Chapter 12 - One Year Apart
Separation was not cinematic.
Paperwork.
Addresses.
Bills.
Therapy.
Silence.
Derek served short assault sentence.
Then returned to a rented apartment while commercial fraud case proceeded.
Allison worked.
For the first time in two years.
A nonprofit health network hired her in communications.
Salary:
$68,000.
Not glamorous.
Her own.
She opened bank accounts at a new institution.
Changed passwords.
Credit freezes.
No secret tracking.
Then debt settlement:
Her $92,000 payment to resolve the legitimate business guarantee hurt.
She sold:
Luxury SUV jointly? During equitable distribution, marital asset. She couldn't unilaterally. They agreed sale.
Designer jewelry gifts? Some marital/personal.
Used separate savings.
She did not ask me.
I respected.
Then temporary spousal support? Derek's income collapsed. Could he ask Allison? Their incomes maybe she now earns more. But his misconduct and pending cases complicate. Avoid unnecessary. They agreed no temporary support in exchange property handling.
Marital assets:
Joint cash.
Retirement.
Business interest in CSD.
Debts.
CSD negative value.
Allison's future trust interest:
Separate/nonmarital expectancy protected by trust.
Her prior distributions kept separate:
Separate.
Commingled amounts? Some had gone into joint accounts historically. Those may be marital to extent. They negotiated.
No Derek share of $147m trust.
He never had one.
Then property claim to Unit 14B gone because sold by actual owner.
Could Derek claim reimbursement for improvements? He had been paid via CSD. No additional.
Then commercial trial.
Derek pleaded eventually.
Evidence strong.
Plea:
One count federal bank/wire fraud related Granite Peak package.
One count identity/forgery related fake Allison/trust protector certifications.
One count state/commercial fraud for undisclosed related-party overbilling resolved in coordinated sentence.
He admitted:
He created fake Northbridge domain.
Used Samuel Grant signature without permission.
Used Allison’s scanned signature.
Misrepresented future trust liquidity to lender.
Concealed his ownership of CSD from trust property manager.
Received improper vendor payments/kickbacks.
He did not admit:
Stealing $140 million.
Selling my house.
Taking control of trust.
Because none happened.
Then money.
Granite Peak loan:
Principal outstanding after CSD liquidation and collateral recoveries:
Approximately $536,000.
Derek personally liable.
Restitution/order:
Lender loss based on net actual loss, not original $850,000 automatically.
Northbridge/insurer:
Verified improper overpayment loss around $123,200.
After contractor value offsets, insurance recoveries? Let's say Northbridge recovered $74,000 from CSD assets and Marcus Dean settlement, leaving $49,200 attributed to Derek restitution/civil judgment.
Allison’s forged account:
Bank returned frozen $34,500 to bankruptcy estate/lender as appropriate.
No double recovery.
Then sentence.
Derek was forty four by then.
No prior felony.
Multiple financial fraud acts.
Identity misuse.
Obstruction? Did he destroy? He took document boxes but preserved later. Maybe no obstruction charge.
Effective federal/state coordinated sentence:
4 years 9 months incarceration.
Three years supervised release.
Restitution:
Net lender loss.
Trust loss.
Certain investigation costs allowed.
Not punitive $140m.
CSD dissolved.
Professional bans? No automatic. He was barred by court/probation from fiduciary or financial management positions while supervised, and later found work elsewhere after release.
Then Marcus Dean:
Cooperated.
Admitted kickbacks.
Civil repayment and probation/short custody maybe 8 months.
Paula Brennan, notary:
Lost commission and received probation/penalty for improper notarization; evidence did not show she knew broader fraud.
Miles Gentry:
What did he know? He drafted capacity memo and family settlement based on Derek-provided facts. No evidence he knew documents forged. Once evidence emerged, he withdrew. Professional review found he should have verified conflict disclosures? Maybe no discipline or mild admonishment. Need avoid villainizing. We can say bar inquiry found insufficient evidence of knowing fraud; he had been misled but criticized for overly aggressive letter. Fine.
Then Northbridge property manager:
Terminated for conflict-of-interest control failures? A manager who failed vendor beneficial ownership checks. Company revamped policies. No criminal conduct.
Then assault and fraud sentence overlapped? The 30-day assault already served; federal sentence later no double counting. Fine.
Then Allison’s divorce waiting period.
One year after separation, absolute divorce entered.
Equitable distribution settled:
Each retained separate assets.
Marital retirement divided.
CSD debt primarily Derek based on business ownership and fraud; legitimate joint guarantee already resolved by Allison.
Joint SUV sale proceeds split after loan.
No alimony either direction.
No children.
No custody.
Then Allison called.
“It’s done.”
“How do you feel?”
“Embarrassed.”
“That’s not an emotion I want you living in forever.”
“I signed things.”
“Yes.”
“I watched you fall.”
“Yes.”
“I lied.”
“Yes.”
She cried.
“Do you forgive me?”
I had waited.
“Yes.”
She closed eyes.
“But I don’t trust you the same yet.”
She nodded.
“I know.”
Forgiveness first.
Trust later.
Then:
“I want to come to Asheville.”
“When?”
“Just lunch.”
I said yes.
No moving in.
No rescue.
Then before she arrived, Eleanor called.
“Margaret, Henry’s letter has a second sealed attachment we could not release until your capacity review was resolved.”
I laughed.
“He loved envelopes.”
Apparently.
The attachment was not money.
May you like
It was instructions about Allison.
And one sentence made me wonder whether Henry had seen a weakness in our daughter decades before either of us understood it.
