Misrepresentation of charterers

A London ship broker acting for a Turkish charterer, arranged a fixture, through an intermediate broker in Denmark, of a ship to load bagged urea at Istanbul.  The charterer provided information about his financial standing and substantial assets (which included a factory), which the London broker passed to the intermediate broker.  The intermediate broker forwarded the charterer’s information to the owner without making it clear that it originated from the charterer and had not been checked.  When the ship arrived at Istanbul to load no cargo was available.  The owner sued both brokers for US$ 780,000 as the financial information provided by the charterer was found to be completely false.