The victims recovered a large portion of their savings through seized assets and liquidations.

It didn’t erase the damage he’d done them, but justice was finally done.

I also sat down with the executive board of my firm and walked them through the whole case.

I’d spent weeks afraid I’d lose my partnership over a fraud I knew nothing about.

But the internal audit confirmed that my digital signature had been copied from private family documents I’d once emailed to my mother years earlier.

It was its own kind of pain — knowing that even my work had been turned into a weapon to exploit others.

Chapter 7 — The Real Spring

A year later, I spent New Year’s Eve at home in Brooklyn.