Page 187 of Titus

Spencer gestured toward me. “Now, Herbert comes in with an offer, and your family declines. Or maybe they don’t, and they just double the price, so he loses interest because it’s no longer a good investment for him.”

“Okay…”

“Well,” Jim continued, “Herbert wasn’t a man who accepted being told no very often. If ever. So instead of buying the property himself, he creates Company A.”

I waited.

“He uses Company A and then makes an offer.”

“Then Company B purchases the neighboring land,” Spencer added. “And then Company C acquires access rights.”

“And all three shell companies belong to Herbert?”

“Bingo,” Spencer said.

“But in this case, the Valdéz family doesn’t know they belong to him,” Jim said.

“Right. They think they’re dealing with different buyers,” I said, following along a bit better now.

“Correct,” Jim said.

I sat back. “That’s shady.”

“Very.” Spencer nodded. “But being shady isn’t necessarily illegal.”

“It isn’t?”

“No.” He shrugged.

“People use holding companies and subsidiaries every day,” Jim said. “What’s illegal is lying about who controls them. That’s what happened in this case.”

“According to investigators,” Spencer continued, “Herbert signed documents stating that he had no ownership interest in several entities involved in those transactions.”

I stared at him. “When he actually did?”

“That’s what they’re claiming,” Jim said, leaning back in his chair.

Now it was starting to make sense to me. The Valdéz family hadn’t simply lost a business deal; they believed they had been intentionally deceived by the man for years.

“So Herbert obtained assets he could never have acquired honestly,” I said.

“That’s the argument,” Jim answered. “The government believes those structures remained active long after Herbert’s death.”

I looked at him. “And because Titus inherited the company…”

Jim nodded. “They’re attempting to prove he discovered those entities, understood what they were, and intentionally left them hidden.”

I stared at him. For several seconds, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Do you both think he knew about them?”

“No,” Jim answered. “Titus reviews everything. He’d probably audit his own toothbrush if someone gave him enough time.”

Spencer’s mouth twitched.

I looked back at Jim. “So, the entire case depends on proving Titus knew these companies existed?”

“Exactly.” Jim folded his hands. “They don’t need to prove Herbert created them. They already believe he did. They need to prove Titus inherited the knowledge.”

“And it was Christian Jameston who managed to dig all of this shit up?” I asked.