CHAPTER 42

Hennessy spent the weekend in the office, calling each defense witness on the phone to confirm their availability and discuss their testimony. There were no surprises. He was prepared, he was thorough, and he was determined to defend his client. The State had built an almost perfect case against Palin, but their star witnesses, Berkley and Tilly, had only thrown more doubt into the trial. When Hennessy entered court on the third Monday of the trial, he was lifted by the fact the case was winnable.

When asked by Judge Clayton, Hennessy stood and called his first witness. “The defense calls Mr. Harrison Reid.”

A former accountant for thirty-five years, Harrison Reid was now a financial investigator, reveling in his second career. As he walked to the stand, he appeared solemn, focused, and trustworthy. Dressed in a blue suit, he wore a yellow bowtie, showing a little splash of color in his otherwise formal appearance.

“Mr. Reid, thank you for testifying today,”

Hennessy began. “Can you please tell the court your full name and occupation?”

“My name is Harrison David Reid, and I’m employed as a financial investigator with Marlin and Marlin Accounting in Columbia, South Carolina. I’ve been a financial investigator for the past year and have testified in many courtrooms, including civil trials, divorce cases, and criminal trials. I love looking at numbers and reports and following a trail of activity to uncover what happens behind those numbers.”

“And what does your role involve?”

“My role as a financial investigator involves examining a business’s accounting, reports, and bookkeeping to see if there’s any fraudulent activity or suspect accounting. My primary goal is to search for the potential places where fraud can occur. Sometimes, I’m brought into a business to identify if there’s potential for fraud and then advise the business on how to fix the holes in their process.”

“And have you reviewed the accounting, reports, and bookkeeping at Palin Accounting?”

“I have.”

“And what did you find?”

“I found there was the potential for fraud to occur as there weren’t many checks or reassurances on transferring funds. There were no safeguards, and some of the bookkeeping was a mess. Some of it didn’t make sense, some of it didn’t add up, and numbers appeared to come out of nowhere. There were discrepancies that were approved by the senior staff in the firm.”

“And during your investigation, did you discover the names of the particular staff members who approved the work?”

“There were two names that approved almost all the work. They were the owner and managing director, Bernard Palin, and the senior accountant at the firm, John Tilly.”

“Did these two people have equal access to the accounting, reports, and bank accounts?”

“That’s correct. Both people were approved to transfer money, approve reports, or change them however they saw fit. They had signatory access to all bank accounts associated with the firm, as well as access to all computers. The way the firm was set up was outdated, and only five logins were used for logging into the computers—senior accounting staff, management staff, accounting staff, junior staff, and administration staff. Mr. Palin and Mr. Tilly used the same login, so it was impossible to decipher who accessed which report or bank account.”

“Did you review the files that were connected to the Wolfgang Berger Foundation?”

“I did, and it was clear that someone was changing the reports to present the information to the Foundation board and then transferring some of the donations into a bank account associated with Palin Accounting.”

“Could you tell who was doing this?”

“Not exactly. According to the computer logins, I could tell it was a staff member in the senior staff band, but as they both had the same login, it was impossible to tell who did this.”

“But both Mr. Palin and Mr. Tilly had the same access?”

“That’s correct.”

“Based on your review of the reports, could either party have conducted the transfer or changed the accounts?”

“That’s correct.”

“Do you see this sort of set up often?”

“We used to see it all the time when things were first becoming digitalized, but not anymore. Most workplaces have individual logins to identify the person performing the action.”

“And in your professional opinion, could Mr. Tilly have changed the reports without Mr. Palin knowing?”

“Yes.”

“And in your professional opinion, could Mr. Tilly have transferred the money from the Wolfgang Berger Foundation into a different bank account?”

“Yes.”

“And in your professional opinion, is there any way to prove Mr. Palin made the transfer?”

“No.”

“Thank you, Mr. Reid. No further questions.”

Garrett stood before Hennessy had even sat down. “Mr. Reid, did Mr. Palin have the opportunity to transfer the money from the Wolfgang Berger Foundation into the bank account associated with Palin Accounting?”

“Yes, he had that opportunity. Along with—”

“And was the money transferred to the account?”

Garrett interrupted.

“It was.”

“And did Mr. Palin have the opportunity to change the reports that were presented to the Foundation’s board?”

“That’s correct. As well as—”

“And can you please tell the court who presented the reports to the Foundation’s board?”

“Mr. Palin presented the reports to the board.”

“I thought so.”

The smugness radiated off Garrett as he sat back down. “No further questions.”