The following Monday, Paul Okafor called me at nine in the morning. His voice was careful and steady, the voice of someone delivering news he has already verified twice.
"The trust has been audited annually by a firm called Wren and Hollis," he said. "I spoke to their partner of record. They were not told about the property schedule."
"What do you mean, not told?"
"The schedule is attached to the trust instrument, which is a public filing. But the auditor's engagement letter describes the trust as a simple disbursement trust with two equal beneficiaries. Mr. Wren told me that in eleven years, he has never seen the property schedule. It was not part of the materials Mrs. Ashford gave him."
"So he signed off on audits without seeing the terms."
"That is what he told me. He was quite ups
