MY PARTNER IS A CROOK.
Ben Barnacle owned Ben’s Bakery along with Sam Shademan. Ben was the operations guy. He was known as the Wedding Cake Artist of Bellaire. The company was Cakes, Incorporated. His cakes were so tasty that people from surrounding areas came to buy his cakes for birthdays, holidays, and of course weddings. So many in fact that Ben was unable to keep up with all the cooking. Sam was the bookkeeper and in charge of the finances, but Ben could and would write checks to pay for COD purchases, deliveries, and if Sam was out of town, other checks that Sam would leave for him. The business grew and Ben hired people to help man the storefront, make deliveries and to help Ben with the baking.
As the years went by they needed to expand and were able to lease more space in the same shopping center. Their business appeared to be booming. The landlord seemed happy, the employees were getting a decent wage and Ben and Sam were enjoying a nice middle class lifestyle. Ben wondered why Sam seemed to afford things that Ben couldn’t like a late model sports car and a country club membership. But Ben figured that Sam just had different priorities for his money, or was going into debt, not a huge issue.
One day, an unsmiling man came walking into the store, he produced a badge and ID card showing his name was Maximillian Sorbe, Revenue Agent for the Internal Revenue Service. “May I see the owner, please”, he asked the cheerful young person behind the counter. “Mr. Barnacle, there’s a man from the IRS to see you”. Ben came out wiping his hands on his apron. “May I help you,” Ben asked. The agent showed Barnacle his badge again and started into his script. “I’m here to find out why your company has fallen behind on paying your employment taxes”. Ben looked perplexed. “What do you mean by employment taxes?” The agent, stared at him for a second, “Don’t give me that, I know for a fact you’ve signed employment tax returns for the company”.
Ben’s blank expression indicated that he was totally clueless as to what the agent was talking about. Ben then said, “Perhaps you need to talk to my business partner, Mr. Shademan. He is the treasurer and could answer your questions, better than I”. The agent continued, “Is he in?”
Ben responded, “let me check” and he went into the cramped back office of the business. He looked no Sam there, so he asked one of the employees, “have you seen, Sam?” “He just went out the back saying he had to run some errands”, one of flour covered workers exclaimed. Ben returned to the front of the store, “you just missed him. Can he call you to set up a meeting?” “Sure”, answered the agent, “here’s my card. Have him call me in the next 24 hours, please”.