $216 billion portfolio of loans" and it expects to "administer $38 billion in loans, loan guarantees and grants through [its] programs in the current fiscal year." United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development, About RD, https://www.rd.usda.gov/about-rd (last visited June 9, 2017). One of its loan programs, the Business and Industry Guaranteed Loan Program, "bolsters the availability of private credit by guaranteeing loans for rural businesses." United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development, Business & Industry Loan Guarantees, https://www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/business-industry-loan-guarantees (last visited June 9, 2017). Under this program, approved private lenders can issue loans to individuals, for-profit businesses, non-profit entities, public entities, and others for a wide-variety of uses. The loan funds are meant to be used in ways that help businesses purchase assets, improve operations and create jobs. Certain exclusions apply, for example, the funds cannot be used for golf courses or gambling facilities. The USDA guarantees a portion of the loans originated by private lenders; the guaranteed portion depends on the size of the loan.
To reflect First Farmers' financial stability and using his banking experience, Fisher created financial documents that looked authentic and genuine for the company, but were fake. Patel and Fisher then submitted the falsified documentation to the USDA to become a certified non-traditional lender of USDA-guaranteed loans. Beginning in March 2012, First Farmers began issuing what appeared to be loans originated under the USDA's Business and Industry Loan Guarantee Program. By September 2014, First Farmers originated twenty-six loans — seventeen loans to companies located in Georgia and nine loans to companies located in Florida. The loans ranged in amount from $2,500,000 to $10,000,000, and the USDA appeared to guarantee seventy, eighty or ninety percent of each loan. However, it was later discovered that these loans were completely fake — First Farmers never actually lent money to any borrowers.
Each package of fake loans consisted of five separate documents; each document appeared to be a legitimate contractual document on its face. One document was the "Term Note," which appeared to define the terms of the loan from First Farmers to the borrower or "Maker," and it referenced a fourteen digit "USDA Loan Identification Number." A second document called the "Loan Note Guarantee" defined the terms in which the USDA appeared to guarantee a portion of the loan. A third document titled "Assignment Guarantee Agreement" appeared to assign the loan to a third-party bank designated as the "Holder." A fourth document was the "Loan Originator's Letter of Attestation" in which Nikesh would sign as the officer of First Farmers certifying that the loan information was "true and correct" and that no First Farmers employee knew of "any fraud or misrepresentation with respect to the Loan or the assignment of a portion of the loan to the holder of this Attestation." The fifth document was the "Confirmation of Settlement" in which First Farmers summarized the loan terms and stated when the transaction purportedly occurred.
The two critical problems with these loans were that the companies represented as borrowers did not exist and the USDA never guaranteed a portion of the loans. All of the borrowers on the Term Notes appeared to be limited liability companies registered in either Georgia or Florida, but the names were fictitious and no business had actually been created or registered with the Secretary of State for Georgia, Florida or any other state. The fraudsters (who according to the documents were lending the money as First Farmers) simply made up the names of the borrowing companies (who according to the documents were receiving the money) and their respective managing members, and then signed the loan documents themselves as the lender and the borrowers. That was the first problem.
The Loan Note Guarantees and the Assignment Guarantee Agreements contained the signatures of the respective State Director for the USDA at the time — Quinton Robinson for the State of Georgia and Joseph M. Mueller for the State of Florida. These signatures, however, were forged. The State Directors for the USDA never signed these documents, the USDA never guaranteed these loans, the USDA never had any records indicating that these loans existed, and the USDA had no knowledge of the loans until they were uncovered as fakes. Nonetheless, the fictitious loan guarantees from the USDA made the loan packages much more attractive to potential investors on the secondary market and were the driving force behind the feasibility of the fraud. That was the second problem.
First Farmers realized actual pecuniary gain from the scheme when it sold "Guaranteed Portions of USDA B&I Loans and all supporting agreements, documents and instruments[,]" which included the "applicable promissory notes underlying such Loan Note Guarantees . . ." to Pennant Management, Inc.
Pennant first noticed "inconsistencies" in the loan documents during a routine review in September 2014. Pennant's Complaint ¶ 36. Pennant followed up with the USDA, which confirmed that it had no record of the loans and never guaranteed the loans. The USDA denied Pennant's claim for recovery on the fraudulent loans. In its Third Amended Complaint, Pennant aptly summarizes the fraud scheme in one sentence: "Together, [Nikesh, Trish and Fisher] invented each of these 26 `borrowers' out of whole cloth, printed phony loan documents, forged the signatures of USDA officials on guarantees, and sold worthless paper to Pennant for $179,160,000.00." Pennant's Complaint ¶ 46.
