Chapter 8 - The Indictment
Thomas Vance didn't even make it to the parking lot.
As he stood up from the table, four FBI agents and two Oakhaven police detectives swarmed the private dining room.
“Thomas Vance, you are under arrest for the bribery of a public official, conspiracy to commit fraud, and corporate racketeering,” the lead agent announced, slamming Thomas onto the mahogany table and clicking heavy steel handcuffs onto his wrists.
Clara had anticipated Thomas’s move. She knew he wouldn't go down without trying to buy his way out. She had personally asked Councilman Davis—a man whose daughter Clara had helped get a scholarship years ago—to wear the wire.
The arrest was the final nail in the coffin.
When the FBI raided the Vance Enterprises corporate headquarters the next morning, they found the real ledgers. They found the offshore accounts. They found evidence that Eleanor had personally signed off on fraudulent tax returns to hide the money they had saved by using substandard building materials in low-income housing projects.
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Both Thomas and Eleanor were indicted on twenty-two federal counts of fraud and racketeering.
Their assets were seized by the federal government. The Oakhaven mansion was foreclosed on. They had spent their entire lives worshipping money and status, and in the blink of an eye, it was completely gone.
