Charges eventually focused on company fraud, falsified vendor activity,
and related conduct supported by the evidence.
Mason refused to celebrate before trial.
He had learned what accusations could do to a person.
The former controller faced consequences under his cooperation
agreement.
Victoria’s position remained more complicated.
Civil findings required her to account for certain disputed trust
transactions.
But prosecutors did not prove that she had designed the entire scheme
that framed Mason.
People around Mason wanted a simpler villain.
Mason no longer did.
Victoria had lied to him.
She had shut him out.
She had benefited from documents the estate court rejected.
She had treated him with cruelty the day he came home.
Those facts were enough.
He did not need to add crimes the evidence could not establish.
When someone asked why he was being so careful about a woman who had
shown him no mercy, Mason answered:
