Altered receipt misled court into believing plaintiff owed more than $200K, suit says

A Madison County man claims an altered receipt has misled the court into believing he owes more than $200,000 for allegedly unpaid costs.

Dzebedin “Jim” Arifi filed a lawsuit Dec. 26 in Madison County Circuit Court against Nafi Alimi.

In his complaint, Arifi claims he signed a receipt on Sept. 10, 2006, but Alimit made modifications to the slip of paper that changed the amount of money that Arifi allegedly owed, according to the complaint.

Partially due to the changes made to the receipt, Emin and Lumni Alimi filed a lawsuit against Arifi for the allegedly unpaid funds he owed them, the complaint says.

“As a result of this forged, altered, modified, fraudulent document, the plaintiff Dzebedin “Jim” Arifi, in the preceding litigation was placed at a substantial disadvantage and was required to expend substantial sums on attorney’s fees,” the suit states.

At the advice of his counsel in that lawsuit, Arifi claims he agreed to the $230,000 judgment against him.

In his complaint, Arifi seeks a judgment of more than $250,000, plus costs.

Robert D. Larson of Alton will be representing him.

Madison County Circuit Court case number: 12-L-2081.