Page 27 of Drowning in Lies
After that, the mood in the room turned serious as Mike cleared his throat and began speaking.
"I would like to make sure we all have an understanding as to the basic timeline of events, before Andy shares the details of his findings so far. Feel free to interject if I get anything wrong."
He ticked things off on his fingers as he spoke. "Three years ago, you got married and your mom gave you and David a condo in Maui as a wedding present. David went behind your back and took out a loan against it for $1.2 million with his brother's help. A year later, you got your trust fund and gave him money to buy into a partnership at the firm with Randall. You also bought your current house and added David on the deed because he was your husband and you trusted him." He paused to look at me, and I nodded my agreement with everything so far.
He continued, "So, David started spending money like it was water, both from the Maui mortgage and from your joint checking account. You started buying real estate under Montgomery Properties LLC, which David was not a part of. After you voiced objections about his lavish spending, David decided he needed an alternate source of funds since you were watching the joint account a little more closely. He and Scott decided that since they couldn't get to your investments or trust funds directly, they would create shell companies. They presented fake invoices for work performed on the LLC properties, then forged your approval for payments. He also started embezzling from his firm. He padded his expense reports, then started his pattern of shell companies and fake invoices. Scott wasn't part of that deal, from what we can tell so far. By the beginning of this year, David had run through the original $1.2 mil, and had Scott falsify mortgage documents again, to take out $1.6 million against your house.At some point, David had begun slipping you sleeping pills, knowing that you didn't react well to them.He used that to manipulate you into signing things and giving him access to more money. He also used it to manipulate you emotionally, and to basically gaslight you."He looked around the room at all of us, then settled his gaze on me again.
"Am I getting this right so far?" he asked.
"Yes, I said quietly, trying to remain calm in the face of this list of crimes committed against me by the man I had loved for almost eight years.
Mike sighed and gave me an apologetic look. "Then seven months ago, you suffered a miscarriage, which David was concerned may have been caused by the pills he was using to drug you."
"I think his concern actually stemmed from worrying that he would get caught if the sleeping pills showed up in the blood work at the hospital, rather than any true concern for our baby or me," I interrupted bitterly, "but continue."
Mike merely nodded in understanding and started again. "David was concerned about the pills and decided to stop giving them to you as often for a while. He used your natural depression over the miscarriage to spread rumors that you were unstable and that he was worried about you. He started giving you the sleeping pills again sparingly to strengthen his attempts at making you believe you had a problem. He met Vanessa Caldwell six months ago and began an affair a month later. He eventually pulled her in on the embezzlement at work, although we aren't sure she was aware of the full extent of it." He reached across the table for a bottle of water, taking a big gulp of it before continuing.
"In July, he had you sign documents under the influence of his sleeping pills, adding him to the deed of a condo on Meridian Street, which he then promptly mortgaged for almost $600,000, with help from Scott and Vanessa, who pretended to be you at the mortgage closing. He allowed Vanessa to move into the condo rent-free as a gift to her.At the beginning of August, you traveled to Chicago to oversee the care of your mother, who passed away three weeks later."
"Does anyone have any questions so far?" he asked.
I shook my head, but Chris spoke up to ask, "And you believe that all of that money was spent on gambling and drugs, plus funding his luxury lifestyle?"
Mike nodded, "Yes, aside from legitimate transactions for the monthly mortgage payments and property taxes, which we assume were done purely to keep the mortgages from being discovered. The rest of it seems to have been spent paying Scott for his help - and his silence - extensive gambling, occasional cocaine and prescription drug abuse, as well as other women."
He shot me a quick glance. "Part of Andy's discoveries include a number of payments to high-end escort services while he was on various business trips, and dozens of transactions at the Park Regency hotel downtown. I spoke with the night clerk there and showed her David's picture. She recognized him right away, and I gotta tell you, she was not a fan of his. She had noticed his wedding ring on his first few visits and did not approve of the fact that he checked in with - as she put it - a different woman on his arm every time."
I made another mental note about the STI testing and reached for a bottle of water. I sipped it slowly, hoping it would stay down. The way my stomach was rolling, I wasn't sure that would be possibe.
James spoke up next. "Between the texts on David's cellphone, the texts we retrieved which had automatically uploaded to iCloud, and the numerous videos, we have proof that David and Scott were both involved with gambling, much of it illegal in nature. We have proof that Scott supplied David with what he claimed was cocaine, Viagra not prescribed to him, and what we belive to be amphetamines on occasion. We have proof that David drugged you without your knowledge or consent. We have proof that he emotionally abused you by coercive control - gaslighting - which in and of itself is not recognized as a criminal act in this state, although it is recognized as such elsewhere."
"OK, I'm going to let Andy take over now to detail the evidence we've gathered as far as the financial crimes."He turned to the other man, who walked over to a laptop sitting at the end of the table. He tapped a few keys, anda spreadsheet flashed up on the projection screen.
"My team and I have been working almost around the clock to sort through as much of this information as possible, since we were concerned that David's death might be connected. While it now appears his death was accidental, we do have definitive proof that David's financial crimes include mortgage fraud, theft, forgery and embezzlement."
James interjected, "David is unfortunately beyond our reach, but Scott and Vanessa are not. As his accomplices, they will be held responsible."
I breathed a sigh of relief that they wouldn't get away with it as Andy started to go over the information on the spreadsheet, which he said was the one David had on his laptop. It was very detailed, listing dates and amounts of money received, as well as the source - the real estate account, joint account, or the mortgages.
One of the earliest notations was for $1 million. The description listed is as "additional funds from partnership buy-in". Andy pulled up a bank statement on the screen as well and pointed out a withdrawal I'd made from my trust fund for $3.4 million. He then pulled up a copy of the partnership contract that Randall and David has signed, showing a buy-in amount of only $2.4 million.
"I spoke with David's partner, Randall, to confirm that David paid a sum of $2.4 million to buy forty percent of the business. Yet, you withdrew $3.4 million and gave it to David at that time. Was the extra one million a gift?"
I was stunned. With all that I had discovered, that hadn't even occurred to me. "No," I said shakily. "I was told it was $3.4 million, and that's what the contract David gave me said."
Chris agreed. "Even though contract law is not my specialty, I did glance over it as their friend before I recommended a business lawyer to handle it for them. I remember the amount as $3.4 million as well."
Andy nodded and tapped several keys on his laptop."I'm updating the spreadsheet we created to reflect that."
He went over the rest of David's spreadsheet with no additional surprises for me. He pulled up another one, which he said was David's accounting of his embezzlement from the firm. It totaled $149,000, small change in the comparison to what he'd stolen from me, but certainly not insignificant to the firm.
The third and final of David's spreadsheets was a record of his gambling wins and losses. The losses outweighed the winnings by far.
I looked around the room in amazement as his stupidity. "Can anyone explain to me why on earth David kept such detailed records, spreadsheets, videos - evidence of actual crimes - on his laptop of all places?" I scoffed in disbelief. "I mean, if I were some kind of criminal mastermind, I think I would have picked a better hiding spot at least. Good God, the man was an idiot on top of being a liar, a cheater, and a thief.
Sherry, Chris, and Mike all chuckled. James cracked a smile, and all the accountants just looked really uncomfortable.
James offered his opinion. "From what I've observed, Lila, David was incredibly arrogant - probably a clinical narcissist, if I had to guess. He simply refused to believe he would ever fall under suspicion because he thought he had the perfect plan. He thought he was above reproach and became complacent in that knowledge. His ego was bigger than his brain, to be quite blunt about it."
