“They are routed through three different banks in Panama before hitting the Cayman account,” Gabriel observed.

“It is not just embezzlement,” I said, looking up at him. “My father was desperate.”

The records showed that Richard Bennett had personally guaranteed a series of high-risk commercial loans with a private equity group called Vanguard Management.

Vanguard was the Cayman Islands front Gabriel had identified earlier.

The interest rates on the loans were predatory, doubling every six months.

“He used the foundation’s primary endowment as collateral without the board’s knowledge,” I said.

“And when the investments failed, the offshore creditors came to collect,” Gabriel added.

“Yes,” I said. “He was not stealing money to fund a lavish lifestyle. He was stealing to keep these people from exposing him—or worse.”

“Ethan was the one who built the routing system,” Gabriel said, pointing to the digital signature on the transfer authorizations. “He used his position at the accounting firm to validate the fake invoices.”

“They were stripping the foundation bare to pay off a shadow debt,” I said, my stomach tightening. “And they framed me so I would not find the pattern.”