Holland & Knight offices. Courtesy photo

The story has been updated to include a written statement from Holland & Knight.

Holland & Knight is being sued for its role in a botched wire transfer in which $3 million was sent to a fraudulent account based in Hong Kong this year.

The lawsuit alleges the law firm could have done more to prevent the cyber scam and a $3 million fraud.

The suit, which was first filed in Utah state court in June and then moved to federal court this week, centers around a stock transaction between plaintiffs Sorenson Impact Foundation and the James Lee Sorenson Family Foundation and defendants Holland & Knight, Continental Stock Transfer and Tassel Parent Inc.

In December, Holland & Knight was hired to handle a stock sale between the plaintiffs and Tassel Parent, valued at $3,124,940, according to the suit. Defendant Continental Stock Transfer acted as the transfer agent, the complaint says.

A month later, a "malicious third party" intercepted emails between the plaintiffs and defendants, the complaint continues. The scammers assumed the identity of the plaintiffs, falsified correspondence and documents and, in late January, asked Holland & Knight to wire the $3 million to a different account based in Hong Kong and identifying itself as "Wemakos Furniture Co. Limited," the complaint continues.

In February, the scammers then forged a false letter of transmittal, stock certificates and authorization letter. The fake documents listed the plaintiffs' bank as "Bank of China HK LTD" and the owner/beneficiary as "Hongkong Wemakos Furniture Trading Co. Limited."

The transaction was executed and the plaintiffs have not recovered the $3 million, says the complaint.

The plaintiffs, suing the law firm for breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty, allege that Holland & Knight did not vet the fraudulent account or contact the plaintiffs, a safeguard laid out in the merger agreement between the firm and plaintiffs, which may have prevented the mistake.

"Plaintiffs and defendants would have discovered the fraudulent emails, fraudulent Letter of Transmittal and Letter of Authorization if H&K and Continental had contacted plaintiffs in person over the phone to confirm the fraudulent wire instructions," the complaint reads.

The plaintiffs in the suit, which surfaced on Law.com's Legal Radar, are represented by Cameron Hancock and Thad Seegmiller of Kirton McConkie.

In a statement on Thursday, Holland & Knight spokeswoman Olivia Hoch said the firm's "information technology system was not compromised in any way." She added that the plaintiffs were not clients, and "the firm acted on wiring instructions received from the plaintiff's email system by providing the instructions to the paying agent."

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