"Where There's a Will": ....There's a way to hide $100 million
by Phillip KerriganPublish: Jun 16, 2021Crime FictionBook Overview
Charleston Post & Courier, 06/10/ 2002:“Lawrence (Larry) Tycehurst from Charleston, South Carolina was arrested in Hamburg, Germany and will soon be deported to the USA to face extensive fraud charges.
The charges relate to over $200 million removed illegally from the Trust Funds of at least four Funeral Insurance companies. Sources say there may be substantially more than the $200 million with suggestions it is hidden in bank accounts through the Caribbean and Panama.”
It was the early 2000’s and so ended the fraudulent career of psychopath Larry Tycehurst and his audacious theft of $200 million of Trust Fund money held for policy holders who has planned to use the funds to pay for their own funerals. The fraud took place over the previous ten years. The careful selection of executives with dubious pasts and broken moral compasses enabled Tycehurst to take over companies and steal the funds. His seduction of female accomplices with promises of marriage and untold wealth works in with his manipulation of egocentric males who also fall for Tycehurst’s lies. The executives realise too late that they are ensnared in Tyechurst’s major fraud but they go along for the ride anyway.
After secreting the funds in a Panamanian Bank Larry wants out and has the bold idea of taking on the identity of his nephew, (he assumes this will defeat any DNA investigations!), and so makes him the beneficiary of his Last Will and Testament. Larry’s plan was that his nephew would never see the money, but Larry would.
But fate and mortality intervene.
In Sydney in 2015, Larry’s nephew, Freddy Tycehurst, receives the stunning information that he is the beneficiary of $USD100 million from a Will found some years after Larry’s death. The novel tells of Freddy’s efforts to determine if the money is his or not and is interwoven with the story of how Larry stole the fortune.
Forensic accountants, crooked lawyers, suspect bankers and the FBI conspire to confound Freddy’s quest when he goes to the USA to determine whether he is very wealthy, or not. Money laundering and financial scams nearly achieve the perfect crime but this financial thriller shows how it can all fall short.
“This is a detailed, well researched plot giving insight to the world of corporate and financial crime. Believable, engaging and relatable characters merge in an unusual crime story.”
(Previously published as “Whose Money”.)
