Chapter 6 - THE $14.6 MILLION WAS NOT ALL FAKEThis mattered.
Of the $14.6 million Sterling paid HaloHouse:
roughly $8.1 million corresponded to identifiable services.
Recruiting campaigns.
Design work.
Events.
Digital content.
Expensive?
Yes.
Potentially overpriced?
Maybe.
But real.
Approximately $3.7 million went to ViralCore and related audience vendors.
Questions about artificial engagement remained.
The remaining $2.8 million lacked sufficient deliverables.
That was the focus.
Not:
Chloe stole $14.6 million.
She did not.
Her ownership had also been disclosed to one Sterling marketing executive.
But apparently not elevated properly to the audit committee.
Governance failure.
Possible intentional concealment by someone.
Investigators kept digging.
Then they found who approved most invoices.
Chloe’s father?
No.
May you like
Sterling CFO Leonard Pike.
That changed everything.
