Money to Burn

13

ERIC DIDN’T OFTEN MAKE ME SWEAT, BUT HE WASN’T WEARING HIS mentor hat this morning. It was hard to believe that twelve hours earlier I had been celebrating my birthday with scores of guests-including Eric-who probably thought I was one of the luckiest guys on the planet. Not one of them would have traded places with me now.

“Stuart is going to call me as soon as he putts out on the next hole,” said Eric, only slightly facetious about our CEO’s priorities, “so I need some straight talk: Is there any truth to what Chuck Bell just said about selling your stock?”

Eric had only a rough idea of my identity theft problems, so I laid out the details as quickly as I could. Sonya arrived just as I was getting to the FNN report:

“In typical FNN style,” I said, “the report is technically accurate, but it’s grossly misleading. True, all of my stock in Saxton Silvers was liquidated, but it was liquidated along with all of my other holdings-not by me, but by an identity thief who has taken everything I own and moved the cash into a secret offshore account.”

I expected Sonya to jump in and second my explanation, but she was silent. Not merely silent. She seemed skeptical.

Eric said, “Is there something you’d like to add, Sonya?”

“I’m concerned,” she said.

My stomach churned. I didn’t know where this was headed, but I suddenly recalled that it was within Saxton Silvers’ protocol to fire someone so long as there were more than two people in the room. At least I still had clients to go with me.

Thank God I didn’t drink the Kool-Aid.

“Concerned about what?” I asked.

She came to the edge of her chair and leaned toward Eric, hands folded atop her knees. It was her I’m-talking-to-the-president-and-only-to-the-president posture.

“Here’s the thing,” said Sonya. “Michael’s in management-an officer of the company-with access to inside information. He sold his shares the day before the firm publicly announced another twenty-two billion dollars in subprime write-downs. That could trigger an SEC investigation for insider trading.”

“But I didn’t sell anything. An identity thief liquidated my account and moved the money offshore.”

“But if I’m the SEC, your explanation raises an obvious question: Who controls the secret Cayman Islands account? In other words, are you operating behind a cleverly crafted financial and corporate shell game to avoid going to jail for illegal insider trading?”

“I hear what you’re saying,” said Eric, shaking his head. “But that’s a very cynical view.”

Sonya said, “I’m not making any accusations, but from a regulator’s standpoint, the timing of the sale and resultant profit seem a little too convenient.”

I checked the TV on the wall. The audio was muted, but Bell was still on the air and the breaking-news banner proclaimed that Saxton Silvers’ stock was down another thirty dollars per share-about ninety dollars for the day.

“Do the math,” said Sonya. “How many shares did you hold, Michael?”

“About ten thousand and change.”

“So the difference between selling yesterday and selling today…about a million dollars, right?”

Her theory couldn’t have been further from the truth, but the implication still gave me chills.

“Look, I didn’t do anything wrong,” I said. “I have no idea who accessed my account, and I have no clue where that money is headed. Why would I use the firm’s outside counsel to enlist the help of the FBI if I was the one behind the scheme?”

“As I recall,” said Sonya, “hiring Cool Cash and going to the FBI was my idea.”

Her remark made me bristle. “What are you trying to say?”

“The fact that the firm called the FBI won’t stop the regulators from being highly suspicious about the timing of your ‘identity theft.’”

I showed her my hand. “What about the package I got this morning? You and Brewer told me not to talk to the FBI, and I talked to them anyway when they came to check out the elevator. Is that what a crook does when he’s hiding something?”

She didn’t answer.

“The fact is,” I said, “I didn’t know about the additional subprime write-down that was going to be announced today. Eric just told me about it ten minutes ago.” I glanced at my mentor. He looked ashen. “Isn’t that right, Eric?”

He breathed in and out, staring at the television.

“Eric?”

“I just did the math for myself,” he said. “I lost two-hundred-forty million in the last forty-five minutes.”

I ran a hand through my hair. “This is insane.”

“It also changes things,” said Sonya. “It no longer seems appropriate for the firm to have its outside counsel dealing with the FBI on your behalf.”

“Why not?”

“Conflict of interest. Saxton Silvers shouldn’t use its lawyers to represent someone who might be accused of illegally trading its stock.”

“My life savings are disappearing deeper and deeper into the international banking system with every passing minute and you want me to change lawyers now?”

“The FBI has already been alerted. Agents are on the case. There’s really nothing more for you to do on that front. It’s only a question of follow-up.”

“Now you’re pissing me off, Sonya.”

“Calm down, Michael,” said Eric.

“No,” I said. “I’ve done nothing wrong, and without the proper follow-up, I could lose everything!”

“We all could,” said Sonya, “if we don’t get our hands around the bigger crisis.”

Eric’s gaze drifted back toward the television screen. “Three hundred million,” he said, muttering in disbelief. “Now I’m down three hundred million dollars.”

There was a knock on the door frame that rattled the glass. Before Eric could ask who it was, the door flew open. Kent Frost burst into the room. Eric’s assistant had him by the arm, having failed to keep him from entering unannounced.

“Eric, I need you right now,” Kent said.

Kent Frost was a few years older than me, but we’d started at the firm around the same time and had competed for Eric’s praise for almost ten years. Each year in December, without fail, Kent made it known throughout the firm that his annual bonus dwarfed mine. Frost ran the Structured Products Division, and his specialty was collaterized debt obligations made with subprime mortgages. He was the shameless recipient of the award given at the banquet I had gladly missed for my surprise birthday party.

“What is it?” asked Eric.

“A new wrinkle,” said Frost.

“Don’t tell me,” I said, trying not to scoff. “You left off a zero in the twenty-two billion?”

Kent glared. Up until six months ago, he had at least tried to hide his contempt for me and anyone else who disagreed with him. That all changed in October, when I aired my view that with one out of every five mortgages in America being “subprime,” the whole market was a ticking time bomb-another one of those “Fonzie schemes,” as Papa called them. Admittedly, criticizing the business activities of a sister division was overstepping my authority, but if the subprime guys refused to rein themselves in, someone had to blow the whistle.

“Eric,” said Frost, “this is private.” He meant it was not for my ears. Eric nodded.

“Holy shit,” said Sonya. She was looking at her BlackBerry.

“What now?” asked Eric.

“Our stock was at ten times normal volume in the first hour of trading. At this pace, we could be looking at seventy million shares by the end of the day.”

Eric massaged the bridge of his nose, as if staving off a migraine. “One thing at a time. Kent, take a seat. Michael, we’ll talk later.”

Frost entered. I started toward the door, then stopped. The firm’s subprime crisis had to be the president’s priority, but I needed someone to focus on a problem we could actually fix-mine.

“One more thing,” I said.

The three of them waited, but I paused. That blowhard Chuck Bell had told the world that the Saxton Silvers’ investment advisor of the year violated every securities regulation imaginable to cash out before our stock went into free fall. The market was now tanking, and, when the dust cleared, it was entirely possible that none of us would have anything left but our reputations. I had the right to clear mine-to tell the truth that my identity was stolen. End of story.

“What is it, Michael?”

Eric was definitely feeling the stress. Now was not the time to ask for permission. Later, I’d ask for forgiveness.

“Nothing,” I said. “We’ll stay in touch on this.”