Forgery

What is it with all the people making stuff up? Is it just easier to create phony documents and signatures than it was twenty years ago? Maybe Dan Rather was the first victim of a wave of people creating phony stuff. If the legion of services offering to protect against identify theft could help out with forgeries, they’d really have a market. Exhibit A is a DLA Piper/Duane Morris Singapore lawyer who forged a pay stub so it looked like he was making $65,000 a month rather than $25,000, as he negotiated with a new employer. He’s facing Singapore jail time for forgery. Exhibit B is a former judge working in Southern California as a supposed mortgage rehabilitation lawyer. He forged a judge’s signature on an order to prevent a client from getting kicked out of a house. Exhibit C is a New York lawyer who forged a judge’s signature on an order so he could keep $35,000. It is the third time he has been charged with forgery. And there is more. What is it with people ginning up phony documents? The Buzz could show its age and claim that it’s a decline in public character. But we suspect it has more to do with great looking forgeries being easy to create now due to great technology. Is it technology’s fault? Of course not. Hmmm, all these guys are lawyers. Maybe that has something to do with it….

-- Paul Marotta