Chapter 13 - The Corporate Audit
On Friday morning, I received a call from David Reynolds, CEO of Reynolds Logistics and my late father’s closest friend.
“Claire,” David’s voice was grave. “I received a subpoena from Sarah Vance’s office this morning requesting the last twenty-four months of Ben’s expense reports.”
I swallowed hard. “David, I’m so sorry. I didn't want the firm dragged into this, but Ben was moving money through corporate accounts.”
“You don't need to apologize to me, Claire,” David said gently. “Your father built this company on integrity. When Sarah’s forensic accountant flagged the Apex lease, my CFO opened a full internal investigation at 8:00 AM. We found $62,000 in false invoices Ben routed through his sister’s shell LLC over the past eighteen months.”
My stomach dropped. “Sixty-two thousand?”
“He was funneling company cash directly to Vanessa under the guise of ‘freelance marketing services,’” David said, his tone turning to stone. “Ben has been terminated effective immediately. We are handing the entire file over to the District Attorney’s office on Monday. Because of your father’s legacy, I won’t press charges if Ben signs a full restitution confession and repays the funds from his personal equity during your divorce settlement.”
“He has no equity left, David,” I said. “He spent everything on them.”
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“Then his mother will have to mortgage her house,” David replied flatly. “Because if they don't repay it, Ben is going to state prison.”
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