Everyone has heard about the kid in school with the fake doctor’s note to get out of class.  The same type of note can have a rather unfortunate effect when it is submitted to a court by a person under indictment and out on bail when the fabrication comes to light.  Michael Alcott was charged with bank fraud in September 2004 related to a $2.5 million line of credit.  Released on bail pending the trial, Alcott submitted a letter purportedly from a doctor at Mass. General Hospital stating that Alcott suffered from terminal cancer.  On Monday, he was taken into custody while he awaits trial because the letter was a fake and he is not suffering from cancer (see USAO press release here).  Unfortunately, Alcott has made his case even harder because the indictment charges him with submitting to the bank an allegedly falsified audit opinion on the letterhead of a local auditing firm with the name of a non-existent partner.  Do you see a pattern here?  I suspect he will have a hard time testifying at trial. (ph)