I had a kinda similar thing happen to me not too long ago.
I used to have a friend who had been a judge, but got on the wrong side of some people and did not get reappointed (not one of those judge-for-life positions) and he was thrown out on his rump and left to fend for himself.
Wow, what a shock! From a cushy guaranteed job with no overhead and a guaranteed retirement, back to the real world, nature red of tooth and claw.
And another guy I knew took him in, because they were both good guys. The guy who took him in was a much older guy, foul mouth, heart of gold, wouldn't take crap off of anybody and wouldn't lie if you gave him a million dollars.
And they were partners, and I liked them, and they let me rent a room from them and that's where my office was.
I got rheumatoid arthritis in 1998 and finally gave up my office but they were sweet about it, and then in 2000 when the new drugs kicked in they had sold their building so I started renting an office from some other people.
But my friend who had been a judge was someone that I liked to call up and ask for advice when I had a particularly thorny problem, because he had a subtle mind.
Fast forward to this past summer, when the scuttlebutt in the courthouse was that he was surrendering his lawyer's license and pleading guilty to embezzlement and going to jail.
Turns out he was the guardian of the estate of a couple of elderly people who were in a nursing home, and had ripped them off in excess of $250,000 that he could not pay back.
They had died, and the money was supposed to go to an environmental organization, but he wasn't the executor of the will. Amazingly, if he had been executor of the will, he probably would have gotten away with it.
Dumbass knew he wasn't the executor of the will.
So the executor of the will kept calling and calling and trying to get the checkbook and finally went to the bank and figured it out and told my former friend that he had to come clean, and maybe something could be worked out.
When I heard about it, it was one of the worst things that ever happened to me. And the guy I am renting from now felt and feels the same way. Because we really looked up to this guy. And if he could do this, then anybody could do it.
I really admired him. I looked up to him. I strived to emulate him. I was in shock for weeks. I cried. I drank too much. I had a hard time accepting it.
But the people who were hurt the worst were his former partner (had a heart attack), his wife (they had to sell the house to make restitution) and his lovely daughters.
I don't really believe that it could happen to anyone. I don't really believe that under the same temptations, I would yield.
But who knows? If this guy could do it, maybe anyone could do it. |
