Chapter 57
It took a few calls and a bit of waiting before Sean could speak to anyone in the FBI’s fraud division, but the Feds once again proved they could aid law enforcement.
Sean ended up speaking with Agent Leslie Blake, who was spearheading coordination with Mr. Grayson about his knowledge of the tax fraud his company and the companies he worked with were committing.
“It was all a very elegant scheme,” Agent Blake said. “Mr. Grayson would have a man on the inside of the company, someone he would plant in their accounting division, and then pay them a portion of the profits from the takeover if he turned over sensitive information.”
“Is that illegal?” Sean asked.
“Well, it’s a gray area,” Agent Blake answered.
“But he did it enough times that he thought he could up the ante, and he started having his accountants falsify information on the company financials to help drive down the sale’s price.
He also started hiring hackers to obtain sensitive information about the company and executive teams, using it as blackmail to get them to vote to sell.
The shares would fall, investors would panic, and by the time anyone realized what was happening, Roman Grayson had already bought the company for pennies on the dollar. ”
Sean doubted Roman Grayson had lost much sleep at night over his hostile takeover methods. But Sean couldn’t imagine gutting a business, clearing out people, taking away their livelihood all for the sake of a dollar.
“Did he come to you for a deal, or did you come to him?” Sean asked.
“I’m not at liberty to discuss that with you, Sheriff,” Blake answered.
“You know I’m working a missing person case regarding his daughter?” Sean asked.
“I’m aware, Sheriff,” Blake answered.
“Good, because if Roman didn’t come to you for a deal, that meant someone gave him up,” Sean answered. “And if that person gave Mr. Grayson up to the FBI, who is to say they didn’t have a hand in his daughter’s abduction?”
“I don’t think that’s the case,” Blake answered.
Sean sighed. “Did you find any connection in these dealings between Mr. Grayson’s company and criminal organizations?”
“Yes,” Blake answered.
Sean paused, waiting for more, but when Agent Blake didn’t say anything, he continued a bit further. “Was it a former mob organization out of Chicago?”
Agent Blake fell silent, and Sean waited for the woman to respond, but the silence finally stretched to an uncomfortable length.
“There are some things I’m unable to discuss, Sheriff,” Blake answered.
“But I understand why you’d be interested.
” She cleared her throat. “What I can tell you is that Mr. Grayson has connections with unsavory people, and a few of them are from the Chicago area.”
“What kind of time is Mr. Grayson going to do after all of this is done?” Sean asked.
“He won’t do any time,” Blake answered.
Sean blinked. “And how did he work out that deal?”
“He didn’t,” Blake answered. “His wife did.”