Chapter 4 - Opening the Envelope
We opened the letter forty-eight hours later.
Not dramatically.
No family gathering.
No children.
Just my father, Claire, and an attorney who had represented my mother’s estate years earlier.
Violetta was invited through counsel.
She declined.
That told me enough.
My father broke the seal.
Inside were nine handwritten pages.
One typed financial schedule.
And a photocopy of three bank-transfer summaries.
The first line was:
Anatole,
I need you to read this before Violetta convinces you that I am overreacting.
My father stopped.
Then continued.
Mother wrote that she had discovered irregular transfers from the foundation’s restricted scholarship reserve.
Not theft in the simple sense.
Something more complicated.
The foundation maintained several donor-restricted scholarship funds.
Money donated for those scholarships was supposed to remain dedicated to that purpose.
During three fundraising seasons, Violetta had directed the foundation’s finance manager to temporarily transfer money from those restricted accounts into the general operating account.
Why?
Cash flow.
Large events required deposits.
Venues.
Decorators.
Entertainment.
Catering.
Auction production.
Violetta believed pledged donations arriving later would replenish the money before scholarship distributions were due.
Sometimes they did.
Sometimes late.
Mother called the transfers:
unauthorized borrowing from restricted charitable funds.
The typed schedule showed approximately $286,000 moved over eighteen months.
Most had been restored.
Approximately $41,000 remained unreconciled when Mother wrote the letter.
Then came something worse.
One event vendor was Atelier Avery LLC.
A company partly owned by one of Violetta’s closest friends.
Another was a luxury floral studio in which Violetta had a small passive investment through an investment partnership.
No disclosure appeared in the board minutes.
Not necessarily criminal by itself.
Potential conflict of interest.
Possibly improper.
Definitely something requiring independent review.
My mother wrote:
I do not believe our daughter thinks of herself as stealing. I think she believes the foundation exists to support the family’s public image and that any money returned eventually makes the method irrelevant.
Then:
That belief is exactly why she cannot continue controlling finance.
My father stopped reading.
His hands shook.
Mother had intended to recommend an independent audit.
Temporary suspension of Violetta from financial authority.
Conflict-policy reform.
And full restoration of restricted funds before the next board meeting.
Then the final page.
I have not yet spoken to the board because I wanted to tell you first.
If I lose my nerve, remind me that charity money belongs to the purpose promised, not to the family whose name is on the building.
Signed:
Eleanor.
Dated:
May you like
Sunday.
Two days before she died.
