Harmon Submitted False Letter to Obtain Refinance Loan
The Supreme Court of Illinois allowed the petition of the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission seeking a three year suspension of Anthony Nickolas Harmon from the practice of law. The petition was filed with the consent of Harmon.
According to the petition, in 2003, while Harmon was serving in the Army in Wisconsin, he forged other Army officers’ signatures on a letter he fabricated to encourage a lender to refinance his mortgage. At the closing of a refinance loan on his home, a question arose regarding Harmon’s prospects of being re-employed by his civilian employer following his active duty service. Harmon fabricated and mailed a letter to the lender purporting to be from his lawyer (an Army officer). The letter claimed that the transaction was subject to the Soldier’s and Sailor’s Civil Relief Act of 1940, which, the letter claimed, limited the lender’s ability to deny credit and threatened to report the lender to the United States Attorney’s Office if it made any “adverse or otherwise uncustomary credit determination.â€
Harmon acknowledged that his conduct was improper and expressed remorse for it. He also resigned from the Army in lieu of facing a court martial that was based, in part, on the misconduct recited in the petition. His discharge “under other than honorable conditions” resulted in the forfeiture of the pension, medical, educational and other benefits he had accrued during an 18-year career as a member of the Army and Army Reserve. He also resigned from his position as an associate at a large law firm in Chicago, Illinois.
