By Barbara Mae Dacanay, Bureau Chief
Published: February 13, 2008, 00:20
Manila: Famous Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao lost $180,000 (Dh660,600) to the wife of his driver who had allegedly forged his (Pacquiao's) signature in a bank in the United States, a local paper said.
When Pia Quijada, the second wife of Pacquiao's driver Joseph Jose, learned how to forge the signature of the Filipino boxer, she systematically siphoned off some $180,000 from his account in Wells Fargo, Sunset Boulevard, said the Standard newspaper.
When Pacquiao opened a bank account with $200,000 in 2006, he had used the address of the Quijada couple in Los Angeles. As a result, Pacquiao's bank statements and used cheques were mailed there.
Investigations showed that Pia started issuing "pay cash" checks in small amounts. She increased the amounts withdrawn from $300 to $1,000 a month.
Once, she withdrew $4,000 a month.
Later, her withdrawals averaged between $11,000 and $12,000 a month. She also transferred some $40,000 from Pacquiao's account to her newly opened account in Wells Fargo, Burbank.
In all, she issued a total of 500 cheques that bore the boxer's forged signature. Her forgery of Pacquiao's signature was not perfect at the beginning of the anomalous transactions, the report said.
Later, she perfected the skill, investigation showed. Investigation began when Vilma Rodriguez, assistant vice president of the Wells Fargo branch in Hollywood, became curious why Pacquiao was regularly issuing cheques even when he was not in the United States.
When Pacquiao went to the US for a training for his rematch with Juan Manuel Marquez in the US on March 15, he personally went to the bank, and helped the investigators.
No comments:
Post a Comment