Cecil Taylor conned out of 1/2 millon prize

[Scott Dolan]

That's OK Scott - you only have about a hundred or so albums to go!

I know...

I think that may be one of the reasons I never got into him. I was probably right on the tail end of putting together my Coltrane collection of almost 100 discs...

My wallet was already in ashes.

[xybert]

That's OK Scott - you only have about a hundred or so albums to go!

I know...

I think that may be one of the reasons I never got into him. I was probably right on the tail end of putting together my Coltrane collection of almost 100 discs...

My wallet was already in ashes.

I swear, when i look at my collection, there are so many artists that are under-represented (relative to how much i dig their music) due to the fact that i was low on cash at the time that i was going crazy for them (see John Butcher). The flip side is that there are artists that are over-represented due to the fact that i was flush at the time.

[Scott Dolan]

I hear that, xybert. I could say the exact same thing.

Steve Lacy and Joe Lovano would count as woefully underrepresented in my collection.

[clifford_thornton]

As a side note, it is ironic that while the US are very aggressive pushing anti money laundering practices all over the world, they have such a mess with banking at home (in, I assume, NYC, of all places). When half-a-million dollars is sent to "The Cecil Taylor Foundation", but the recipient is actually "MCAI Construction", such a transaction should never go through without investigation. And most definitely such a bank account can't be allowed to be closed soon after a transaction like this.

Yes, you're right - that should have thrown up several red flags.

[Chuck Nessa]

As a side note, it is ironic that while the US are very aggressive pushing anti money laundering practices all over the world, they have such a mess with banking at home (in, I assume, NYC, of all places). When half-a-million dollars is sent to "The Cecil Taylor Foundation", but the recipient is actually "MCAI Construction", such a transaction should never go through without investigation. And most definitely such a bank account can't be allowed to be closed soon after a transaction like this.

Yes, you're right - that should have thrown up several red flags.

I am sure "the Cecil Taylor Foundation" was only mentioned to Cecil and the folks supplying the funds - the transfers would be to an account number, not an account name.

Edited August 13, 2014 by Chuck Nessa

[bogdan101]

As a side note, it is ironic that while the US are very aggressive pushing anti money laundering practices all over the world, they have such a mess with banking at home (in, I assume, NYC, of all places). When half-a-million dollars is sent to "The Cecil Taylor Foundation", but the recipient is actually "MCAI Construction", such a transaction should never go through without investigation. And most definitely such a bank account can't be allowed to be closed soon after a transaction like this.

Yes, you're right - that should have thrown up several red flags.

I am sure "the Cecil Taylor Foundation" was only mentioned to Cecil and the folks supplying the funds - the transfers would be to an account number, not an account name.

I've done bank transfers before, and, even for much smaller amounts than what is in question here, in addition to the bank account number, the name and address of the account owner were required.

[paul secor]

This is sad. Hopefully Mr Taylor receives his money, and I think he should be able to.

As a side note, it is ironic that while the US are very aggressive pushing anti money laundering practices all over the world, they have such a mess with banking at home (in, I assume, NYC, of all places). When half-a-million dollars is sent to "The Cecil Taylor Foundation", but the recipient is actually "MCAI Construction", such a transaction should never go through without investigation. And most definitely such a bank account can't be allowed to be closed soon after a transaction like this.

As you say, it's hard to believe that all of this happened, but it obviously did. Reality can be a strange thing.

[JSngry]

Agreed that, with the limited information in the OP's link, that some money laundering red flags should have been triggered.

I would like to know which bank originated the funds and, especially, which bank accepted the transfer without doing any (apparent) screening. There well could/should be an investigation into, and possible prosecution of, them as well as the misanthropic malfeasant who perpetrated this fraud.