Utah woman said she’s being held liable for her ex-boss’s fraudulent spending
Jan 14, 2025, 10:42 PM
OREM – You won’t know it from watching her play with her labradoodle, but Ora Argyle said she’s under a ton of financial stress she didn’t cause. She said she is being hounded for $19,000 that Chase Bank insists she owes them.
“I tried to dispute my credit report,” Argyle said. “I’ve never had a bill. I’ve never had a statement. They refused to tell me what any more of the charges are.”
Argyle worked as an assistant for Candace Lierd at Lierd’s now-defunct nonprofit, Exitus. Last October, Lierd was sentenced to at least three years in prison on nine felony charges. One of those charges was a Chase business credit card that she fraudulently opened in Argyle’s name.
She admitted she knew about the account being opened. She had been told it was to help get Exitus back on its feet.
“She just kept pressuring me and pressuring and pressuring me,” Argyle said. “We open the business credit card over the phone, so I never signed any paperwork. I hardly got any details.”
The details came out eventually. She said her boss spent $19,000 using her company card on transactions such as cash advances, Venmo payments, and even a car – all fraud.
“She’s in prison right now for this and Chase Bank is coming after me,” she said. “They know that she’s in prison.”
Argyle said she had spent months on the phone with Chase trying to demonstrate that she’s a victim, too, but the bank continues to insist she’s responsible for that money spent fraudulently by her former boss. Facing bankruptcy, she decided it was time to call me.
In cases of confirmed fraud, banks are typically required to forgive unauthorized transactions. But that only applies to personal accounts. There are no laws that we could find that require banks to write off fraud when it’s a business account, and this was a business account.
So, is Argyle out of luck? Well, no. The KSL Investigators reached out to Chase Bank on her behalf to ask about all of this.
In an email, a spokesperson replied they “are pleased to have resolved this matter.” And they sent Argyle a letter saying that while they have every right to hold her responsible under the terms of the agreement, “After re-review and consideration…” Chase has decided “…not to hold you liable for the card balance.”
Just like that, she is no longer liable for her former boss’ actions.
“I just want to move on with my life,” she said.
