Chapter 6 - The $92,000 Transfer Was Supposed to Look Like a Consulting Fee
Destination:
Harbor Advisory Partners LLC.
A legitimate consulting firm?
Sort of.
Registered in Delaware six months earlier.
Business purpose listed broadly:
hospitality advisory and strategic consulting.
Owner:
Rebecca Sloan.
Melissa’s college roommate.
That immediately looked terrible.
Then investigators found nuance.
Rebecca actually worked in hospitality consulting.
She had spent twelve years at major hotel groups.
The LLC existed.
It had clients.
It had even performed preliminary event-strategy work for Parker Yacht Club.
So a payment to Harbor Advisory would not automatically appear ridiculous.
Then amount.
$92,000.
No approved invoice existed for that amount.
No signed contract.
No board authorization.
Rebecca denied requesting the transfer.
Bank records showed the receiving account belonged to Harbor Advisory.
Would she have accepted unexplained money?
She said:
“Absolutely not.”
Investigators believed she might not know what Melissa was doing.
Then an email from Melissa to Rebecca six weeks earlier.
If the foundation expanded donor hospitality, what would a full-year strategy project cost?
Rebecca answered:
Depends on scope. Probably $75K–$110K.
There.
A plausible number range.
Then Melissa:
Could you send a sample proposal sometime?
Rebecca did.
No engagement followed.
The attempted transfer amount:
$92,000.
Right in the middle.
What was Melissa trying to do?
Steal money through her friend’s company?
Rebecca’s financial records showed no agreement to return money to Melissa.
No kickback evidence.
Then the investigators considered another possibility.
The transfer was not designed to succeed.
It was designed to:
fail conspicuously.
May you like
And leave a trail pointing toward Diane.
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