The next day, an article appeared in the London edition of Insurance World in which Ashby’s statement featured prominently on the front page.
At Tom’s Coffee House, a private club where they were both members, Roger Grenville saw the article and read it aloud, word for word, to Nigel Black, following which both of them laughed heartily about what lay in store for the unsuspecting Ashby.
“Has he spoken to you about the witness summonses you’ve received ?”
“Not yet,” said Black. “The poor fool doesn’t even know about them. I’ll just toddle along to court and like any responsible citizen, I’ll tell the judge exactly what happened : I did the deal in each case, signed on the dotted line and pocketed the very attractive premium – end of story. That’s the truth, anyway – what else could I say ?” and they both laughed even more.
Grant and Wellbourne of City First also saw the article and decided not to show it to Spiro Thanakis as it would lead to a half hour diatribe of what the Greeks were going to do to Ashby. In any event, Plantation’s Managing Director would be made to eat his words later in the week during the hearing.
All of the brokers in the Cube at the Risk Exchange read the article and scoffed that Plantation was as dead as a doornail. Jeremy Lane mulled over Ashby’s comments in the bar of the East India Company and despite boasting to his colleagues that the Ashbys were finished, had secret forebodings of taking the witness stand in New York in the coming weeks.
Near Rood Lane, Vitaly Bondarev pondered Ashby’s statement over a black tea and jam at a nearby cafe. When he got to his office, he telephoned Vincent Wheeler at Marlowe & Co and asked him his views on the article.
Wheeler said that he had a number of ‘concerns’ – he’d been listening to the gossip and wild stories about Plantation (mostly from brokers) which said that the company was about to collapse ; the Stratos claim was a foregone conclusion and the Greeks were certain to win ; Ashby had realised that the game was up ; to circumvent or forestall the liquidators, creditors and everyone who had a claim against Plantation, he’d been moving large amounts of funds offshore into secret bank accounts in the Cayman Islands and Jersey.
As with all rumours, these had started out with malicious gossip about Ashby and his father who were reviled by the broking and underwriting fraternities. Behind it all, was pure spite and jealousy, stored up over years that James Ashby had done so well due to his own astuteness while others had failed to prosper. Many old scores had waited to be settled : now was the moment for mocking the Ashbys as underhanded villains, sharp operators and thieves whose day of reckoning had finally arrived.
Wheeler had written by fax the previous day to Ashby, demanding immediate confirmation that all funds in Plantation’s bank accounts were not being ‘misdirected’ (legalspeak for ‘siphoned off’) – but had received no reply. (Ashby had seen the fax during late afternoon and decided the allegations were so ridiculous, he wouldn’t dignify them with an answer.)
When Wheeler heard nothing, he told Bondarev that if Caspian didn’t take the initiative, the pot might be empty by the time its claim came to be paid. If Ashby knew the end was imminent and if the Stratos claim looked like succeeding, Ashby might abscond and Caspian would be left empty-handed. He tried ringing Ashby a number of times but was always told that he was out of the office. After insisting on speaking to a director, Roger Grenville told him that Plantation could not give the confirmation demanded : Ashby was the only person who could do that.
As soon as Wheeler put the phone down, he spurred into action.