Chapter 13 - The Showdown at the Industrial Compound Under the Rain
By Wednesday afternoon, the legal and financial fallout from the operation moved with devastating velocity.
While Wendy sat in a federal detention cell in New Haven and Julian was interrogated under maximum security in Bridgeport, Arthur Pendelton and I met with the United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut in his downtown office.
Spread across the prosecutor’s conference table were the seized financial ledgers from Julian’s bunker, the offshore Cayman loan agreements, and the unredacted 2016 coroner bribery documents.
"Mr. Sterling, Mr. Pendelton," the U.S. Attorney said, reviewing the evidence dossier with profound satisfaction. "This is the most airtight racketeering and fraud case this office has seen in twenty years. Thanks to your tactical surveillance and the genomic preservation, neither Julian Vance nor Wendy Montgomery has a single legal leg to stand on."
"What about the offshore consortium in the Caymans that funded Julian's operation?" I asked.
"Federal seizure warrants have already been executed through the Department of the Treasury," the prosecutor smiled grimly. "All thirty-two million dollars in their operational escrow accounts have been frozen. Four foreign nationals have been indicted under the RICO Act, and their extradition process has commenced."
"And the Vance Grandfather Trust in Zurich?" Arthur asked.
"The Swiss Commercial Court has issued a final, unappealable decree," Arthur turned to me with a broad, triumphant grin. "Because Julian Vance committed biological fraud and attempted extortion, his line of succession has been legally extinguished forever. Under the default terms of the trust, the sixty-four million dollars has been transferred into a sovereign educational charity for underprivileged children, with Fiona named as the honorary founding patron."
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I leaned back in the leather executive chair, feeling a profound sense of closure settle over my mind. The money that Julian and Wendy had tried to steal through blood and poison was now going to build schools and libraries for children who actually needed help.
Justice was absolute.
