Chapter 6 - The Affinity Trap
The state of Illinois has very strict laws regarding affinity fraud, especially when the victims are prominent members of a wealthy enclave like Lake Forest. By Monday morning, news of the freeze on Mercer Development Group had reached the local media. The doctors, investors, and community members who had given Diane Mercer their retirement savings based on Nathan’s corporate reputation began arriving at the shuttered Michigan Avenue offices in a panic.
I sat in the main conference room of the bank that held my family's primary asset pool, flanked by Arthur Pendelton, the senior managing partner of our legal team. Across the table sat State’s Attorney Elena Alvarez and two federal investigators from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
"Mrs. Mercer," Attorney Alvarez said, opening a thick folder. "We have reviewed the documents your trustee provided. It appears your husband and his mother have defrauded over forty-two local investors out of an estimated six point eight million dollars. The money was routed through a shell company called Vance & Co. Luxury Imports, which matches the name of his sister’s boutique business."
"I am aware," I said, handing over a secondary thumb drive. "On that drive, you will find the complete IP addresses and digital signatures showing that Nathan Mercer accessed the escrow accounts from the San Francisco airport terminal lounge using a corporate laptop he had stolen from his own IT department after his termination."
"He was trying to move the last two million into an account in Belize," the SEC investigator noted, shaking his head. "If you hadn't grounded that plane in California, that money would have been gone by Sunday morning."
The door to the conference room opened, and Gerald walked in, holding a fresh legal brief. "Cassandra, Nathan’s defense team just filed an emergency motion for a bail hearing. They are trying to claim that you are a disgruntled spouse who is using your position as a major creditor to force an involuntary bankruptcy to strip him of his marital property during a divorce."
I looked down at the gold wedding band still resting on my left finger. It was a simple, classic band—the one I had chosen because I didn't want him to spend too much money back when we were starting out. He had promised me then that one day he would buy me the biggest diamond in Chicago. He had forgotten that promise, just as he had forgotten the woman who had helped him write his very first business plan.
I twisted the ring off my finger, letting it drop onto the polished mahogany table with a hollow, metallic clink.
"Tell his defense team that I am not filing for a standard divorce," I said, looking up at Attorney Alvarez. "I am filing for a complete civil annulment on the grounds of criminal fraud, identity theft, and grand larceny. And as the primary creditor of Mercer Development Group, I am personally taking over the liquidation process. I will ensure every single one of those local investors receives their principal investment back, down to the last penny."
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Attorney Alvarez stared at me for a long moment, a look of profound respect crossing her features. "You’re going to pay off his fraud using your own family trust, Mrs. Mercer?"
"It’s not his fraud anymore," I said quietly. "It’s my city. And I don't tolerate predators on my streets."
