Kellie got Lorenzo's passwords and was surprised to learn Jason had retrieved the laptop for her. After having Spinelli take an image of Lorenzo's computer and foundation records, Kellie started looking through the accounting records over the next week.
"Calvin's been funneling money out of the foundation," Kellie said, "There's expenditures in here that make no sense and several massive donations to Dawn of Day. Some of these wire transfers look odd. There's payments to the rescue coordinator. How the hell did the board sign off on these expenditures? It takes two signatures."
Jason was looking over Kellie's shoulder, "It looks like the second signature is always Arnold. Isn't he one of your board members?"
"Yeah," Kellie said, "Damn."
"Can you turn this over to the police?" Jason asked.
"Considering the fact that I was fired from the foundation," Kellie said, "And am using Lorenzo's access to view these records, that might be problematic. I need a lawyer."
"What about Charles?" Jason asked.
"He was fired too," Kellie said, "I need someone impartial if anything goes down in court. Do you think Diana could advise on this one?"
While they were waiting for Diane, Kellie got a phone call from Calvin.
"What happened to the donations from the Casino?" Calvin demanded to know, "The monthly donation didn't come through and when I went to ask where it was, I was told the donations were put temporarily on hold while casino worked out a new arrangement. The Foundation needs those funds."
"The Foundation should have a cushion for a couple of months," Kellie said, "Without the donations. Did you really think I'd continue donating carte blanche with no access to the foundation financial information? Charles will be in touch about the new donation structure. You'll be requesting reimbursement for expenditures from now on."
"We need that payment now especially since ELQ has decided to charge us rent for the building," Calvin said, "There's no need to change the donation structure and I hope you'll have a word with your brother about the rent."
"ELQ business is ELQ business. You'll have to take that up with ELQ directly. Any further concerns about the donations need to be directed to the Casino's legal counsel or Charles," Kellie replied and hung before Calvin could respond.
"Calvin burned through the Foundation's cash reserves with his spending," Kellie said to Jason, "He noticed the donation didn't come through and is demanding the casino pay the donation as usual."
"You can get Calvin and Arthur for fraud," Jason said, "But can you tie it to Shiloh, Garrett, or whoever at NCIS is stopping the investigations."
"There's also the rescue coordinator," Kellie said, as the guard let Diane in, "Who claims I threatened him. But no we can't tie the expenditures to the rest yet. Dawn of Day received some of the money, but we'd need proof they accepted the funds knowing it wasn't a legitimate donation. We'll need a forensic accountant to look into everything."
"What exactly would you need a forensic accountant for?" Diane asked, entering the study.
"A forensic accountant to look into questionable expenditures at the Foundation," Kellie said.
"Which you no longer work for," Diane asked, "Leading me to wonder how you would come into knowledge of such expenditures."
"Hypothetically, my Uncle Lorenzo who has not been fired and still works for the foundation may have had some concerns about the activity at the foundation," Kellie said, "Since he wasn't sure who to trust at the foundation and isn't really able to look at the information himself, he gave me his login information for this laptop and foundation accounts and asked me to take a look, set his mind at ease. If I were to find expenditures that looked suspicious, how would I make sure it was something the police could use."
"Because any suspects will have a field day with chain of custody," Diane said, "Hypothetically how would you have come into possession of your uncle's work computer."
"Jason picked it up for me," Kellie said, "We wouldn't access the records directly from the laptop. We would have a specialist make a copy of the computers hard drive to access from another computer"
"Leaving the original computer untouched and preventing anyone from saying you tampered with the records, that is at least verifiable," Diane said, "At least you're thinking ahead. You need to get written consent from Lorenzo to access the computer, preferably in front of a notary and a doctor who can attest he's of sound mind. Then provide the original computer and login credentials into the forensic accountant you referred to and let them figure out who to involve the police once he conducts his initial investigation. He also may be able to work with your private investigators which I'm sure you've employed."
"Thank you, Diane," Kellie said.
"I can draft a document for Lorenzo to sign or have someone sign attesting he consents to you taking his work laptop to a forensic accountant," Diane said, "You'll also need to document the chain of custody for the forensic accountant."
"If you could do that," Kellie said, "That would be great."
"I know you generally use your father-in-law as your legal counsel," Diane said, "But in this instance since Charles was fired as well, I believe the courts would consider him to have a conflict of interest to represent you in this matter if it comes to that. "
"I will pay you a retainer to handle this matter," Kellie said, "For me and Charles should he get dragged into this."
"I do have one question," Diane replied, "Do you have any concerns about my representing you giving the impression of stronger ties to Jason and Sonny's line of work? Some people may see it that way since I do represent them as well."
"At this point, people already think that," Kellie said, "I might as well quit trying to pretend the perception isn't there. The reason the foundation gave for firing me was that even the rumor of becoming pregnant with Jason's child made the perception of me being involved in Jason and Sonny's business undeniable. You representing me in this matter can't do any more damage. I need someone independent of the foundation and my family should there be any questions about the fraudulent transactions. I highly doubt these people are going to play nice. I need a shark in the courtroom and you definitely qualify. Are you in?"
"I look forward to representing you," Diane said, "You'll let me know if you should need my service regarding the foundation. In the meantime, I think we should discuss your lawsuit for wrongful termination."
"I'm not suing the foundation for firing me," Kellie said.
"Excuse me if I'm wrong," Diane said, "But I thought I just heard you say the foundation fired you for getting pregnant. You may have grounds for a lawsuit."
