David Ignatius: Bloodmoney

“You got it. That’s their game. The question is, what do you want me and Chumley to do about it?”

“Go to trial. Win the case. Get me off.”

“Not so easy, big boy. The Brits have gathered enough evidence to nail you: fraudulent statements to the regulators; insider trading; numbered Swiss bank accounts not declared to the Inland Revenue. They have a lot of shit, my friend. And I have some bad news for you: Juries don’t like billionaires, even in England. They want to crucify them. You’d have trouble finding a respectable barrister who would argue the case in court.”

Perkins listened to this litany of misdeeds and then shook his head.

“It’s all crap. They used me as long as it suited them, and then they ratted me out to the Brits. This is a setup, first to last.”

“Look, Tom, do you want my professional opinion?”

“No.”

“This case is a loser. If you take it to trial, you’re going down. Now, Mr. Chumley here has been talking to the prosecutors, which I am not allowed to do. And I think you should listen to what he has to say.”

“Can he get me off?”

“Sort of. Hear him out.”

“Fine. And stop calling this man Chumley, for god’s sake. He already told you it’s Gormley.”

The British solicitor looked relieved.

“Thank you. What Mr. Tarullo said is quite accurate. I have been in discussion this morning with Mr. Crane of the Serious Fraud Office, who was accompanied by a rather aggressive gentleman from the Crown Prosecution Service. We discussed the possibility of your entering a guilty plea to reduced charges. That would avoid the risk of going before a jury, which as Mr. Tarullo said would carry risks, given the current public mood toward, um, finance.”

“What would I plead to? Assuming that I was willing to pretend I did anything wrong.”

“That is still under discussion. But I was given to believe this morning that a possible arrangement might involve pleading guilty to a low-level count of banking fraud and a similarly low-level count of revenue fraud.”

“What would the sentence be?”

“That would be at the discretion of the judge. The guidelines suggest there should always be some reduction in sentence for a guilty plea. But there might still be a brief prison sentence.”

“How long is ‘brief’?”

“For the simplest banking fraud conviction, the guidelines recommend twenty-six weeks. For revenue fraud, it is twelve weeks. So let us imagine something well under a year. It could be more or less, of course, or nothing at all.”

“Take it,” said Tarullo. “It’s your best shot.”

“Shut up. Now, suppose I don’t accept this plea deal and I get convicted, what would I be facing?”

“Goodness, hard to say, but it would be quite unpleasant. The judge would not be amused by your subornation of an employee of the Bank of England.”

“How much time?”

“For major banking fraud, the recommendation is five years, plus five more years for major revenue fraud, plus ten years for false representations, plus seven years for false accounting, plus five years for obtaining services dishonestly. So it could add up to, let me see, approximately thirty years. But that would be a very hard-hearted judge.”

“Thirty-two years, to be precise,” said Tarullo. “Don’t be an idiot.”

“Okay, suppose I listen to my lawyers and agree to plead guilty, Mr. Gormley, would I be able to work in the investment business again?”

“Probably not, I’m afraid, certainly not in the United Kingdom.”

“And would I be liable for civil suits from investors?”

“Yes, sorry to say, there would be no stopping that. The guilty plea would be dispositive, your plaintiffs would argue, so you would be rather vulnerable.”

He turned back to the burly American counselor.

“And the same would be true in the States, isn’t that right, Vince? We would have to settle with the SEC, and at a minimum they would bar me from being a broker-dealer or an investment adviser. The evidence from the British court could be used as evidence in civil cases in America, and every shyster lawyer who wanted free money could file a strike suit. Am I correct?”

“We would fight the suits, obviously,” said Tarullo. “Maybe we could talk national security with the judges, but I doubt it would work.”

“So basically I’m screwed. That’s what you’re telling me. Either I go to court and run the risk of a ridiculously long prison sentence on multiple fraud charges, or I make a deal for a short sentence, but I still get bankrupted with damages from civil suits that I can’t pay because I can’t work in finance again. Is that it, more or less?”

“Hey, Tom, it is what it is. Not a great situation, I admit. Should you take the deal? Depends on your tolerance for getting ass-fucked for the next thirty-two years at Brixton.”

Perkins put his palms to his head, so that they covered his eyes and most of his face. He murmured to himself as he thought about his options. When he removed his hands, he was smiling. It was uncanny, a big grin, as if he had been released from his cell and sent home.

“No fucking way. That’s what I’ve decided. Let them try to prosecute me. You know what? They won’t dare. They think they can nail me for stuff that happened before they got in deep. But I’m not going to play. This evidence is all tainted by the fact that I was involved in secret intelligence activities the CIA may be claiming don’t exist, but which they will never, ever allow to come out in open court. And the minute they ask the judge to go in camera to discuss secrets, I’ve made my point, I’ve won.”

“So you want to roll the dice?” asked Tarullo.

“Gambling is for suckers, Vince. This is a no-brainer. I’ve made my career knowing when to take risks and, honestly, it’s not even close in this case. These people are bluffing. They will fold. Mr. Gormley, tell the Crown Prosecution Service, ‘Thank you very much for the offer, and we’ll see you in court.’ But I promise you, it will never get there.”

“Bracing words, Mr. Perkins,” said the solicitor. “I will convey your message. I do hope you’re right.”

Perkins said he wanted a few words alone with his American attorney before they left. The prim British solicitor padded off down the hall to wait in the entryway.

Perkins leaned close to Tarullo and spoke as quietly as he could.

“This will work, Vince. You have to believe me.”

“If you say so, Tom. What do I know? I’m just your lawyer.”

Perkins lowered his voice another few decibels.

“I want you to do something for me. I want you to go see the CIA general counsel. Get all the records you can find of my accounts at FBS. Tell them that the CIA, or some spinoff somewhere, has been using these accounts to fund operations and using my firm as cover for its people. And I can prove it, if they make me. Will you do that?”

“Sure. I know the general counsel. He was an associate in my firm a long time ago. He told me I was all wet when I asked about Anthony Cronin a couple of days ago. But he’ll see me.”

“Tell him that what they’re doing is illegal, Vince. There is something called the ‘Anti-Deficiency Act.’ Do you know what that is?”

“Of course I do. I’m a lawyer. It means that government agencies can’t spend money that hasn’t been appropriated by Congress. But how do you know?”

“I’ve been doing my homework. I’ve known I would need to break with these people, eventually. The point is, somebody has been using me and my firm to violate that law. That’s what they were doing, running a fund off the books to provide money for their operations. And I want you to tell the general counsel that if they do not back off, I am going to say this in open court in Britain, and they are going down!”