He had not seen the equipment-delay requests.

He had never met Nathan Prescott.

He could, with complete legal safety, lay the entire matter at the feet of former managers, express appropriate regret, and keep his personal fortune and his public standing entirely intact.

It was the obvious move.

It was, very nearly, the move his whole life had trained him to make.

Instead, he presented the complete audit findings to the state regulatory authorities, and announced a public review of all historical operations at Stanford Development.

The consequences were immediate and severe.