Trott v. Dean Witter & Co.

438 F.Supp. 842 (1977)

Facts

P, in the course of collecting a debt for printing services eventually met Joey Franzese who was going to let P in on a deal to defraud D. Joey occupied a position on the Margins Desk at D, where he was able to negotiate transactions resulting in payments of money to fictitious accounts, whose proceeds Joey himself would appropriate. Joey showed P a check for over half a million dollars which allegedly was the product of one of these transactions. P was fearful that the company would not believe his accusation against an upper-level employee and disturbed also that Joey was connected with organized crime, would not let him walk away unharmed with such information, P decided to go along with the plan until a more appropriate occasion arose to unmask the criminals. P participated in a scheme in which Joey issued two checks, totaling over $275,000, from D's account. As the fraud reached its final stages, P contacted Federal authorities. They promised him protection if he would continue to cooperate with Joey long enough for the government to secure evidence to convict them. Joey was convicted, and the loss of D's money was prevented. P suffered considerable distress as a result of a change of identity and relocation through the Federal Witness Relocation Program (including a halving of his income), sued to recover damages from D. D moved to dismiss the complaint or for summary judgment.