nuffie, ... "posted it as a fact of who is responsible "if"."
But your "if" was too broad. You were taking the phrase about "any forgery" completely out of context.
Forgery is the false imitation of someone else's name. Edwards was not forging someone else's name when he signed the certificates. He was signing his own name. He obviously had an interest in the trusts used as a conduit for certificates in the CMKX scam. Edwards was the seller/transferor of the certificates. And, CMKX (like BMCS) was not a subsequent holder of the shares affected.
The medallion does provide a guarantee to make the shares tradable in commerce without sellers personally appearing at the transfer agent's office with the certificate in hand. The medallion should be thought of as a special type of notary stamp limited to transfers of stock certificates.
When a notarization is made of a document by a notary public, the notary public doesn't guarantee that the facts stated in the document are true. The notary only certifies that the person appeared, signed and the notary states that he/she had sufficient knowledge that the person signing had sufficient identification which showed he/she was who he/she said they were on the signature line.
If the person signing is not who the notary says they are, the notary can be sued on the bond deposited with the State before the notary can be licensed. The medallion system works the same way. If the person is not actually the person whose name is signed, the company affixing the medallion may be sued on the guarantee.
But, the medallion company should not (and, IMO, Wells Fargo will not) be held responsible for general fraud unrelated to the identity of the person who signs when the medallion is affixed - at least not under any theory related to the medallion's guarantee.
Edwards' scheme was certainly fraudulent. But, it had nothing to do with a forgery of any name signed on the back of a certificate he had presented to Wells Fargo. ... eom
