Chapter 17 - Flynn’s Version
Flynn testified.
His lawyers did not have to put him on the stand.
He chose.
He said the hidden Miles schedule was prepared because his son was indisputably part of the descendant class.
He expected me to approve.
“Why not ask?”
“Our marriage was strained.”
“Did Mabel know you had a son?”
“No.”
“So how could she approve a schedule naming a child she did not know existed?”
Flynn paused.
“I intended to explain.”
“Before or after attaching her signature?”
“After.”
There.
Then the fake $20 million trust.
He called it a planning draft.
“Why did it have Mabel’s signature?”
“Template carryover.”
“Why did you give it to Selina as completed?”
“I wanted her to feel secure.”
“Why did you submit it to a bank?”
“I believed formal approval was imminent.”
“From Mabel?”
“Yes.”
“Had you asked?”
“No.”
Again.
Then medical release.
Flynn claimed he had a legitimate parental interest in fetal sex for succession planning.
Prosecutor:
“Was Mabel your child?”
“No.”
“Whose medical record was it?”
“Mabel’s.”
“Did she authorize release?”
“I believed spousal authorization—”
“Did she authorize it?”
“No.”
Then MATERNAL CAPACITY.
Flynn said he was responsibly planning for temporary trustee incapacity.
“Why collect jokes about pregnancy brain?”
“Context.”
“Why draft an allegation that Mabel discriminated against Miles before she knew he existed?”
“We anticipated conflict.”
“Conflict you created by hiding him?”
Silence.
Then delivery room.
Flynn said Selina demanded public acknowledgment and he decided immediate honesty was better.
Prosecutor showed:
Exactly.
From the message about hospital staff.
Then:
If she makes threats, let staff hear.
Then:
Calm Mabel is dangerous.
“What did dangerous mean?”
Flynn answered:
“She was legally sophisticated.”
“Dangerous to whom?”
“To plans that needed quick resolution.”
That may have been his most truthful answer.
Then Northline.
He admitted financial pressure.
Denied intended permanent fraud.
He believed he could fund the fake Miles trust later from legitimate family distributions and make everything whole.
Prosecutor:
“So your defense is that later money would make earlier false documents true?”
His attorney objected.
Sustained.
But the idea remained.
Then defense redirect.
Flynn had not stolen from Grace.
True.
Had not removed me as trustee.
Failed.
No $6 million loan funded.
True.
Miles genuinely qualified.
True.
Some Selina consulting was real.
True.
The defense asked jury to separate ugly marriage from criminal intent.
They should.
Then closing.
Prosecutor said:
“This case is not about adultery. Adultery is not the charged fraud.”
Good.
“It is about repeatedly using another person’s signature, medical authority, trustee authority, and future consent as if ‘she will agree later’ were the same as ‘she agrees now.’”
That was the center.
The jury deliberated two days.
Verdict.
Guilty on attempted bank fraud related to the fake trust facility.
Guilty on identity and electronic-signature fraud counts tied to the beneficiary schedule and medical release.
Guilty on selected wire-fraud counts involving knowingly false Brooks Family Services invoices.
Guilty on false-record conduct tied to trust and corporate submissions.
Not guilty on several broader counts involving consulting payments where the government could not prove beyond reasonable doubt Flynn knew the underlying services were wholly false.
Not guilty on one count alleging a completed theft from the family trust because no trust funds had actually been disbursed under the fake Miles instrument.
Accurate.
Mixed.
Flynn stood while verdicts were read.
He looked at me once.
Not angry.
Almost confused.
May you like
As if the world had finally refused to accept his favorite phrase.
I was going to fix it later.