In June 2014, Plaintiff purchased a "Financial Institution Bond" (the "Bond") from Defendant.
Under Section D, two provisions are relevant — Subsections One and Three. Under those provisions Plaintiff is insured for a direct loss from: "Forgery or alteration of, on, or in any Negotiable Instrument . . ." or "the receipt by the Insured, in good faith, of any Counterfeit Negotiable Instrument." And the Section E clause relevant to this decision insures Plaintiff for a "[l]oss resulting directly from the Insured having, in good faith, for its own account or for the account of others, acquired, sold or delivered, given value, extended credit or assumed liability on the faith of a [Certificated Security]
The Bond defines "Forgery," "Negotiable Instrument" and "Counterfeit." "Forgery means the signing of the name of another person or organization with intent to deceive . . . ." Next, "Negotiable Instrument means any writing (1) signed by the maker or drawer, and (2) containing any unconditional promise or order to pay a sum certain in Money and no other promise, order, obligation or power given by the maker or drawer, and (3) is payable on demand or at a definite time, and (4) is payable to order or bearer." Third, "Counterfeit means an imitation which is intended to deceive and to be taken as an Original." And because Original is also defined by the Bond, the Court restates it here: "Original means the first rendering or archetype and does not include photocopies or electronic transmissions even if received and printed." Because the parties do not dispute the interpretation of Certificated Security, the Court does not restate or address the Bond's definition of it.
On September 29, 2014, Pennant informed Plaintiff of the miserable news that Pennant had invested Plaintiff's $18 million in a Ponzi scheme. Plaintiff submitted a claim for the loss to Defendant on October 17, 2014, and over a year later, Defendant denied the claim on November 24, 2015. About a month passed before Plaintiff filed a complaint for declaratory judgment, pursuant to the Court's diversity jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332, seeking reimbursement under the Bond. Plaintiff amended its complaint in February 2016, to set forth six specific provisions that it alleges provide coverage under the Bond — Sections D(1), D(3), E(1), E(3), Q, and V — and one general breach of contract claim. Defendant filed an answer and a counterclaim. The counterclaim essentially mirrors Plaintiff's amended complaint, but contends that interpretation of these sections in the Bond turn in Defendant's favor.
The parties have since settled their dispute regarding Sections Q and V of the Bond. The Court also previously questioned whether this case should be reassigned to Judge St. Eve based on this case's relatedness to Pennant's case, and whether the case should be transferred to the Western Division, where Plaintiff is located. After considering the parties' positions, however, the Court answered both questions in the negative. The Court now turns to adjudicating Defendant's motion. In its motion for partial summary judgment, Defendant argues for judgment in its favor on Sections D(1), D(3), and E(3). Whether Plaintiff has insurance coverage under Section E(1) and whether Defendant breached the terms of the Bond are issues that await resolution another day.
At the summary judgment stage, the Court views the record in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party and construes all reasonable inferences in its favor.
The Bond, like any insurance policy, is a contract, and the general rules of contract interpretation apply.
The Declarations page of the Bond lists twenty-four different types of financial losses that are insured, the majority of which are losses related to fraud crimes. The Bond also includes several additional Riders that provide supplemental coverage. Plaintiff paid a substantial premium for the insurance coverage, Plaintiff must typically pay a substantial deductible in the event of a loss, and the loss is limited to a maximum of $3,000,000 per incident. The overall purpose of the Bond is to insure Plaintiff, a bank, if it becomes the victim of an unforeseen financial crime. Speaking about the bankers blanket bond, the Third Circuit has aptly stated that "[t]he bond itself contains a great many words and covers a great many subjects."
Section D(1) of the Bond provides insurance coverage for Plaintiff in the event of "Forgery or alteration of, on, or in any Negotiable Instrument." Defendant does not argue that a forgery or alteration did not occur, nor could it, given that each of the loan guarantees contains the forged signature of a USDA official. Instead, Defendant contends that neither the Term Notes nor the particular documents that contain the forgeries, the USDA guarantees, fall within the Bond's definition of a "Negotiable Instrument."
It has been longstanding in Illinois that "[n]egotiability is favored in the law."
The Court construes documents as a single agreement where the documents were executed at the same time.
