Randy Corporon, center left, listens to remarks during a hearing at Denver’s City and County Building on Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021. (Denver Post file)
Randy Corporon, a former radio host and attorney who is being sued for wiring a $375,000 divorce settlement to a hacker in Hong Kong, said his bank deserves some blame.
“Wells Fargo failed to inform Mr. Corporon of his options for canceling the wire transfer,” the lawyer’s lawyers wrote on Aug. 14, “and reclaiming the funds by other means.”
In 2021, Corporon represented Thaddeus Kowalik in a divorce case. After the Kowaliks sold their marital home in south Denver, it was Corporon who held the proceeds in escrow. Then, when the divorce was settled, it fell on Corporon to pay each side their share.
Corporon asked the ex-wife’s attorney, Danielle Demkowicz, how her client would like to be paid. Unbeknownst to Corporon, a hacker had infiltrated Demkowicz’s email. Posing as Demkowicz, the hacker suggested wiring cash to Dah Sing Bank in Hong Kong.
“While I was awaiting my business banker, I received a call from a woman purporting to be the ex-wife, Anne,” Corporon later explained in a report that he filed with the Hong Kong Police Force. “I had never spoken with her before and our questions (limited to the transfer) and responses seemed perfectly normal to me and I completed the transaction.”
Anne O’Riordan said that Corporon missed obvious red flags during the call and in subsequent emails that the hacker, this time posing as O’Riordan, sent Corporon: Her name was spelled wrong and the English was bad. O’Riordan is a licensed English teacher.
Corporon realized his mistake three days later, when Thaddeus Kowalik texted him.
“He said that his children were coming to Denver to visit their mom and she was NOT in Hong Kong,” Corporon later wrote to police, according to a copy of his report that is attached as a court exhibit. “I asked him if his ex-wife had any kind of an accent and he said no. I immediately realized I had been scammed and went to my bank to try and stop the transaction.”
Randy Corporon has been a licensed attorney in Colorado since 1998. (Facebook)
That’s when the bank, a Wells Fargo location in Aurora, failed to tell Corporon about the FBI’s so-called “kill chain” process, which can stop overseas wire transfers, Corporan said.
“Wells Fargo didn’t say anything about it. They didn’t implement it, suggest it, mention it, or do anything other than initiate the ‘recall,’ which failed,” Corporon said.
O’Riordan sued Corporon in June, claiming he is the one responsible for wiring her $374,290 to Hong Kong. Corporon responded to that lawsuit last week by suing Wells Fargo and Demkowicz, the former O’Riordan attorney whose email account was hacked. He believes that if O’Riordan wins her case, Wells Fargo and Demkowicz should also have to pay.
“While it is unfortunate that our customer fell victim to a scam, our employees took the correct actions in this situation,” said Tony Timmons, a Wells Fargo spokesman for Colorado. “We believe the lawsuit is without merit, and intend to defend against this litigation.”
Demkowicz did not return phone calls and emails requesting comment on the case.
Court exhibits filed in the O’Riordan case show that Corporon’s actions gained the attention of the Colorado Office of Attorney Regulation, which investigates alleged wrongdoing by lawyers. In summer 2022, the state agency asked Corporon to respond to accusations that he had acted incompetently, without due diligence and without properly communicating.
More than two years later, Corporon has never been disciplined for his actions in the O’Riordan matter, which suggests that it was determined he did not violate professional ethics. Jessica Yates, who heads the Colorado Office of Attorney Regulation, said last week that she could not confirm or deny “any matter with our office involving Mr. Corporon.”
Corporon has been a lawyer in Colorado since 1998 and has an unblemished disciplinary record, state records show. He handles a variety of legal matters, with a focus on constitutional law, and is also a Colorado delegate to the Republican National Committee. Corporon hosted a weekend radio show on KNUS for a decade before it was canceled in July.
Dah Sing Bank has 70 branches in Hong Kong, Macao and China. (Facebook)
In the case of O’Riordan and the Hong Kong hacker, he has acknowledged some mistakes.
“This was an elaborate, sophisticated, well-scripted hack and I responded to it. I was sucked into it. I acted on it,” he wrote to an attorney regulation investigator in June 2022.
“Since then, I have read a great deal about the prevalence of this kind of chicanery around the world and of ways to recognize it and defend against it,” he said of overseas hacking and wire fraud. “There are civil ramifications and, I hope and believe, civil remedies.”
In the meantime, O’Riordan continues to suffer financial fallout from others’ mistakes.
“I am not going to be able to sign my lease for the next year when it comes up next week,” she told BusinessDen, “because I don’t have the money. So, I am going to lose my home.”
