Plaintiff is precluded from any recovery on this two-month loan, because the contracted rate of interest of 25% was clearly in violation of the prohibition against usury (see General Obligations Law § 5-511; Seidel v. 18 E. 17thSt. Owners, 79 N.Y.2d 735, 740). Equally specious is plaintiff's effort to convert this action against defendant Towe into one for money had and received. Towe never received the money; it had disappeared into the hands of his unscrupulous former attorney-in-fact long before he was even aware that the money had fleetingly passed through his account.
We have considered plaintiff's remaining arguments and find them unavailing.
THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.