Blood Brothers

by Rick Acker

  Siwell was scoring points on the topics Ben had expected, such as the “crawling to me” e-mail and the fact that Gunnar had developed the drug formula as part of his job duties at Bjornsen Pharmaceuticals and refused to turn it over to the company. That was about it, though. Siwell hadn’t dropped any sandbags in this hearing—or at least he hadn’t yet.

  Then came the words Ben had been waiting for. Siwell turned to the judge and said, “I have no further questions for this witness, Your Honor.”

  “Any redirect?” Judge Reilly asked Ben.

  “No, Your Honor.”

  “All right, you’re excused, Mr. Bjornsen,” the judge said with a nod to Gunnar. “Thank you.” Gunnar nodded back and awkwardly maneuvered around the witness chair and out of the stand. “Are you ready to call your next witness, Counsel?” the judge asked Ben.

  “Yes, Your Honor. We call Henrik Haugeland.”

  Henrik looked and sounded like a stereotypical Northern European professor. He wore a black suit with a slightly old-fashioned cut and a conservative red-and-yellow-striped tie. His gray beard and hair were neatly trimmed, and he wore steel-rimmed glasses with small round lenses. He listened gravely as the bailiff swore him in, and he repeated the witness oath in a clipped, lilting Nordic accent.

  Ben walked up to the podium. “Good morning, Mr. Haugeland. Could you tell the jury your name and a little about yourself?”

  Henrik turned to the jury. “My name Henrik Edvard Haugeland,” he said. “As you can perhaps hear, I am a Norwegian. For twenty-seven years, I have been an accountant at Bjornsen Norge, which is a subsidiary of Bjornsen Pharmaceuticals. I tried to retire three years ago, but I was home too much, so after six months my wife asked me to go back to work at least part time.” Several members of the jury, mostly married women, smiled.

  “Did you go back to Bjornsen Norge?” Ben asked.

  Henrik nodded. “Yes. They had hired two more accountants to replace me, but neither one had very much experience in the pharmaceuticals industry, so the company brought me back for twenty hours per week.”

  “Do you know Gunnar and Karl Bjornsen?”

  “Yes, I know them well. They both interviewed me when I applied for a job. The company was much smaller then.”

  “Who was the president of Bjornsen Norge when you first went to work there?”

  “Gunnar Bjornsen.”

  “Is he still the president of Bjornsen Norge?”

  “No, Karl Bjornsen, who is the chairman of the board, had Gunnar removed as president several weeks ago.”

  “While Gunnar was still president, did he ask you to search the company’s accounting records for documents related to a Bjornsen Norge customer called Cleverlad?”

  “Yes.”

  “And did you do that?”

  “I did, with help from my son, Einar, and your wife, Noelle.”

  “These records, were they regularly kept in the course of the business of Bjornsen Norge?”

  “Yes, these were the company’s regular accounting files.”

  “Did Gunnar tell you why he wanted you to look at those records?”

  “Yes.”

  “What did he say?”

  “Objection, hearsay,” said Siwell as he rose to his feet.

  “Your Honor, it’s not hearsay, because I’m not trying to prove the truth of Mr. Bjornsen’s statement to Mr. Haugeland,” responded Ben.

  The judge nodded. “You’re just showing his state of mind when he was looking at the records, right?”

  “Yes, Your Honor,” Ben confirmed.

  “All right. Objection overruled.” Judge Reilly turned to the jury. “Ladies and gentlemen, the upshot of that little exchange of legalese is that whatever Mr. Bjornsen told Mr. Haugeland about why he wanted these records reviewed is not sworn testimony, so you shouldn’t consider it evidence of the truth of what Mr. Bjornsen said. You should only consider it insofar as it helps explain why and how Mr. Haugeland carried out his review.” He turned back to Ben. “You may proceed, Counsel.”

  “Thank you, Your Honor. Do you remember the question, Mr. Haugeland?”

  “Yes, I do. Gunnar told me that he believed that his brother Karl was embezzling the money that came in from sales to Cleverlad and was using false accounting entries to hide what he was doing.”

  “You said that you performed the search that Gunnar Bjornsen requested. What did you find?”

  “Gunnar was right,” Henrik replied. “We found records showing that fifty million Norwegian kroner—a little over six million US dollars—had come in from a series of sales to Cleverlad over the previous four years. Those amounts showed on the Norwegian accounting records of Bjornsen Norge, but I found that a separate set of accounting statements had been prepared in America that did not include them.”

  “If six million dollars of income was removed from the company’s balance sheet, didn’t that throw off all the other numbers?” asked Ben.

  Siwell stood. “Objection, calls for expert testimony.”

  Ben started to respond, but the judge said, “This seems pretty basic to me. I’ll let him answer. Overruled.”

  “The answer to your question is yes,” said Henrik, “unless there was an offsetting entry someplace else. If such an entry were made, there would be two different numbers in the financials, but everything else would stay the same. That is what we found in Bjornsen Norge’s financials.”

  “What was the offsetting entry?” asked Ben.

