Chapter 7 - The First Payment
Michael’s forensic accountant found it.
$12,500.
Listed as:
Luxury event strategy consultation.
Paid to Rose personally.
Rose did occasionally consult on charity galas.
That was plausible.
Then another:
$16,000.
Then:
$9,500.
Then:
$21,000.
All from entities connected to Tessa.
Total:
$173,000 over twenty months.
Rose’s attorney said they were legitimate consulting fees.
Maybe.
Then investigators compared dates.
Fourteen of the payments arrived within ten days of an Echelon staffing placement at the Ashford mansion.
That was less comfortable.
Correlation was not proof.
Then a former Echelon employee provided internal messages.
Tessa:
Rose has another turnover. Send premium replacement.
Then:
Her household is our best account.
Another message:
R wants her thank-you handled through consulting.
May you like
The letter R was not proof.
But nobody liked where it was going.
