Richard D. Bailey, a veteran certified fraud examiner, built his career on tackling corporate problems “no one else would touch” and working with companies “no one would risk time and money on.” Though his life was comfortable, it always seemed that the companies he fixed would never make good on any of their promises of profit-sharing or ownership. During a period of unemployment in 2013, Bailey received an offer from a business associate to assist Alex Chatfield Burns, a 26-year-old financial “prodigy” who had $1 billion under management at his own private equity firm. The author reluctantly agreed to the project because he needed the work, but he could not escape his misgivings about Burns and the source of his wealth. Bailey’s apprehensions only increased when his business associate could not give him any details about what executives at Southport Lane actually did and when he realized that Burns was a “stone-cold liar.” When Bailey took financial oversight of a New York winery Southport had invested in, he discovered irregularities in how money was moved in and out of accounts. As a seasoned businessman, he knew that sometimes money-laundering could be a useful business survival tactic if “your best lawyer and accountant [could] create an unassailable paper trail.” The more Bailey dug, the more he realized that both Burns and Southport stood on the wrong side of the law. “The vineyard deal was just ugly,” writes the author. “Hugely over-priced. Shitty documenta­tion. Terrible execution. Little or no due diligence. Accounting that was not only wrong but, in many places, non-existent.” Colorful characters and intrigue involving covert FBI investigations make the narrative feel like a hardboiled detective story by a man who would “rather be right than rich.” The book will appeal mostly to those interested in corporate investment who will appreciate the detailed insights Bailey offers

Richard D. Bailey is a Certified Fraud Examiner. For over 30 years, he has been successfully providing actionable and realistic financial, management, and corporate development services to distressed public and private manufacturing, service, and distribution companies. Bailey lives in suburban Boston, Massachusetts with his wife Christina. Pirate Cove is his first book.