“Do you have more records than what I looked at a few weeks ago? I could take a look at any new records and see if I can discern if money was spent on the business account for these personal items. Things that the wife essentially paid for since she’s co-owner of the business but she didn’t get the benefit of.”
Nancy’s shoulders lifted in a slight shrug. “Honestly? It’s what she thinks he’s doing with more of the business money than just spending it on his other women. She thinks he’s laundering some of it so that he doesn’t have to report it on his taxes, and therefore she never knows about it.”
“No shit!” Now, this is interesting! Lynn loved solving puzzles, especially with accounting fraud cases. She had worked with numerous clients who had employees embezzling but had not worked with money laundering since she graduated. Interest sparked, she set her coffee cup to the side, leaning forward. “Tell me more!”
Nancy laughed and shook her head. “I just knew this would continue to capture your attention.” She flipped through several papers in the file on her desk and said, “Okay, here’s what Sally thinks. One of Errol’s good friends owns the Smoky Casino and Resort right over the state line in North Carolina, at the edge of the reservation. Up until she found out about Errol’s extracurricular activities, the only vice she knew of was he occasionally gambled. But he claimed he never gambled much and told her it was just to support his friend. It didn’t appear to be an addiction and since he won as often as he lost, she wasn’t concerned. But, when she started looking a little bit harder at the business accounts, she thinks he may be laundering money through the casino to keep it from showing up on the business books. That way, he’s not having to pay taxes on it, not having to report it to the IRS, therefore she never sees it. So, if they split their finances in a divorce, there’s a ton of money he has hidden that she would never get.”
“Can’t she go to the authorities with her suspicions? Since his business is in Tennessee and he’s possibly laundering money in North Carolina, the FBI could be involved.”
Nancy’s hair swished over her shoulders as she shook her head. “She’s not interested in that. At least not until she has more evidence.” With palms facing upward, she sighed. “Sally knows that if her husband’s been doing something illegal, with her name on the business papers it could look as though she’s been part of the money laundering or complicit. All of their assets could be frozen, and she can still walk out of the divorce with nothing. She doesn’t want to be part of any illegal activities, but she refuses to let him hide away some of their shared assets. She needs to know what she’s up against. She needs someone to look over the books, find out what is legally coming in and what might be illegally flying under the IRS’ radar.”
Her mind already racing with ideas, she nodded. “I can understand that. So, you’d like me to look over the business books and give her an idea if and how much money is being skimmed off, right?”
Nancy nodded with enthusiasm. “That’s exactly what she wants.”
“Well, if she wants to get the financial reports to you, then I’ll take a look at them. It will be unofficial, of course, but at least I can point her in the right direction. She can hire my firm to—”
“Actually, she doesn’t have the wedding chapel’s financial reports. Not the real ones that her husband hides from her.”
Blinking, Lynn leaned forward in her chair, her hands lifting. “Then how am I going to be able to take a look at them?”
“Well, I was hoping that you would be willing to engage in some sneakiness to obtain them.”
Her eyebrows lifted to her hairline as she jerked her head back slightly. “Sneakiness?”
Nancy had the good grace to blush and dropped her gaze to stare at the papers she fiddled with on her desk. “Yeah… kinda sneaky.”
Lynn said nothing, staring at her friend. What on earth is she concocting? Deciding to stay quiet until Nancy began talking, she leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest. Nancy huffed, and Lynn was reminded of all the times when they were younger and Nancy’s schemes almost got them in trouble.
“Look, it’s not like we’ve never been sneaky before. Remember when we were in fifth grade and had different teachers and always managed to ask for bathroom passes at the same time so that we could talk? Or when we peeked in the window of our high school English teacher to see her kissing the PE teacher? Or when we would follow Nolan around to try to find out who he was interested in—”
Throwing up her palm toward Nancy, she halted her litany. “Okay, okay, I get it. Yes, we’ve been sneaky before. But why do I get the feeling that what you’re going to ask me to do is beyond regular subterfuge and possibly involves something more nefarious?”
“Look, it’s not illegal for us to get our hands on the wedding chapel’s financial records. After all, Sally is a co-owner of the business and has a legal right to those records. She’s going to permit us to obtain those records in any way we see fit and then follow
