Chapter 6 - Ashes of an EmpireWithin forty-eight hours, the dismantling of Sloan Urban Systems became a masterclass in corporate execution.
Rebecca Lane, acting as general counsel for the newly formed Mercer & Daughter Innovations, released a comprehensive public dossier detailing every single fraudulent asset transfer, fake patent filing, and shell corporation Derek had utilized over the past decade.
The media frenzy was seismic.
Financial news networks ran non-stop specials analyzing how a multi-million-dollar tech giant had been built on stolen seed capital and a fabricated identity.
Savannah Cole’s plea deal was made public on Thursday morning: in exchange for full testimony regarding Derek’s offshore accounts and tax evasion schemes, she received a reduced recommendation for sentencing and entered witness protection in an undisclosed western state.
Charles Voss quietly dropped his representation of Derek, citing "irreconcilable ethical conflicts," and retreated to his Davidson law firm, praying the state bar association wouldn't audit his own billing records.
And Derek Sloan remained in Cell block 4C, isolated from the general population, staring at a concrete wall while federal investigators systematically seized every luxury asset he had ever used to define his existence.
The penthouse suite overlooking uptown Charlotte was raided on Friday.
Federal marshals hauled out custom Italian leather sofas, designer watches, and four luxury sports cars parked in the subterranean garage. By Friday afternoon, the giant chrome letters spelling SLOAN on the side of the downtown skyscraper were unbolted and hauled away by a crane, leaving raw, gray concrete marks against the glass facade.
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On Monday morning, a small, elegant brass plaque was installed beside the front entrance of the building.
It read: MERCER & DAUGHTER INNOVATIONS. ESTABLISHED 2012.
