Chapter 4 - The Asset Seizure
The arrest of Brandon and Lara Sterling inside the boardroom of Sterling Infrastructure made national financial news within two hours.
STERLING INFRASTRUCTURE CEO ARRESTED IN BOARDROOM.
EMBEZZLEMENT AND DOMESTIC ABUSE SCANDAL SHAKES MIDTOWN.
FOUNDER'S DAUGHTER UNCOVERS MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR FRAUD.
By 2:00 PM on Friday afternoon, while Brandon and Lara sat in separate interrogation rooms at the Central Booking facility downtown, Abigail and I sat inside the executive office of the District Attorney.
District Attorney Evelyn Reed—a formidable woman with short silver hair and a reputation for dismantling white-collar crime syndicates—slammed a heavy red folder onto her desk.
"Clara," DA Reed said, looking at me with immense respect. "Your forensic audit is a masterpiece. The paper trail you provided on Crestview Logistics is so airtight that their defense team won't even be able to file a motion to dismiss. We’ve already secured emergency freezing orders on all fourteen offshore accounts linked to Lara Sterling."
"What about the house?" I asked softly, nursing a warm cup of herbal tea Abigail had bought me.
"The Ashford Estate?" DA Reed smiled thinly. "Because the property was originally purchased in full by your late father, and the property taxes were paid through a trust account where Brandon forged his name as co-trustee, the grand jury has classified the estate as an asset involved in the commission of a felony fraud scheme. We’ve issued an immediate writ of seizure and eviction."
"When can I take possession?"
"Right now," DA Reed said, sliding an official key set and a stamped judicial order across the desk. "And because Lara’s personal assets are frozen under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) state statutes, she has zero access to funds to pay for private bail or legal counsel. She’s currently using a public defender."
I picked up the heavy brass keys to my father’s house—the house where I had been dragged across the floor twelve hours earlier.
"Abigail," I said, standing up. "Call a professional cleaning crew. And hire a commercial liquidation team."
"Liquidation?" Abigail blinked. "What are we liquidating?"
"Everything inside that house that wasn't bought by my father," I said coldly. "Every dress, every piece of jewelry, every silk robe, every antique chair Lara brought into my home when she moved into my guest suite. I want it stripped down to the bare floorboards by nightfall."
Two hours later, three large yellow moving trucks pulled up to the stone gates of the Ashford Estate.
I stood on the front lawn, wrapped in a heavy dark wool coat, watching as a team of twelve uniformed movers marched into the mansion under the supervision of two deputy sheriffs.
Item by item, the life Lara Sterling had built on stolen money was carried out onto the driveway:
Her forty-thousand-dollar designer wardrobe.
Her hand-woven Persian rugs.
Brandon’s custom-built mahogany gun safe.
The three-hundred-thousand-dollar Italian sports car Brandon had bought himself using funds stolen from my father's employee pension reserve.
As the movers loaded the sports car onto a flatbed tow truck, a sleek black sedan pulled up to the curb.
Brandon’s high-priced corporate defense attorney, David Vance (no relation to Dr. Vance), stepped out of the car, looking frantic, his tie loosened, holding a stack of legal filings.
"Clara!" Vance shouted, rushing toward the gate, but he was immediately blocked by a deputy sheriff. "Clara, stop this! This is an unlawful seizure! My clients haven't been convicted yet! You cannot liquidate personal property before trial!"
I walked slowly down the stone pathway to the gate, stopping two feet from the iron bars.
"Read Section 408 of the State Asset Forfeiture Code, Mr. Vance," I said smoothly. "When personal property is purchased using verified stolen funds from a corporate pension reserve, the victimized corporation has the immediate right of civil attachment to secure restitution."
Vance’s jaw dropped. "You... you attached the pension reserve?"
"I did," I said. "And because Lara and Brandon used pension funds to pay for their bail bond applications this morning, the bail bond company has officially revoked their underwriting. Your clients’ bail has been canceled."
"They're being transferred to the Rikers Island complex," the deputy sheriff added casually, looking at his watch. "The transport van left Central Booking twenty minutes ago."
May you like
Vance stared at me as if I were a terrifying stranger. "You're destroying them."
"No, Mr. Vance," I said, turning my back on him and walking back toward the front door of my house. "They destroyed themselves. I'm just clearing away the trash."
