Word: phoning
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Taylor had worked for First Chicago for eight years, and was employed in its wire-transfer section, which dispatches multimillion-dollar sums around the world via computers and phone lines. The bank's biggest customers routinely call this department to transfer funds, often paying money directly into suppliers' accounts. As at most banks, transfers require that a First Chicago employee call back another executive at the customer's offices to reconfirm the order, using various code numbers. All such calls are automatically taped. Taylor had access to the codes and knew the names of the appropriate executives at various corporations...
...transfer of $24 million to the account of "Lord Investments" in Vienna's Creditanstalt bank. He first heard a taped message: "This is First Chicago transfer operations. Your transaction is being recorded." Unfazed, the caller placed the order with one of Taylor's unwitting co-workers. Taylor pretended to phone another Merrill Lynch official for backup confirmation. He really called the Chicago home of Bailey, who gave an authentic-sounding "approval" as the tape rolled. The $24 million was promptly wired to New York's Citibank for later transfer to Vienna...
...United and Merrill Lynch did not have enough funds in their accounts to cover outstanding checks, which started to bounce, alerting First Chicago officials that something was amiss. The bank traced the problem to Taylor and called in the FBI. Taylor named his coconspirators and agreed to make incriminating phone calls to Moore and the others that the FBI taped as evidence. Although Brown-Forman's funds were credited in Vienna, the money taken from United and Merrill Lynch was intercepted at Citibank before it left the country...
Local merchants could no longer let their fingers do the walking. "I drove to 30 offices the other day to post a new listing," moaned Real Estate Broker Marge Novak. To cope with municipal business, Hinsdale Village Manager Ron Ruskey installed a cellular phone in his briefcase. Eight police cars with two-way radios were posted to permanent stations around town to help residents report emergencies. When students realized that attendance officers could not call home to check up on them, Hinsdale schools reported a sudden surge in truancies. Patients found they could not call their doctors, and the emergency...
...other side of the coin, soccer's Jape Shattuck was less than pleasant during my year with the team. And no one matches football coach Joe Restic for general boorishness and unhelpfulness. Even during last fall's Ivy championship season, Restic persisted in leaving phone calls unreturned and requests unfulfilled. I got the feeling that Restic felt himself too professional to have to deal with the lowly student press, but his conduct during my three years on the beat was anything but professional...