Legal Question in Business Law in Missouri

Re: Legal Ethics

It is not illegal, however, if the intent is fraudulent, it might be. Essentially the company will be estopped in court from arguing later that the man was not the president where its correspondence reflected that the signer was the president, and where the person receiving the correspondence acted in reliance thereon.

It is a bad way to do business, and if the company bids for government contracts in this manner, it may run afoul of the Federal False Claims Act. Individuals who blow the whistle or corporate fraud under the False Claims Act receive a bounty of between 15% and 30% of what the government recovers on the fraud. So with all those whistleblowers out there just waiting to make a killing on their fraud, smart companies do not engage in such acts.