Chapter 5: The Trial of Ash
While the *Astraea* sailed the Florida Straits, the federal trial against the Vance family concluded in the Southern District Court of Manhattan.
The evidence presented by Elena’s forensic accounting team was insurmountable. Satellite imagery, encrypted engine-room maintenance logs, and financial records recovered from Swiss servers proved beyond doubt that Victoria Vance and her executive board had deliberately falsified environmental compliance reports for over a decade, pocketing ninety million dollars in clean-energy subsidies.
Victoria sat at the defense table stripped of her designer jewels and haute couture gowns, wearing a plain grey prison jumpsuit. She was sentenced to eight years in a federal correctional facility and ordered to pay sixty-five million dollars in direct environmental restitution.
Julian, having cooperated with the prosecutors after realizing his mother had forged his signature on five offshore shell trusts, was spared a lengthy prison sentence. However, he was stripped of his maritime license, barred from serving on any corporate board for fifteen years, and sentenced to two thousand hours of mandatory community service with the federal environmental restoration corps.
On the day of the verdict, Julian stood on the steps of the federal courthouse in Lower Manhattan, surrounded by empty camera tripods and blowing autumn leaves.
He had no towncar waiting. He had no private jet.
He wore a ten-dollar knit cap and work boots, carrying a small duffel bag containing his remaining clothes.
May you like
He looked up at the grey New York sky, took a deep breath of the cold city air, and walked toward the subway station, heading for the community labor dispatch office in Brooklyn.
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