independent investment manager, and his father chose to utilize his son to manage the trust's investments. The clients’ attorney said he had requested statements from both the father and the son regarding the trust assets and investments, but to date neither had produced any information.
The clients’ attorney stated that Tim had been living in the mother's house prior to her death and had continued living there even after she became sick and relocated to a nursing home. Tim still lived in the house, and the brother and sister had heard through neighbors that Tim had let the house and yard become run down. Tim was dealing with significant health issues, and it was uncertain how long he would live.
When the attorney finally ended his story, he allowed his clients to speak for the first time since the meeting had started.
The sister spoke first, thanking us for meeting today. She took out her notebook and read through her notes and timeline as she added more detail to the attorney's story. The sister said she'd had a very close relationship with her mother up until the time her mother met Tim. Once Tim came into the picture, however, their relationship became strained, and it did not return to its former closeness until the last days of her mother's life. She said that her mother had been physically and emotionally abused by Tim and had twice been treated at the hospital for injuries Tim inflicted. However, her mother would not leave Tim and returned to him after each incidence of violence. The sister stated that, even when her mother had cancer, Tim continued to abuse and neglect her. The last time her mother had been hospitalized, she had appeared malnourished. The sister said that her mother had told her that she was afraid of Tim and that she did not want to go home.
During her account, the sister's face turned red and her eyes puffy. Tears streamed down her face.
The sister said that Tim had come to the nursing home and created a scene, which led to her obtaining a restraining order to keep Tim away from her mother. Even as her mother lay in bed dying at the nursing home, her mother feared Tim would come there, and thus she never relaxed. Her mother told her that she was so sorry Tim had interfered with her and her daughter's prior relationship. The mother felt that the last few years of her life had been her worst, as she had suffered abuse, neglect, illness, and separation from her children. The sister had not known how bad things were between her mother and Tim, and it broke her heart to sit talking with her dying mother, knowing she couldn't fix the past and had little to no time left to make her mother happy again.
After this disclosure, the sister broke down and cried, but received no comfort from her brother. After a few minutes, the sister apologized for crying and described how angry she was with Tim and the trustee, whom she described as working with Tim to take the estate and trust funds for themselves. Her face tightened, and her fists clenched. She said that both Tim and the trustee were crooks, as was the trustee's investor son, and that she wanted them all removed from anything to do with her mother's estate and trust. She wanted them all locked up in prison. She wished Tim was dead because of what he had done to her mother. Every day that Tim lived in her mother's house and the trustee continued to handle the funds, she said, more and more money would be improperly spent or stolen by them, leaving less for her brother and herself.
Then, the sister turned to her brother and asked if he wanted to add anything to the story. The brother's face tensed, and he also clenched his fists. He rapidly shifted from slouching to sitting upright in his chair. The brother shouted that Tim should be dead for what he'd done to his mother and for what he continued to do, living at his mother's house, which rightfully belonged to them. He said that he had gone to the house on a few occasions and recognized that Tim was nothing but a drunk. Tim was overweight, poorly dressed, and in poor health. The house and yard were in a state of major disrepair, even though there was evidence the trustee had paid funds to maintain the house.
The brother was clearly angry, his face bright red. He said that if Tim were to die, the trustee could be ordered to close out the estate and trust, and he and his sister could go on with their lives and find closure after their mother's death. He said he did not have a permanent address or mailing address and that he lived for long periods of time in remote areas where mail was not important. He was leaving for the mountains of Maine right after our meeting, and we might never see him again. He might connect with his sister so she knew where to reach him, mainly to know when the trust distributions were available. If he had the option, he would handle Tim, the trustee, and the trustee's son his way. That way, he could get closure for his sister, who could then move on with her life and not have to deal with Tim or the trustee in the future.
The brother understood that the estate and trust had to be handled through attorneys and the probate court, because that was how these things got resolved civilly. However, he said, it was just going to cost more time and much more money, and the three men, especially Tim, would likely never face any genuine consequences for their actions. The brother ended by saying it would be best if he were to go far away and disappear into the woods so that he wouldn't do anything rash. The brother rose from his seat, punched the table, and then threw open the conference room door and went down the hallway toward the exit. We watched him light up a cigarette on the rear lawn beyond the parking lot.
The sister said her brother tended to get very angry, especially when he hadn't been drinking. Most of the time he was drunk; however, today he appeared sober, or at least less drunk than usual. She said that when her brother got angry like this, he needed alone time, since nothing could be said or done to calm him down. She said he would return to the meeting when he was ready, likely after a few cigarettes and perhaps a drink from something he had stashed away on his person. She said we had nothing to fear from him, since his anger was directed toward Tim, the trustee, and the trustee's son, not us. Her brother had not visited much during their mother's last few years. He was often gone without contact for months at a time. She said it was best for her brother to leave again for a while so that he didn't act on his anger.
We recognized that our meeting was far from over. This was just an intermission. Up until that moment, all we had obtained was their stories about why we had been called to this meeting. We still needed to determine how to proceed, what services we were to perform, and how our work would help the attorney resolve the estate and trust matters, bringing them the closure they so badly needed. These issues needed to be discussed today, before the brother went missing again.
The meeting provided good insight into the sister and brother's characters – and into the emotions we would likely encounter as we worked to help resolve their matter.
In the course of working on this matter over the subsequent year, we never heard from the brother again. We dealt mainly with the sister and her attorneys. We met with the sister a dozen times and spoke to her at times almost daily. She was frustrated by the delays she encountered and angered by the fact that nothing was happening while the funds continued to be diminished month after month. We were there to listen and help her work through the issues until her case was resolved.
In time, through aggressive efforts by the sister's new attorney, the fiduciaries were removed, the attorney for the fiduciaries was ordered to return the excess fees they had paid to themselves, and the siblings were finally able to receive the remains of their inheritance. The sister sent us a handwritten letter expressing her appreciation for our support throughout the ordeal, and attributed our involvement as the one factor that had prevented her from going insane during the pendency of her matter.
A case like this illustrates how client emotions are inseparable from the facts of the fraud engagement. When dealing with these types of cases, fraud examiners should recognize that fraud, like any other type of crime, is very personal to the victim, and clients can become very emotional as they work through the process toward resolving their matter.
Clients want to tell their story. My advice is: Let them. Set up an in‐person meeting, clear your schedule, and prepare to be their audience. They will provide details about their lives that have nothing to do with the present matter, such as issues they experienced