  “It was actually a series of entries in the company’s expense accounts,” Henrik explained. “We discovered that a number of unauthorized expenses had been charged. They totaled almost exactly the amount of the Cleverlad sales. The remainder was just charged as ‘office supplies’ to make the numbers match.”

  “You said the Cleverlad money was used to cover ‘unauthorized expenses.’ Could you be a little more specific? What kinds of expenses are you talking about?”

  “Art purchases, trips to ski resorts, cases of extremely expensive wine, that sort of thing. Expenditures of that type always require written authorization by senior-level executives, but none of the files for these charges had the required approvals. In fact, many of them had little or no documentation at all, and what was there was often inaccurate. For example, one case of wine that cost over five thousand dollars was described as ‘office supplies’ in the supporting paperwork.”

  “I’d like to work in that office,” commented Ben, drawing a chuckle from the jury. “Did you figure out who drank the wine, took the ski vacation, and so on?”

  “We did.”

  “What did you find?”

  “We could not trace all of the expenses, but for those that we could, we found that all of them went to shareholders and directors of Bjornsen Pharmaceuticals, which owns one hundred percent of the stock of Bjornsen Norge.”

  “Why would Bjornsen Norge pay for a ski vacation for a director of Bjornsen Pharmaceuticals?”

  Siwell popped up again. “Objection, calls for speculation.”

  Judge Reilly looked uncertainly at Ben, so he volunteered, “This won’t be speculation, Your Honor. I can ask some more foundational questions if the Court would like.”

  “Please do.”

  “Mr. Haugeland, are you aware that last year there was a vote of the board of directors of Bjornsen Pharmaceuticals regarding whether Gunnar Bjornsen would continue to be president of that company?”

  “Yes. This was big news in the company.”

  “Excuse me, Counsel,” said the judge. “Mr. Haugeland, I thought you said that Gunnar Bjornsen was president until a few weeks ago. Did I mishear you?”

  “It is more likely that I was unclear,” replied Henrik diplomatically. “He stopped being president of Bjornsen Pharmaceuticals last year. He was president of Bjornsen Norge, which is a separate company, until recently.”

  Judge Reilly reddened slightly. “Thank you for that clarification; I think you did say that earlier. Please continue your questioning, Mr. Corbin.
I apologize for the interruption.”

  “Not at all, Your Honor,” replied Ben. He felt a little sorry for the judge, who was presiding over what was probably his first commercial case. “Mr. Haugeland, do you remember which directors of Bjornsen Pharmaceuticals voted to remove Gunnar Bjornsen as president?”

  “I have not memorized their names, but I do have a copy of the resolution removing Gunnar and making Karl president in his place. The resolution lists all the directors who voted for it, all the ones who voted against it, and all the ones who did not vote.”

  “Do you also have a list of the shareholders who voted to elect the different directors?”

  “I do.”

  “Did you compare those lists to the names of the individuals who got the wine, went skiing on the company’s nickel, and so on?”

  Henrik nodded. “We did. The directors who received these, ah, unauthorized gifts voted to remove Gunnar. The shareholders who received such gifts elected directors who in turn voted to remove Gunnar.”

  “All of them?”

  “All of them.”

  “You said that you discovered all these things by looking at documents. Where are those documents?”

  “They were destroyed in a fire.”

  “Was it an accidental fire?”

  Henrik’s face became grim, and he shook his head slowly. “No.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I was there when the fire started.”

  “Could you tell the jury what happened?”

  “After we had finished reviewing the records, we had many documents to copy—documents that proved all the things we have been discussing today. I was at the company with Noelle and Einar after business hours, and we were making these copies. I was in back where we keep boxes of old records. I heard my son yelling and a sound like firecrackers. There was an ax on the wall for fires, so I took it and ran out to the office. There was a man with a gun standing there. Noelle and Einar were lying on the floor. Noelle was shot in the leg. She was screaming and trying to crawl away. Einar was—” His voice broke and he looked down for several seconds. The courtroom was completely silent while he regained his composure. “Einar was bleeding from several places. He was not moving. I ran toward the man with my ax. He pointed the gun at me for an instant and then ran away. I don’t know why. Perhaps he had no more bullets. Once he was gone, I locked the door and called the police. Then I went to help Einar and Noelle.

  “While I was helping them and waiting for the police and ambulance, I smelled smoke. I looked out the window in the door and I saw fire. I took Einar and Noelle out of the building. By the time I was done, most of the building was on fire. The fire department saved part of the warehouse, but the office and all of the records were completely destroyed.”

  Ben snuck a quick glance at the jurors before asking his next question. As he’d hoped, they were all watching Henrik raptly. “Based on your review of those records and your knowledge of Bjornsen Norge, are you aware of anyone who would have a motive to shoot Einar and Noelle and start that fire?”

  Ben expected Siwell to object again, but he stayed in his chair. “Karl Bjornsen and the individuals who benefited from the Cleverlad money,” said Henrik. He looked directly at Karl, who was sitting in the front row of benches. “I cannot be certain, of course, but I strongly believe Karl was involved.”

  “Why is that?” asked Ben.

