As a great grandson of an oil billionaire Mike had a substantial inheritance that was held in trust at the family bank. Ben was the ‘private wealth manager’ entrusted to manage Mike’s money. They had been engaged in a perpetual tug of war regarding Mikes over spending which had gone through the roof since he met Tania and reached tipping point during his last cocaine binge. Although Mike appeared to be sober now his finances were in still in chaos. Tania’s lawyer had frozen their joint checking account. Mike had been living for the last few months on a City Bank gold credit card which accounted for over half of the money owed and a great deal of the final demands I had opened. Ben had agreed to pay Mikes bills from his Boston office but Olympia had forgotten to open them and fax them over.
Mike dialled Ben’s office from the house phone on the living room table using the speaker phone facillity. He looked incredibly nervous and as I motioned to leave in respect of his privacy he grabbed my wrist and urged me to stay. Ben came on the line he spoke in an authoritarian but paternal tone to Mike, asking him how he was. ‘I am doing great Ben and I have a new PA who needs to talk to you’ He gave me an urgent stare and made a gesture that suggested to me that I was the one that was going to have to explain this mess to Ben.
Mike sat back in the corner of the sofa smoking while I introduced myself to Ben and I told him about all the bills that needed paying. He was not pleased when he heard the figure I was discussing but he didn’t start shouting either which was a relief. He suggested that he set up an offshore checking account in Mikes name and transfer his monthly allowance of $20,000 into that. He asked for the larger bills to be faxed over to his office and said that he would put a further $20,000 into the new account so that I could settle the smaller invoices by check. He told me his secretary would fax over a request to release funds from a principle trust that Mike needed to sign and fax back right away.
Once the difficult conversation was out of the way Mike perked up and starting chatting to Ben in a kind of laid back frat boy style. Ben asked after Tania and Polo. Mike told him that he was still looking to hire a lawyer and that he was thinking of hiring divorce specialist Raymond Tooth. ‘The 2nd best divorce lawyer in the country ‘ he bragged to Ben ‘That’s great – who is the first ?’ ‘Lady Di’s lawyer Mischon De Reya but Tania’s got him.’
