ATM fraud alleged in suit

Wake man sued in $30 million plot

RALEIGH -- An outraged business partner has accused a Wake County businessman of an elaborate fraud to gain control of more than 1,200 ATMs in gas stations, convenience stores and other outlets across the country.

The lawsuit filed Wednesday in Wake County Superior Court contends that Vance Moore II and his business, ATM Financial Services of Garner, perpetrated a $30 million scheme.

The lawsuit was filed by California-based ATM Equity, which owns and operates ATMs nationwide. The company obtained a temporary restraining order Wednesday afternoon, issued by Superior Court Judge A. Leon Stanback Jr., that freezes the bank accounts of Moore and his business.

Moore was not given an opportunity to argue against the order because, Stanback wrote, ATM Equity submitted evidence that Moore had "threatened to remove plaintiff's ATMs from their current locations, and otherwise terminate the funding of the ATMs."

Moore could not be reached for comment.

ATM Equity relied on Moore's company to buy or lease ATMs and operate them on ATM Equity's behalf, according to the suit.

But ATM Equity later found that some of the leases were fake, some ATMs are "missing" and others that ATM Equity thought it owned actually are owned by other companies, the lawsuit said.

ATM Equity says in the lawsuit that it was defrauded of about $30 million, including $25 million in cash and automated teller machines and $4.5 million in ATM fees. The company claims in the suit that it spent $20 million to purchase the machines.

Kieran Shanahan, a Raleigh lawyer representing the California company, said Moore created phony documents give the appearance that the ATMs were running smoothly. But Shanahan said an audit commissioned by his client showed that a number of the machines ATM Equity thought were up and running hadn't been used for two years, according to an affidavit from an ATM Equity executive that was filed in court.

"It was a big mess," Shanahan said.