  Siwell cleared his throat and both Ben and Judge Reilly looked at him expectantly, but still he said nothing. “Because Karl had a motive, for the reasons we already discussed,” answered Henrik, speaking quickly as if he feared being interrupted. “Also, none of the shareholders or directors know what happens at Bjornsen Norge nearly as well as Karl. I think he discovered what we were doing, probably from a spy in Bjornsen Norge. Then he sent a criminal to stop us and destroy the evidence we found.”

  “No further questions, Your Honor,” said Ben as he gathered his notes and returned to his seat.

  “All right,” said the judge. “Any cross, Mr. Siwell?”

  “Just a few questions,” replied Siwell as he rose and walked to the podium. “Good afternoon, Mr. Haugeland.”

  “Good afternoon,” Henrik said stiffly, but politely.

  “Let me start with something I know is on the jurors’ minds: How is your son, Einar?”

  “He is out of the hospital now. He has pain in his back and side, and one of his kidneys was destroyed. He tires easily and he limps, but with therapy he should lead a normal life.”

  “Good. I’m glad to hear it. And how is Noelle? She was pregnant at the time of the shooting, wasn’t she?”

  “Mr. Corbin will know better than I, but it is my understanding that both she and her baby will recover, though until her leg heals she will limp as well. Things could have been much worse.”

  “Yes, they could, and we’re all relieved that they weren’t. Now I’d like to turn to some matters that have more relevance to this lawsuit. I believe you testified that you have been an accountant at Bjornsen Norge for twenty-seven years. Is that correct?”

  “Yes.”

  “How many other accountants does Bjornsen Norge employ?”

  “That has changed over time. In the beginning, I was the only one. By the time I left, there were six of us.”

  “Would it be fair to describe you as the senior accountant there?”

  “Yes.”

  “Would it also be fair to say that you know more about Bjornsen Norge’s accounting records than anyone else?”

  “Yes, that would also be fair.”

  “And yet this massive fraud occurred under your nose and you knew nothing about it until Gunnar Bjornsen asked you to review the company’s records?”

  “Well, the company has hundreds of customer accounts and thousands of expense accounts. I am not personally familiar with all of them. Furthermore, many entries are generated from transactions in America, such as when Bjornsen Pharmaceuticals signs a supply contract that covers both it and Bjornsen Norge. We cannot check the accuracy of those entries.”

  Siwell paused and raised his eyebrows. “That was a yes-or-no question. It sounds to me like you can’t say no, but you don’t want to say yes. Is that a fair statement?”

  Henrik opened his mouth and then shut it. He smiled. “Yes, it is. I am perhaps defensive on this point. I trusted the people I work with, and clearly there is at least one person I should not have trusted. That lapse in judgment cost my company over six million dollars, and it nearly cost my son his life.”

  The corners of Ben’s mouth twitched. Nothing like asking one question too many, is there, Bert? Siwell shuffled through his notes in search of a question that could resurrect what had looked like a promising cross-examination. After thirty seconds of silence, he looked up and asked, “Are you a certified accountant?”

  “No. In Norway, very few accountants are certified. When I first entered the field, virtually none were.”

  “Did you ever bother taking the certifying exam?”

  “No. I was able to get a job without it.”

  “No further questions.”

  “Do you have any redirect, Mr. Corbin?” asked the judge.

  Ben half rose in his seat. “No, Your Honor.”

  Judge Reilly nodded to Henrik. “You are excused, Mr. Haugeland.”

  Henrik nodded back to the judge. “Thank you, Your Honor.” He stood and nodded to the jury. Each of the jurors nodded back to him.

  Kim walked into Hammerhead’s Club and looked for David and his friends. It was two o’clock on a Thursday afternoon, but the bar was crowded. A number of UCLA students had headed straight for their favorite watering holes once they finished their morning exams. “Born to Be Bad” blared from a giant neon-lit jukebox against one wall, and crowds of students and the occasional disreputable professor stood in groups holding plastic cups of beer and shouting to each other.

  David had just finished the second of two big tests and didn’t have any classes until Frid
ay afternoon, so he had asked Kim to come out and celebrate with him and some friends. After pushing her way through the crowd for five minutes, she managed to track him down. He was in a semicircular booth near one end of the bar with a group of six other young Asian men. He was near the middle of the booth, so when he saw her he hopped up onto the table, walked across it—nimbly avoiding his friends’ beers in the process—and jumped down on the floor. He bounded over and enveloped her in a passionate and beery embrace. “How’s the love of my life?”

  “Great. So, how did the exam go?”

  “Awesome! Totally awesome! I knew every single question.” He led her over to the table. “Hey, guys, this is my girlfriend, Kim Young. Kim, this is David C., Jason, Eric with a c, Colin, Erik with a k, and David Z. We got started about half an hour ago.”

  “Your David is drinking to celebrate,” David C. informed Kim. “The rest of us are drowning our sorrows.”

  “A couple more beers and yours’ll be embalmed,” said Colin.

  “Lighten up, guys,” said her David, putting his arm around Kim’s shoulder. “It wasn’t that hard. I’m sure we all did fine.”

  “Sorry, Dave,” returned Colin, “not all of us remembered to take our genius pills this morning like you.”