Brinson Askew Berry won a large summary judgment in U.S. District Court in September of 2021 for a client who was defrauded of approximately $2 million in an email-cybersecurity hacking scheme that led to a botched wire transfer being sent to Hong Kong.

The client had originally sold his company pursuant to a multi-million-dollar asset purchase agreement. The client/seller was paid 95 percent of the purchase price up front, with the remaining amount (close to $2 million) to be paid 18 months later. When the final payment came due, a third-party hacked into the email account of the client/seller’s former attorney and sent fraudulent wire-payment instructions to the purchaser containing a new wiring address to a bank in Hong Kong, along with the name of a completely different beneficiary or recipient.

Without confirming the email’s authenticity or undertaking any other verification safety procedures in connection with the new wiring instructions, the purchaser blindly sent the client/seller’s funds to the Hong Kong bank account for a completely different beneficiary that the purchaser did not know. The purchaser did nothing to confirm the accuracy or authenticity of the new wire instructions beyond simply noting they were sent from the email account of the client/seller’s former attorney. Thereafter, the funds vanished and were never recovered from the Hong Kong bank.

On behalf of their plaintiff client, the firm filed a federal lawsuit in February of 2019 against the Purchaser for breach of contract and breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing to recover damages of approximately $2 million plus pre-judgment interest, costs, expert fees, and attorneys’ fees. The lawsuit also asserted negligence and legal malpractice claims against the client’s former attorney whose email was hacked and used to send the fraudulent wiring instructions to the purchaser.

In his favorable ruling for the firm’s client, U.S. District Court Judge Michael Brown awarded all damages sought by the client against the purchaser who sent the funds by wire to Hong Kong. Damages included a full reimbursement for attorney fees, prejudgment interest and other associated costs and expenses.