People v. Calandra

117 Misc. 2d 972, 459 N.Y.S.2d 549, 1983 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3241
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 7, 1983
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 117 Misc. 2d 972 (People v. Calandra) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Calandra, 117 Misc. 2d 972, 459 N.Y.S.2d 549, 1983 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3241 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1983).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Harold J. Rothwax, J.

The defendants have been charged in a 94-count indictment with grand larceny in the second degree (Penal Law, § 155.35); abstraction of bank funds (Banking Law, § 673); and falsification of bank reports (Banking Law, § 672, subd 1) based upon the alleged diversion by the defendants [973]*973Calandra and Levine, vice-presidents in the commercial loan department of Chase Manhattan Bank, of $18 million in Chase funds to the defendants Freedman and Roseman or to entities under their control. The defendants allegedly attempted to portray unlawful transfers as loan transactions in the bank’s records, or attempted to conceal the transfers altogether from senior bank officials. The indictment is based upon 29 transactions, of which 21 were purported loans made by Calandra and Levine to Freedman, to entities controlled by Freedman or to Freedman surrogates. The remaining transactions include reversals of interest due on several of the loans; substantial overdrafts paid on Freedman’s account; and an unconditional guarantee, by Calandra on behalf of Chase, of a loan by the National Bank of North America (NBNA) to a FreedmanRoseman enterprise. All of these alleged transactions were conducted by Calandra and Levine from a branch office of Chase Manhattan located on Court Street in Brooklyn (Kings County). Calandra was the executive lending officer of Chase’s eastern district and Levine was his subordinate, responsible for a team of lending officers for the Brooklyn-Staten Island area. The loans were generally negotiated by Freedman in person or through a representative, in Brooklyn, or by telephone from Florida. The loan notes were executed in Brooklyn or were executed in blank elsewhere and were sent to Brooklyn for completion. The Freedman and related corporate accounts were maintained with the Brooklyn branch of Chase Manhattan.

The defendants challenge the court’s geographical jurisdiction over these offenses, since the locus of their conduct was primarily in Kings County. (CPL 210.20, subd 1, par [h].) If jurisdiction over these offenses is exclusively in Kings County, then the indictment must, of necessity, be dismissed. (Matter of Steingut v Gold, 42 NY2d 311, 316.) The determination of proper venue is a question of fact, which must be established by a preponderance of the evidence (People v Moore, 46 NY2d 1, 6-7). It is necessary, therefore, to review in some detail the proof before the Grand Jury as to the specific manner in which the transactions alleged in the indictment occurred.

[974]*974Loans were made by having the customer complete a promissory note which was kept on file at the branch. The loan officer, who approved the loan by countersigning the note, would simultaneously complete a second form (No. 179) entitled common credit input form. Contained in this form was the borrower’s name, address, the amount of the loan, rate of interest, schedule of repayments, and manner in which the loan was to be credited to the borrower. The loan principal could be credited in two ways, either by direct deposit to the borrower’s checking account, or by issuing bank checks in the principal amount. The loan officer’s signature on the 179 form authorized a loan processing clerk to transcribe the information relevant to the loan from the 179 form to a computer input sheet. The computer input sheets were sent, at the end of each business day, to the bank’s central computer operations located at One New York Plaza, in New York County. The information from the input sheets would be entered into the bank’s computer, which would then credit the borrower’s checking account in the amount of the loan. If the loan principal was delivered by check, the loan clerk would issue the check when he received the 179 form. The checks would subsequently be reacquired by Chase from local banks through the New York Clearing House Association, or from other banks through the Federal Reserve System. In either case, Chase would exchange an equivalent dollar amount of the depository bank’s checks for the face value of the Chase checks. Reacquisition took place in New York County. The reacquired checks were then delivered to Chase’s accounting office for debit against Chase holdings.

The 179 form was also used to modify any terms of an original loan, such as the principal amount, interest rate, and frequency of interest payments. The process for modification was the same as for the creation of an original loan. The 179 containing the new or additional information would be completed by the loan officer whose signature authorized a loan clerk to enter the modifications on computer input sheets, subsequently transported to Manhattan and logged into the bank’s computer.

In addition to the 179 form, the loan officer was required to complete a customer profile form (No. 178) which con[975]*975tained a new borrower’s name, financial circumstances and relationship to any existing borrower. This information, when authenticated by the loan officer’s signature, was transcribed to input sheets and entered into the bank’s central customer information file through the computer terminal in Manhattan. Additional documentation in regard to loans was kept in the credit files maintained at the branch.

Within 45 days of making a loan, the officer who authorized the loan was required to file a report to higher management regarding the -terms of the loan and financial condition of the borrower. Loans in excess of $100,000 but less than $250,000 were reported and reviewed at the district level, which was in Brooklyn. The report of loans in this range was entitled credit authorization report. Loans in excess of $250,000 were reported by means of credit facility reports, filed periodically in the group headquarters of the commercial loan department, in Manhattan, for review by senior management. The purpose of review was to ensure adherence to the bank’s lending policy guidelines at the district level. The credit facility reports were the senior management’s only source of information about the loans.

A document similar to the 179 loan form, entitled new account memorandum, was required to be prepared by the account’s relationship officer whenever a checking account was opened at the branch. The memorandum contained the name and address of authorized signatories, and relationship to any existing accounts. This information, when authenticated by the bank officer’s signature, was entered into the bank’s computerized records in the same manner as information recorded on the 179 form. The branch also maintained signature cards by which to verify the signatures of the authorized signatories.

In the event of an overdraft against a checking account, the relationship officer would receive a computer-issued refer card upon which he would indicate whether the draft should be paid or returned. The officer’s signature authorized the bank’s bookkeeping department in Manhattan, where the cards were sent, to pay or refuse to pay the overdraft and to modify the bank’s records accordingly. If [976]*976the overdraft were paid, the checking account remained unaffected and the amount of funds unavailable would be entered in the bank’s accounts receivable records.

The loan guarantee was a letter, similar to a letter of credit, drafted by Calandra in Brooklyn. The purpose of this unique document was to assist a Freedman company, R. S. Grist, to obtain a subsidiary mortgage on Florida real estate known as Holiday Isle, in order to repay an original Chase loan used to purchase the Holiday Isle property.

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Bluebook (online)
117 Misc. 2d 972, 459 N.Y.S.2d 549, 1983 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3241, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-calandra-nysupct-1983.