The Bond in this case has defined "Negotiable Instrument" similarly to the UCC definition. It is defined as: "any writing (1) signed by the maker or drawer, and (2) containing any unconditional promise or order to pay a sum certain in Money and no other promise, order, obligation or power given by the maker or drawer, and (3) is payable on demand or at a definite time, and (4) is payable to order or bearer." The four requirements of negotiability as defined by the Bond are unambiguous and do not offend Illinois' public policy, so the Court applies the plain and ordinary meaning of the definition.
First, the Term Notes are all signed by a maker (although extrinsic evidence shows that the makers did not actually exist). Second, the beginning clause of the Term Notes states that the maker "promises to pay to [the order or bearer] . . . the principal sum of [a certain amount of money]." Each maker's promise to pay is not conditioned on any act or occurrence, and the sum to be paid is certain — the loan amount plus interest. Third, the sum certain is payable at a definite time — monthly for 360 months. And the last requirement is met because the loans are payable to order or bearer — First Farmers and the subsequent holders of the Term Notes. The Court finds that the four requirements of negotiability are all met; therefore, the loan packages sold by First Farmers qualify under the Bond definition of "Negotiable Instruments." Because it is uncontested that there were forgeries in the loan packages, the Court finds that Plaintiff has established insurance coverage under Section D(1).
"Once the insured has demonstrated coverage, the burden then shifts to the insurer to prove that a limitation or exclusion applies."
Furthermore, Defendant contends that the Loan Note Guarantees and the Assignment Guarantee Agreements have conditions, so they cannot be negotiable instruments. But in making this argument, Defendant glosses over the requirement that any "other promise, order, obligation or power [must be] given by the maker or drawer." The guarantees reference the Term Notes, but they are agreements between First Farmers and the USDA; the makers are not parties or signatories to the guarantees. The Court rejects Defendant's broad, unsupported arguments, which would in effect make ordinary and traditional loans nonnegotiable simply because the notes contain thorough provisions addressing repayment, taxes, default, or contain a separate loan guarantee.
In its reply brief, Defendant raises new arguments and cites new case law to address Plaintiff's position regarding negotiability. None are persuasive. Defendant's new arguments are detached from the facts of this case. For example, Defendant contends that Plaintiff only invested in the guaranteed portions of the loans, but that argument disregards that Pennant purchased "all supporting agreements, documents and instruments[,]" which included the "applicable promissory notes." Moreover, the case law cited by Defendant is either: (1) not controlling; (2) applies the law from a state other than Illinois; (3) does not address the Bond definition of Negotiable Instrument; or (4) is a combination of the three preceding deficiencies. Therefore the Court finds that Defendant fails to meet its burden of showing a reason why Plaintiff's loss is not covered under Section D(1).
Section E(3) covers four types of securities, and insures Plaintiff if it purchased a "Counterfeit." Plaintiff claims that its purchase of an interest in the fraudulent loan packages qualifies as a "Certificated Security," which Defendant does not dispute. Defendant instead disputes whether the loan packages themselves qualify as "Counterfeit." As previously mentioned, the Bond defines Counterfeit as "an imitation which is intended to deceive and to be taken as an Original." To support its position,
The Seventh Circuit decided
In
Plaintiff's reference to the Chicago Manual of Style to explain the difference between a writer's use of "the" versus "a" is persuasive.
When applying the definition of counterfeit, the judicial inquiry should focus on how closely the fake documents look to valid documents, not the actions taken, or not taken, by the victim of the fraud. Blaming the victim's conduct has been a component of judicial decisions in the past, but it is not the best rationale for courts to use when determining the quality of an imitation.
The Court agrees with the Third Circuit "that common usage would indicate that counterfeit is something that purports to be something that it is not."
Section D(3) provides Plaintiff with insurance coverage when it receives a "Counterfeit Negotiable Instrument" in "good faith." The Court has already discussed the Bond definitions of "Counterfeit" and "Negotiable Instrument" and found that both definitions are applicable to the fraudulent loan packages in this case. Defendant does not argue that Plaintiff did not receive the loan packages in good faith. Therefore, the Court finds that Plaintiff can establish insurance coverage under Section D(3) as well.
The Court finds that there is enough evidence in this case that a reasonable jury could return a verdict in Plaintiff's favor. Therefore, Defendant's motion for summary judgment is denied. Plaintiff has established a prima facie case for insurance coverage under Section D(1) of the Bond. However, because discovery had not closed at the time that Defendant filed this motion, Plaintiff has not filed a cross-motion for summary judgment, and Plaintiff has not established that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law on Sections (D)(3), E(1), or E(3), the Court does not enter judgment at this time.
IT IS SO ORDERED.