Chapter 5 - The Legal Noose Tightens — "Sarah Sings Like A Canary To Save Her Own Skin!"
On Monday morning, the federal prosecutor's office called my attorney.
Sarah had cracked.
Facing twenty years in a federal penitentiary for bank fraud and conspiracy, she had signed a plea deal within forty-eight hours of her arrest on my front porch. She had handed over every text message, every email, every secret recording she had of Mark planning the asset transfer.
Victoria and I sat in the conference room as the prosecutor played one of the recorded phone calls Sarah had turned over.
Mark’s voice: "Just sign the document as Rachel, Sarah. She’s too stupid to check the accounts anyway. She trusts you. Once the money is in the Cayman account, we’ll split the bonus, and I’ll leave her the house. She’ll be too depressed to fight us. It’s a win-win."
Sarah’s voice: "Are you sure she won't find out about the yacht, Mark?"
Mark’s voice: "How? She doesn't even know what a holding company is. Trust me, baby. We’re home free."
Listening to the recording, my heart didn't even hurt. The man speaking on that tape was a stranger. The twelve years I had spent with him felt like a movie I had watched a long time ago.
"This tape seals his fate," Victoria said, closing her laptop. "The prosecutor is filing charges of grand theft, wire fraud, identity theft, and conspiracy. Mark is looking at a minimum of fifteen years in prison. And because he forged your signature on the home equity loans, the court is declaring those loans null and void. The bank cannot touch your house. It is 100% yours, completely debt-free."
"And Sarah?" I asked.
May you like
"She’s getting five years of probation and has to forfeit all her business assets to pay back the remaining balance of your father’s trust," Victoria said. "She’ll be bankrupt for the rest of her life."
"Good," I said. "Let her find out what it’s like to start from nothing."
