A $20,000 Loan Recovered at 125% in Three Weeks
A year of failed collection against a debtor with a $3.6 million portfolio and no CPA credential ended in a $25,000 recovery, secured by a $50,000 confession of judgment and paid within three weeks.
125%
of principal, paid in three weeks
- Resolved
- Public court
- Year
- 2025
The situation
The client had spent nearly a year trying to recover a $20,000 loan from his accountant. Investigation showed the accountant had publicly held himself out as a CPA for nearly a decade without ever obtaining the credential, held a real estate portfolio worth roughly $3.6 million, and faced mounting claims from employees and former counsel. Ordinary enforcement in New York looked difficult: other creditors were pursuing payment, the portfolio did not translate into cash, and the accounting practice was the defendant's own income source — a strategy that destroyed it would undermine recovery.
The approach
The loan proceeds had gone to commercial mortgage payments across the portfolio, and the lending documents restricted additional indebtedness and contained cross-default provisions: a breach affecting one obligation could trigger defaults across multiple mortgages and accelerate the whole capital structure. A verified complaint was filed, requiring a verified answer under the applicable pleading rules — leaving the defendant to admit the allegations about his CPA credentials and his use of the proceeds, deny them under oath against the documentary record, or face a default judgment application.
The outcome
After roughly 18 months of nonpayment, the defendant made contact two days before his answer was due. The client's religious convictions prohibited charging interest, so the settlement provided reimbursement of enforcement expenses and repayment on agreed terms: $25,000 recovered, 125% of principal; a $50,000 confession of judgment — 250% of principal — as security for performance; and a release limited to the plaintiff entity's claims, effective only on full payment. Two installments were agreed over two months; the full amount was paid within three weeks.
The full write-up
This page keeps the figures and the holding. The firm's own account of the matter, in full, is here:
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each matter is different, and the results described here were achieved on the specific facts of those matters.