"That was just the excuse they gave," Kellie said, "I'm pretty sure if I wasn't pregnant they would have come up with some other excuse."
"That doesn't change the fact they used your pregnancy to terminate, directly or indirectly," Diane said, "By not fighting back with a lawsuit, you're doing a disservice to woman everywhere."
"So I'm going to sue for money that would be better spent on helping the people the foundation tries to help," Kellie said.
"Money if your hypothetical concerns are correct, isn't going there as it is," Diane replied, "At least if you win the lawsuit, you could donate the money back once you've cleaned house. It's more about the principle of the matter."
"I think you should consider Diane's advice," Jason said, "You wouldn't advise someone in your situation not to speak up especially if they came to the foundation for help."
"No," Kellie said, "I wouldn't. The foundation would provide an attorney if there was a case."
"You cannot do any differently," Diane said, "Otherwise you're not standing up for the values of the foundation. If the founder of Crossing Into Dawn doesn't stand up for herself like she would for anyone who came to the foundation for help, then it will be difficult for those people who need help to take you seriously."
"I also didn't want to create a PR nightmare for the foundation," Kellie said.
"You already have one," Diane said, "When it gets out the about the fraud, that's a foregone conclusion. You need to do damage control and the wrongful termination suit along with working with a forensic accountant and police to bring it light will do it. I highly doubt you can hide the fact you were terminated. Given your notoriety, someone will notice eventually. It's better if you're proactive about the situation."
Kellie considered her options.
"Okay, You can look into the matter and see if we even have a case we can move forward with," Kellie said."
"I knew you'd see reason," Diane said, "Who was present for your firing?"
"Charles, Johnny, and the Executive Director," Kellie said, "The receptionist informed me the protocols had changed when our keys and badges wouldn't work."
"That's a start," Diane said, "Something else to consider is that we will want to determine the Foundations value as part of this process which may mean access to financial records. That may provide another avenue for turning up any discrepancies."
"I forgot how good you are," Kellie said.
"That's what I'm paid for," Diana said, moving towards the door, "I'll get started on those matters and be in touch. Jason can get you in touch with my assistant for payment."
"That's easy enough," Jason said, opening the door for Diane to find Spinelli standing there about to knock.
"Your timing is fortuitous," Spinelli said, "I have news on.."
"I'll leave you to it," Diane said, maneuvering around Spinelli and leaving .
"Inside Spinelli," Jason said, "Is this Kellie's matter or the coffee business?"
"Kellie's matters," Spinelli said as Jason ushered him into the study.
"Spinelli, I wasn't expecting to see you," Kellie said.
"Well I have news on the investigation into the foundation and Shiloh that wanted to share post haste," Spinelli said, "And see how you and baby Corinthos-Morgan were faring."
"We're faring fine," Kellie said, "what do you have for me?"
"Shiloh and Calvin were room mates in college," Spinelli said, "And they have stayed friends over the years. In fact Calvin even spent time in Beecher's Corner and in Canada where Shiloh claims to have seen the light or dawn of his nonsense."
"We have a connection," Kellie said, "That's a start. Anything else. Some of Calvins know associates include people arrested as part of that sex cult that was shut down out of New York, Calvin as questioned about possible involvement, but appeared to have been dropped as a person of interest."
"Okay, so Shiloh and Garrett, a known sex trafficker, had ties to Petrov who ran his own harem and cult that didn't community service like Dawn of Day," Kellie said, "Now Shiloh has a friend who associated with the New York cult that is now working at Crossing Into Dawn which is supposed to fight that sort of thing. Shiloh should be at least looked at by our rescue team, but isn't. It's all circumstantial."
"We need proof that Shiloh, Garret, and Calvin were engaged in some form of human trafficking," Jason said, "There's no proof."
"Except for fraud at the foundation," Kellie said.
"That is despicable that your brainchild for goodness is being used for nefarious purposes," Spinelli said, "but when did fraud enter the pictures."
"You know how I had you image Lorenzo's work hard drive," Kellie said, "a cursory review of the financial activity shows questionable disbursements being made to Dawn of Day, Calvin, and other transactions. Diana was here advising us on how to get that information to the police. I would like to review the imaging you have of Lorenzo's computer, look at the transactions, and see if you pick up on anything that helps with the investigation into the foundation and the parasites using it to shield themselves from any legal recourse."
"I will do so with utmost haste," Spinelli said, "We will right this travesty."
After Spinelli left, Curtis called.
"The background check on the rescue coordinator turned up some interesting information," Curtis said, "The man was up to his eyeballs in debt."
"Was?" Kellie asked.
"He owed some shady characters," Curtis said, "Now all of sudden debts are gone, I have no idea where the extra income could have come from."
"Wouldn't be a stretch to consider that someone paid him not to take my calls and to say I threatened him?" Kellie replied.
"That could be," Curtis said.
"You wouldn't happen to know what places he likes to frequent," Kellie asked, "in case I should happen to run into him."
"How did I know that as coming?" Curtis said, "Yes, I do know a few bars he likes to haunt and what times. Though I do have a suggestion. It's unlikely he'll open up to you. But a complete stranger he might. I could show up at one of his haunts and fish for information."
Kellie didn't reply right away.
"I know you probably want to do this yourself," Curtis said, "But you have no idea how he'll react if you push him for answers."
"I know you're right," Kellie said, "And I have to consider that I'm not 100% in my current condition either. It doesn't mean I have to like it."
"So you'll let me me do the follow up on this," Curtis said.
"Yes," Kellie said.