Brian Hawes
Legal Studies 411
Professor Washburn
12/6/2019
Role Of UCC
The Universal Commercial Code or UCC, has long been a standardized set of laws and
regulations that govern business transactions. With each state’s laws varying, the UCC steps in to
create a more standardized and universal set of rules for business to adopt. This ultimately
promoted business interactions across state lines and eliminated any confusion regarding how
each business will be regulated. Furthermore, the UCC consists of various articles, each covering
sperate aspects of banking and loans which allows for businesses to not worry about including
every finite detail within contractual agreements. More specifically, articles three and four relate
to negotiable instruments and bank deposits and collections. These two articles were of vital use
for the FBI when attempting to catch Frank Abagnale, one of the world’s most notorious check
fraudsters and con man. This report will examine and analyze the importance of the UCC
regarding the famous movie “Catch Me If You Can” and how investigators utilized the UCC to
prosecute Frank Abagnale.
Frank Abagnale became one of the worlds most famous check forger’s overnight, as he
began to exploit Pan American Airlines. Posing as a legitimate Pan Am pilot, Frank would create
exact replicas of Pan Am payroll checks under the alias Frank Williams. It was then that Frank
would simply cash his check at any local bank or airline counter across the globe. It was not long
until the airline and their bank, Chase Manhattan Bank, discovered that someone was
impersonating a pilot in addition to cashing fraudulent checks. However, Frank was smart, and
understood the relationship between smaller banks compared to that of much larger national
banks. Once the forged checks were deposited, Frank ensured they were sent through
intermediary banks that would eventually present the check to Chase Manhattan Bank for
collection. Frank altered the system of numbers along the bottom edge of checks, specifically
routing the checks away further away from Chase Manhattan. This proved to be a very smart
move, as Chase Manhattan as well as Pan Am, failed to recognize the fraud until Frank moved
on to a new town.
This fraud would continue for the next five years, as Frank survived off the fortune
amassed from the bad checks cashed in prior states. Never being able to stay in one place, Frank
was constantly moving from town to town, city to city, and even country to country. However,
the UCC ultimately was used to determine who bears responsibility and brings Frank to justice.
It was obvious that Frank had committed fraud, but that does not necessarily mean that Frank
