Our clients, who were approaching retirement, were using a Family Office for financial advice. The advisor was a family friend whom they knew for years and trusted completely. First Citizens (successor to Georgian Bank) sued our clients alleging they guaranteed a $5 million dollar loan to a no-asset company formed by the investment advisor. First Citizens “put” the loan back to the FDIC after we presented evidence that our clients’ signatures were forged. When we asked the investment advisor if he forged the signatures, he refused to answer, asserting his Fifth Amendment privilege on the basis that his answer might tend to incriminate him. Ultimately, the FDIC dismissed claims against our client, reserving the right to hire our handwriting expert and is now pursuing fraud claims against the investment advisor.