had been led to believe that whoever succeeded him as CEO would at the very least use him as a resource, to help find the missing money. That was never going to happen. In the early days of his career in bankruptcy, back in the 1990s, John Ray had learned a lesson the hard way. One of the crooks he’d replaced engaged him in conversation and then lied about what had been said. In the first few days after he signed the company over to Ray, Sam reached out to him, over and over, with these pitiful emails. Hey John, I’d really love to talk. Ray took one look at them and thought, No way, José.
