Chapter 10 - Clara’s Business Was Real Too
Crescent House Events was not fake.
That complicated everything.
Clara had run it for eight years.
Real clients.
Real weddings.
Real corporate events.
Three employees.
Seasonal contractors.
The problem was not that every invoice to Northstar was imaginary.
The problem was related-party concealment and falsified billing.
Clara claimed:
Glen pressured her.
Northstar underpaid.
Some “extra” amounts compensated unpaid work.
Apartment served as client-showcase space.
Travel had mixed business purpose.
Some claims had support.
Others did not.
Investigators eventually narrowed clearly fraudulent loss lower than audit’s unsupported figure.
Prosecutors would use about $214,000 as provable theft/fraud loss after crediting ambiguous value.
That precision mattered later.
Clara’s business collapsed anyway.
Not from government immediately.
Clients left after scandal.
Two employees resigned.
She sold equipment.
Closed office.
It would have been easy to enjoy.
I did not.
Three workers had done nothing wrong.
One emailed me:
“I had no idea.”
I believed her.
Northstar paid outstanding legitimate invoices directly to subcontractors where appropriate to avoid harming innocent vendors.
That was not required morally? Maybe partly contractual.
May you like
We did it.
I did not want justice to become splash damage.
