Pirate Cove

An Insider's Account of the Infamous Southport Lane Scandal

by Richard D. Bailey

Narrated by James Carter

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Pub Date Nov 07 2023 | Archive Date Feb 07 2024

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Biographies & Memoirs | Business, Leadership, Finance | True Crime

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Description

When Richard Bailey, a successful yet jobless businessman, receives a call from his old friend Jeff, he’s lured back into the high-stakes world of finance. Jeff, a charismatic corporate veteran, is now the number three guy at Southport Lane, a fledgling private equity firm. His boss invites Richard to inspect a pharmaceutical venture that reeks of mismanagement and financial disaster.

As Richard steps into the realm of Southport, he encounters a duo of extreme contrasts - the untidy, eccentric, and youthful CEO Alex Chatfield Burns, and his astute, sharply dressed partner Andrew Scherr. Impressed by Richard's prowess, they enlist him as the President of Lieb Cellars, a floundering vineyard on the brink of insolvency.

Upon arrival at Lieb, Richard quickly realizes the extent of its financial turmoil. The vineyard's losses are mounting, and the sloshing around of cash unnerves him. Despite the rising tide of challenges, Richard's resilience shines as he attempts to navigate the choppy waters of this sinking ship. He ushers in a new, diligent and savvy crew, setting the stage, potentially, for a challenging financial turnaround.

However, strange exchanges and discrepancies lead him to suspect fraudulent activities at the heart of Southport's operations. As he delves deeper, he discovers a web of covert transactions and a muddled ownership structure that even confuses the legality of Lieb's purchase. Simultaneously, the bizarre dealings of Southport start to unravel, exposing a complex operation of financial deception extending far beyond a failing vineyard.
Despite the mounting chaos, Richard manages to reinvent Lieb, transforming it into a profitable venture. Yet, his success is tainted by the knowledge of Southport's fraudulent operations. His attempts to expose the truth, however, lead to a precarious dance with danger, as he becomes entangled with the FBI and the IRS, trapped between betraying his corporate benefactors and revealing their devious schemes.

In the aftermath of the dizzying corporate drama, Richard grapples with the whirlwind of emotions following the downfall of Southport, the sentencing of its key players, and the tragic end of the eccentric Alex Burns, who lived and died in a shroud of lies and deceit.

In this gripping tale of corporate intrigue and deception, the protagonist battles against the toxic allure of power and wealth, striving to save a dying company and uphold his personal integrity amidst a sea of corruption. Pirate Cove explores the dark side of corporate finance and the human cost of ambition, power, and deceit.

Richard D. Bailey is a Certified Fraud Examiner. For more than 30 years, he has been providing actionable and realistic financial, management, and corporate development services to distressed public and private manufacturing, service, and distribution companies.

A native of New Haven, CT, Bailey lives in suburban Boston, Massachusetts with his wife Christina.

Pirate Cove is his first book.

Advance Praise

“Riveting from beginning to end, Pirate Cove is a great and fascinating book about a huge fraud, as told by someone who was right in the middle of it.”
—BEAU DIETL, CEO OF ONE OF THE PREMIER INVESTIGATIVE AND SECURITY FIRMS IN THE NATION

“I'm a former Certified Fraud Examiner and have investigated fraud for twenty-eight years. As I read Pirate Cove (and I did so in a single sitting), the hackles on the back of my neck started to bristle. I knew I smelled a fraud. After that, forget about it. I was all in and on the trail. Pirate Cover is an excellent and well-written exposé on corporate fraud and greed. I highly recommend it.”
—STEVEN E. SLACK, AUTHOR, DANCE OF THE MATADOR

“As a convicted felon, I was reluctant to read Bailey's blowout of Wall Street uber-phony Alex Burns. I shouldn’t have been. Bailey transports us into an irresistibly dark cloak-and-dagger reality, suspensefully chronicling just how easy it is to steal $350 million, and how hard it is sometimes to detect big-time corporate fraud, even by a high-level, experienced, and knowledgeable business executive (and future fraud investigator) like Bailey.”
—BRANDON M. STICKNEY, AUTHOR OF THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU'LL MEET IN PRISON, TOP NOMINEE FOR THE PIRATE'S ALLEY-FAULKNER SOCIETY NONFICTION AWARD

“Pirate Cove has even more layers and twists than INVENTING ANNA. What a fantastic read from cover to cover!“
—JOHN R., IMPERIAL FIRE & CASUALTY INSURANCE, OPELOUSAS, LA

“Ever wonder what a major corporate fraud looks like from the inside? Pirate’s Cove is a galloping crash course into how to spot one. Brought in to salvage part of the notorious Southport Lane enterprise, Richard Bailey infuses a personal dimension into what otherwise might be an all-too-familiar smartest-boys-in-the-room tale. Not everyone can expose a $350 million fraud, but author Richard Bailey not only did so, but writes about it in a highly relatable, compelling, and enlightening way.”
—STEPHANIE KANE, AWARD-WINNING CRIME NOVELIST AND AUTHOR OF TRUE CRIME REDUX

“Pirate Cove is as close to a full, engrossing detailing of a financial scandal as I can imagine.”
—CHRIS MADDIX, AUTHOR, CLIMBING STEEP LITERARY HILLS, AT A SLOW PACE: A NORMAL PERSON'S GUIDE TO SHAKESPEARE

“Thank goodness there are people like Richard Bailey, willing to do the right thing even though their livelihoods are on the line. For sharing this cautionary book with the world, he deserves a big thank-you. Pirate Cove is a true story that reads like fascinating fiction.”
—LIZZ TAYLOR, INFORMATION SPECIALIST, READING, PA

“A frank, astounding, and page-turning account of a mammoth white-collar crime, and an excellent read for anyone who loves true crime books.”
--TINA JANE COLLINS, AUTHOR, LONDON, ENGLAND

“Because it reads like fiction, I initially forgot it was non-fiction. But once I remembered, I could not stop turning the pages. True crime junkies (and I am one) will really enjoy getting an insider's look at the messy Southpark Lane fraud because, in the end, Pirate Cove is simply great storytelling.”
—KIM, REVIEWING ON GOODREADS.COM

“Riveting from beginning to end, Pirate Cove is a great and fascinating book about a huge fraud, as told by someone who was right in the middle of it.”
—BEAU DIETL, CEO OF ONE OF THE PREMIER...