Randy Corporon, center left, listens to remarks during a hearing at Denver’s City and County Building on Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021. (Denver Post file)
Randy Corporon, a former radio host and attorney who is being sued for wiring a $375,000 divorce settlement to a hacker in Hong Kong, said his bank deserves some blame.
“Wells Fargo failed to inform Mr. Corporon of his options for canceling the wire transfer,” the lawyer’s lawyers wrote on Aug. 14, “and reclaiming the funds by other means.”
In 2021, Corporon represented Thaddeus Kowalik in a divorce case. After the Kowaliks sold their marital home in south Denver, it was Corporon who held the proceeds in escrow. Then, when the divorce was settled, it fell on Corporon to pay each side their share.
Corporon asked the ex-wife’s attorney, Danielle Demkowicz, how her client would like to be paid. Unbeknownst to Corporon, a hacker had infiltrated Demkowicz’s email. Posing as Demkowicz, the hacker suggested wiring cash to Dah Sing Bank in Hong Kong.
“While I was awaiting my business banker, I received a call from a woman purporting to be the ex-wife, Anne,” Corporon later explained in a report that he filed with the Hong Kong Police Force. “I had never spoken with her before and our questions (limited to the transfer) and responses seemed perfectly normal to me and I completed the transaction.”
Anne O’Riordan said that Corporon missed obvious red flags during the call and in subsequent emails that the hacker, this time posing as O’Riordan, sent Corporon: Her name was spelled wrong and the English was bad. O’Riordan is a licensed English teacher.
Corporon realized his mistake three days later, when Thaddeus Kowalik texted him.
“He said that his children were coming to Denver to visit their mom and she was NOT in Hong Kong,” Corporon later wrote to police, according to a copy of his report that is attached as a court exhibit. “I asked him if his ex-wife had any kind of an accent and he said no. I immediately realized I had been scammed and went to my bank to try and stop the transaction.”
Randy Corporon has been a licensed attorney in Colorado since 1998. (Facebook)
That’s when the bank, a Wells Fargo location in Aurora, failed to tell Corporon about the FBI’s so-called “kill chain” process, which can stop overseas wire transfers, Corporan said.
“Wells Fargo didn’t say anything about it. They didn’t implement it, suggest it, mention it, or do anything other than initiate the ‘recall,’ which failed,” Corporon said.
O’Riordan sued Corporon in June, claiming he is the one responsible for wiring her $374,290 to Hong Kong. Corporon responded to that lawsuit last week by suing Wells Fargo and Demkowicz, the former O’Riordan attorney whose email account was hacked. He believes that if O’Riordan wins her case, Wells Fargo and Demkowicz should also have to pay.
“While it is unfortunate that our customer fell victim to a scam, our employees took the correct actions in this situation,” said Tony Timmons, a Wells Fargo spokesman for Colorado. “We believe the lawsuit is without merit, and intend to defend against this litigation.”
Demkowicz did not return phone calls and emails requesting comment on the case.
Court exhibits filed in the O’Riordan case show that Corporon’s actions gained the attention of the Colorado Office of Attorney Regulation, which investigates alleged wrongdoing by lawyers. In summer 2022, the state agency asked Corporon to respond to accusations that he had acted incompetently, without due diligence and without properly communicating.
More than two years later, Corporon has never been disciplined for his actions in the O’Riordan matter, which suggests that it was determined he did not violate professional ethics. Jessica Yates, who heads the Colorado Office of Attorney Regulation, said last week that she could not confirm or deny “any matter with our office involving Mr. Corporon.”
Corporon has been a lawyer in Colorado since 1998 and has an unblemished disciplinary record, state records show. He handles a variety of legal matters, with a focus on constitutional law, and is also a Colorado delegate to the Republican National Committee. Corporon hosted a weekend radio show on KNUS for a decade before it was canceled in July.
Dah Sing Bank has 70 branches in Hong Kong, Macao and China. (Facebook)
In the case of O’Riordan and the Hong Kong hacker, he has acknowledged some mistakes.
“This was an elaborate, sophisticated, well-scripted hack and I responded to it. I was sucked into it. I acted on it,” he wrote to an attorney regulation investigator in June 2022.
“Since then, I have read a great deal about the prevalence of this kind of chicanery around the world and of ways to recognize it and defend against it,” he said of overseas hacking and wire fraud. “There are civil ramifications and, I hope and believe, civil remedies.”
In the meantime, O’Riordan continues to suffer financial fallout from others’ mistakes.
“I am not going to be able to sign my lease for the next year when it comes up next week,” she told BusinessDen, “because I don’t have the money. So, I am going to lose my home.”
