Opinion
October 5, 1993
Appeal from the Supreme Court, New York County (Beatrice Shainswit, J.).
A reading of the complaint together with the various affidavits and exhibits demonstrates that plaintiff has adequately alleged a prima facie claim of fraud against defendants (see, Lanzi v Brooks, 54 A.D.2d 1057, 1058, affd 43 N.Y.2d 778; Arrington v. New York Times Co., 55 N.Y.2d 433, 442). Plaintiff relied, to its detriment, upon the intentional misrepresentations of defendants and was thereby induced to lend money to a company which it would not have done if the true facts had been presented by defendants.
We also note that since the record indicates that defendants were not "independent" accountants for the company, but were in fact "internal" accountants/bookkeepers of the company, and as such were de facto employees of said company, thus establishing privity sufficient to support a cause of action for negligent misrepresentation (Ultramares Corp. v. Touche, 255 N.Y. 170), the elements that make up the "near privity" standard of Credit Alliance Corp. v. Andersen Co. ( 65 N.Y.2d 536) do not apply.
Concur — Murphy, P.J., Ellerin, Wallach, Kassal and Nardelli, JJ.