Wade nods. “I don’t blame you. It’s complicated. I’ll type it all up and send that to you too, when we get off.”
“Thank you,” Tully and I both say.
“Okay, here goes. We’re able to confirm that you’re not the only one he’s blackmailed, and they all have ties with the players he represents. I think you may have been the first,” he says, peering up at us, “and he’s gotten more aggressive along the way. Crestline also holds debt arrangements. Private lending, structured as personal loans with compound interest and penalty clauses that are…aggressiveis the polite way to say it.” He glances up and grins. “Sorry, too detailed. I’m sticking to the gist.”
He chuckles and continues.
“The money Daniel paid you traces back to stolen money.” He pauses and makes a face. “Tully’s money.”
“What?” Tully’s hand tightens on my hip. “This just gets more twisted.”
Wade pulls up something else. “Daniel’s been skimming from endorsement deals going back to the beginning of your representation, Tully. A shell company named Northmark Partners appears in the paperwork as a vendor providing brand services.”
“It has invoiced fourteen of Tully’s endorsement deals for a combined total of”—he looks at his notes—“just under nine hundred thousand dollars.”
“Nine hundred thousand dollars,” I repeat.
“Fuck,” Tully breathes.
“And that’s just from you. There’s no telling how much he’s amassed from all his clients at this point,” Wade adds.
“He paid me to leave Tully with money he stole from Tully,” I reiterate because I just can’t believe anyone would do this.
“Yes,” Wade says.
Nobody says anything for a moment.
“What about Granger?” Tully asks.
“The Northmark connection to Crestline runs through two intermediary companies, both of which have appeared in Bruce Granger’s business network before.” He pauses. “It’s the same pattern we’ve been seeing. He’s careful. He doesn’t sign anything directly. His name appears once removed, twice removed…”
“Can we move on him?” Tully asks.
“Not yet,” Marcus says. “What we have on Granger is suggestive, but a federal prosecutor needs direct. He’s spent a long time making sure nothing points at him directly.” A beat. “That will change. We’ll get him. But not tonight.”
“What about Daniel?” I ask.
Marcus leans forward slightly. “Combined with the financial forensics, the wire transfer records, and the wiretapping charge from the recording device—we have enough,” he says. “Not as much as I’d like. But enough that a federal prosecutor would be interested.”
“Federal?” I say.
“The moment he crossed state lines, it became federaljurisdiction, and the penalties are considerably more serious than anything a civil case would produce,” Marcus says.
I sit with that for a moment. I’m so tired. I think all of this will register more tomorrow.
“I want him to feed the journalist his little story,” Wade says. “The moment he does, he’s introducing those wire transfer records into public record. Records that our financial forensics team can then publicly demonstrate came from a Northmark account. He’d be handing us the thread that unravels the whole skimming operation in open court.” A pause. “Daniel thinks those records exonerate him and implicate you. He doesn’t know we know about Northmark. He doesn’t know we know where that money came from.”
Tully and I look at each other. His eyes are bloodshot. He looks back at the screen.
“It’d be great to have him hand us the evidence,” Tully says slowly. “But I don’t like putting Lola in that position.”
“If it means bringing him down, I’m all for it,” I say.
“Are you sure?” Tully asks, his eyes on me again. “What if it doesn’t work?”
“I’m sure,” I tell him. “I say we let him walk right into his own demise.”
“I’ve spoken to some of the other clients, and with enough of you backing this up, I think it’s going to work,” Wade says.
