Sayer nodded, but with a slight ‘so what?’ shrug.
‘My dad knew Asner at university; maybe that’s why she spoke to us.’
‘And she recommended you come to me?’ smiled Sayer. ‘Forgive my amusement, but I get the impression she believes I’m part of a huge conspiracy to ruin her life and trash her name.’
‘She did rather give us that impression too,’ said Josh.
‘So what did she think I can help you with?’
‘Well I’d like to get my family’s money back. We weren’t exactly rich, and we lost everything.’
Andrea laughed.
‘Perhaps you should be asking Miriam. It’s a more direct route.’
‘We did,’ said Josh. ‘Miriam claims she knows nothing about the money and says she has nothing left to give.’
‘Well, that’s technically true at the moment. She doesn’t have access to any money beyond what she negotiated with the Feds. The question is whether she knows where the missing money has gone.’
‘And you think she does?’
‘Someone does, Ms Ellis,’ said Sayer, looking at Sophie.
‘But if you don’t know where it is, how are you planning on getting it back?’
She shook her head, her curls bouncing. ‘We’re not.’
‘Sorry?’ said Sophie. ‘I thought you were trying to trace the billions Asner hid.’
‘A common misconception, although there is a grain of truth to it. A court-appointed trustee is recovering the money in conjunction with the SEC. I am simply acting for some of the victims of Asner’s scheme. Essentially I’m fighting to get my clients pushed up to the front of the queue when it comes to handing out compensation – if there ever is any, of course. I assume that’s why you’re here.’
Sophie glanced over at Josh again.
‘Well, yes, my father received no compensation after the scam collapsed.’
‘Not many people did,’ Sayer said sympathetically. ‘A few hundred million dollars were recovered – most has gone in fees to the trustee and to the investors with the biggest lawyers. Hence our class action suit against Asner – we don’t think it’s fair that the smaller investors should get such a raw deal, so clubbing together gives us more muscle.’
Josh sat forward.
‘You said there was a grain of truth about finding the money?’
Sayer gave a small smile.
‘Well I’m not the sort to hang around and wait for the government to sort it out.’
‘But is there any money?’
‘I spent two hours in a jail cell interviewing Michael Asner myself. He pretty much told me everything – how much money there was, where it came from and how the scheme worked. He was a vain man and he was boasting about it. He didn’t admit to me that there was any hidden money, but it was something he apparently crowed about to inmates in the slammer.’
‘Could that just have been jail talk?’ asked Josh.
Andrea shrugged.
‘A crook as clever, as ruthless as Asner wouldn’t pull a scam like that and not keep something aside for a rainy day. There’s at least one hundred million dollars in my opinion, maybe three or four times that much. Asner never thought he was going to get the length of sentence that he did. He was sixty-five. He would have assumed ten years inside, a non-violent white-collar criminal; they would have quietly paroled him after five and he would have disappeared to some island somewhere to live out his retirement on the hidden cash.’
Josh gave a low whistle.
‘One hundred million bucks. He’d need a warehouse for that much cash.’