Chapter 22 - Cole Meridian investigates itself
The board formed an independent special committee.
I recused myself from oversight.
My father had used company resources.
That made it corporate.
Not merely family.
Outside counsel reviewed five years of security expenses and communications.
Findings:
Approximately $94,000 of company-paid investigative and legal expenses lacked legitimate business purpose and related primarily to Warren’s handling of Grace.
Some invoices had been coded as:
executive risk.
Others:
foundation compliance.
Cole Meridian reimbursed affected entities where required and restated internal allocations.
No securities fraud.
No giant hidden slush fund.
Still wrong.
Three employees had participated.
One security executive was already retired.
Another manager had followed instructions without knowing personal purpose.
The investigator who surveilled Grace knew exactly what he was doing.
His vendor contract was terminated.
Our board adopted rules:
No corporate security surveillance of employees or former employees for personal family disputes.
Outside approval for investigations involving executives’ romantic or family relationships.
No use of company counsel for private paternity or domestic matters without documented board-level conflict review.
Again:
Bureaucracy.
Beautiful bureaucracy.
I also separated family-office security from Cole Meridian.
My father had blurred them for decades.
That blurring gave him reach.
I removed it.
No one wrote a headline.
Good.
May you like
Some reforms deserve boredom.
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