Chapter 11 - THE FINANCIAL CASE AGAINST DEREK
The financial case was narrower than social media wanted.
No charge for trying to “steal six million dollars” because he never gained access.
No completed trust theft.
Instead:
Forgery.
Attempted financial exploitation.
Identity misuse.
Possession of stolen mail.
Attempted beneficiary interference.
Unauthorized use of my signature.
Harold Price testified.
He admitted:
Selling confidential information.
Accepting $18,000.
Explaining the trust’s general structure.
He denied helping draft the conservatorship petition.
Evidence supported him.
He pleaded to privacy and fraud-related offenses.
Probation plus short custody.
Fine.
Permanent bar from fiduciary work.
Derek’s lawyer argued the documents were fantasy.
Bad research never acted upon.
The prosecutor asked:
“Why forge Lena’s signature on the contact waiver?”
No answer.
“Why create DH Asset Recovery?”
No answer.
“Why remove her birth certificate?”
Derek testified:
“I was trying to protect our future.”
There.
That phrase.
Again.
“Did Lena ask?”
“No.”
“Did she consent?”
“No.”
“Did she know?”
“No.”
“Then whose future?”
Silence.
He pleaded before jury deliberation after evidentiary rulings went against him.
The financial sentence ran partly alongside the domestic-assault sentence.
Restitution.
No contact.
No benefit from my trust.
No magical lifetime prison term.
Serious.
Proportionate.
At sentencing I said:
“Derek did not break my arm because I was secretly wealthy. He broke it because I told him no. The money only gave him new reasons to keep ignoring that word.”
That was the sentence newspapers quoted.
For once, accurately.
I did not visit Derek.
No closure conversation.
May you like
No letter.
The protective order was closure enough.
