“The custodian was not the lending agent. The transactions were orchestrated directly by Terrence.” I don’t yet add that he used my name to do it. Phil didn’t think it necessary to give all the details up front. I tense the muscles in my arms and hands to keep from fidgeting.
The group looks around, registering the absence of our chief compliance officer at the table.
“And worse, he didn’t stop at the funds. After he managed to get my sales manager fired, she delivered this thumb drive to me. She had been putting together the... his plan.” I can’t bring myself to use the wordfraudin this room. “Then he went after my family.”
“Meredith, you’re saying Terrence targeted your family?” Barry’s voice is low, but it cuts through the stunned silence, demanding an explanation, an answer I’m not sure I can give without breaking.
“Yes, he did. He—” My voice catches. I can’t let them see the tears gathering. “He paid people to harass my teenage daughter, playing on her biggest fears. He defaced my home. He drove me away from my job. And then he hid his transactions in the system, buried under layers of altered reports. He used stolen data to make it look as though I was the one—”
“Terrence did all this? Why?” Barry interrupts.
Phil begins to speak, perhaps to show his support, but Barry won’t allow a united front.
“I’d like to hear from our portfolio manager. Meredith, why?” Barry keeps his gaze locked on me.
“Because the success of our ETFs threatens Terrence’s legacy. He knows the business is changing and his compliance process needs to modernize. Terrence is no longer the man people ask about the future. He’s the one with the stories of the past.”
Something flashes in Barry’s eyes. I’ve reminded him of all that threatens his place of power too.
Did I go too far?
“And yet, you knew nothing?” Another board member speaks up.
“We trusted the altered reports. He gave some of the revenue back to the ETFs but used the rest for his purposes.” My voice hardens as confidence replaces the fear. “He made sure I wouldn’t find out. He exploited the system and my trust, and when my team got close to uncovering it, he put a tracker on my daughter’s phone, harassed her, and diverted my attention.”
“So, you’re the victim here?” Joanne Ketter, our newest board member, speaks up. “You’re also supposed to be the one in charge.”
I meet her gaze, heat spreading through my chest. Is she using this moment to establish herself? To be seen as the one not swayed by emotion but leading by power? With so much disappointment swirling around, I won’t let her rebuff settle into me.
“Iamin charge. I’m standing here, risking my career, my reputation, and exposing the truth. The truth is that Terrence abused his power, undermined this company, and deliberately went after me and my family when he realized I would get in his way. I trusted him, and he weaponized that trust against me, against all of us. He leveraged income meant for the ETFs and used it to curry favors for his legacy funds.”
For a moment, the room is silent. And in that silence, the weight of what this job demands of me crashes onto my shoulders. Flickers of skepticism dart between the faces around the table. But I’m not going down without a fight.
“He extorted Candace, our head of security, to make her do his bidding. Many of you know her. She had some trouble in her past. He found out. No way would he allow her to remain working for Garman Straub, but then he delayed taking action and instead asked her to do things. Nothing illegal or unethical, just not her normal duties. She drove by a few of your homes, ensuring security was tight. Then he told her she was protecting me.”
Board members take furtive glances at Phil, the one who insisted on hiring Candace.
Phil speaks up, tentatively at first and then with growing power. “Meredith put this all together. Terrence was desperate to get to the board meeting today. Her sales manager knew this and waged her own campaign to figure everything out. Terrence’s plan, as we’ve been able to piece together, was to expose Meredith for leveraging unsanctioned sales data, maybe more, and make it impossible to go forward with new ETFs. At least until he was the one in charge.” Phil catches my eye and nods, almost imperceptibly.
This is the hardest part. I swallow and then open my mouth to explain how the SEC has already gotten involved.
Barry speaks first. “Meredith, I am sorry on behalf of the board for what you and your family have gone through. It is incomprehensible that anyone, especially someone we have all trusted, would do something like this and put all of us at risk. You have my deepest concern for your teen’s well-being. Let us not stand in your way of supporting her.”
I see a father and grandfather in the warmth of his gaze. His kindness almost breaks me. But the last thing he said—was I just fired? I was certainly dismissed. My lungs feel as though they’ve been rubbed raw. My breath catches on each inhale. Is this the way it will end, with me being excused from my own future? I struggle against the urge to roar.
“Phil, we have a few questions for you, and then we will need to go into executive session. Independent trustees only.” Barry flips open the document in front of him.
Hardwin, who remained silent during the board meeting, flanks me as I leave the room. “Meredith, would you join me in Phil’s office?”
I nod my head, not trusting my ability to speak. All that just transpired tussles in my mind to be rehashed and examined. Was it as bad as it felt?
The two of us sit opposite each other at a smaller chrome and glass conference table.
“How are you holding up?” Hardwin’s eyes are clear and wide as he searches my face. “I’m sorry, Meredith. Anything else you wanted to say?”
So much more, but the heat is dissipating, as if leaving the room has deflated me. I do wish I’d gotten to talk about the SEC and then been able to help them understand. I glance up at Hardwin’s kind eyes. “I keep thinking I should’ve met with our custodial bank. Specifically on the lending piece. I knew I had securities that were on-special. I kick myself for taking those reports at face value.” Not what I had planned to say, but it has worn on my conscience.
“You did meet with the bank. Multiple times on multiple topics,” Hardwin says.
