Chapter 5: The Liquidation in Chicago
While the seedlings took root in the Ozarks, the corporate empire of Croft Biosystems collapsed with terrifying, unyielding speed.
The federal grand jury in Chicago returned a forty-two-count indictment against Jonathan Croft and three senior vice presidents, charging them with environmental fraud, falsification of public safety data, and securities manipulation.
The company’s stock plummeted ninety-six percent in four trading days.
The commercial banks foreclosed on Jonathan’s luxury penthouse on Lake Shore Drive, his private jet lease was revoked, and his collection of vintage European automobiles was seized by the federal trustee to fund environmental cleanup operations along the Missouri River.
Jonathan sat in a small, windowless office at the federal courthouse, represented by a junior public defender after his high-priced corporate defense firm withdrew for non-payment of legal fees.
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Stripped of his bespoke tailoring, wearing a plain grey department of corrections suit, Jonathan looked at his trembling hands, finally realizing that the facade he had spent twenty years maintaining was nothing more than an illusion written on borrowed paper.
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