Pirate Cove: An Insider's Account of the Infamous Southport Lane Scandal

by Richard D. Bailey

Overview

In Pirate Cove, Richard D. Bailey provides an insider's chronicle of a white-collar crime whose headline-grabbing elements first appeared on the front pages of The Wall Street Journal. It's the true, unvarnished, complete, previously untold, and fascinating story of how one honest man helped unravel the massive Southport Lane fraud perpetrated by the author's former employer, 26-year-old, self-proclaimed financial prodigy Alexander Chatfield Burns.

A really smart friend of the author once asked Burns how he got control of four state-regulated insurance companies. With a Cheshire cat grin, Burns cryptically responded, “Jesus with a telescope on Mars couldn't figure out how I did this.” But the author eventually did.

If (and when) Pirate Cove is made into a movie, it'll stand right alongside such successful dramedies as American Hustle, Can You Ever Forgive Me, Bad Education, White Collar Crime, The Wolf of Wall Street, and Michael Clayton.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781610886123
Publisher:	Bancroft Press
Publication date:	11/07/2023
Pages:	252
Sales rank:	1,058,958
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Richard D. Bailey is a Certified Fraud Examiner. For over 30 years, he has been successfully providing actionable and realistic financial, management, and corporate development services to distressed public and private manufacturing, service, and distribution companies. Bailey lives in suburban Boston, Massachusetts with his wife Christina. Pirate Cove is his first book.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“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 Cove gets a hearty well-done from me. It’s 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

“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

Editorial Reviews

11/06/2023

Bailey, a certified fraud examiner who provides “financial, management, and corporate development services” to struggling companies, debuts with a disappointing account of his involvement in the collapse of the private equity firm Southport Lane Management. In 2013, Southport hired Bailey for advice about Lieb Cellars, a Long Island wine company in which it had invested. Not long after Bailey took the contract, he spotted evidence of suspicious cash transfers in the private equity firm’s records, which prompted him to dig deeper and uncover evidence of massive wrongdoing. With the help of a neighbor who worked for the FBI, Bailey blew the whistle on what turned out to be a $350 million money laundering scheme. Bailey’s cooperation with the feds led to multiple indictments, including that of Alex Burns, Southport’s chief strategist and majority shareholder, who died by suicide in 2021 before he could be sentenced for his crimes. Unfortunately, Bailey’s banal narration (“While all struggling companies are completely different, they all share similar characteristics. Most companies wind up in trouble due to one or a series of bad decisions”) and slack pacing rob the narrative of much of its drama. This tale of financial malfeasance falls flat. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

An intriguing story of corporate malfeasance and how the author helped bring a major financial scandal to light… Colorful characters and intrigue involving covert FBI investigations make the narrative feel like a hardboiled detective story by a man who would ‘rather be right than rich.’”
—Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

Red flags abound and are initially overlooked in this forensic accounting, real-life thriller… Those fascinated by the finance industry will appreciate the glimpses into accounting standards and holdings management, and will gleefully follow the accumulation of evidence, marveling at the author’s ability to explain away suspicious deals… The fast pace and headline-grabbing drama will draw readers from outside the financial world. Pirate Cove is an engaging, well-written addition to financial true-crime collections. It will have appeal for both academic and public library collections and value as a cautionary tale for business school collections as well.

Booklist

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 Cove gets a hearty well-done from me. It’s an excellent and well-written exposé on corporate fraud and greed. I highly recommend it.

STEVEN E. SLACK

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

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

2023-08-25
How the author helped bring a major financial scandal to light.

Bailey, a veteran certified fraud examiner, built his career on tackling corporate problems “no one else would touch” and working with companies “no one would risk time and money on.” Though his life was comfortable, it always seemed that the companies he fixed would never make good on any of their promises of profit-sharing or ownership. During a period of unemployment in 2013, Bailey received an offer from a business associate to assist Alex Chatfield Burns, a 26-year-old financial “prodigy” who had $1 billion under management at his own private equity firm. The author reluctantly agreed to the project because he needed the work, but he could not escape his misgivings about Burns and the source of his wealth. Bailey’s apprehensions only increased when his business associate could not give him any details about what executives at Southport Lane actually did and when he realized that Burns was a “stone-cold liar.” When Bailey took financial oversight of a New York winery Southport had invested in, he discovered irregularities in how money was moved in and out of accounts. As a seasoned businessman, he knew that sometimes money-laundering could be a useful business survival tactic if “your best lawyer and accountant [could] create an unassailable paper trail.” The more Bailey dug, the more he realized that both Burns and Southport stood on the wrong side of the law. “The vineyard deal was just ugly,” writes the author. “Hugely over-priced. Shitty documenta­tion. Terrible execution. Little or no due diligence. Accounting that was not only wrong but, in many places, non-existent.” Colorful characters and intrigue involving covert FBI investigations make the narrative feel like a hardboiled detective story by a man who would “rather be right than rich.” The book will appeal mostly to those interested in corporate investment who will appreciate the detailed insights Bailey offers. General readers may find themselves skimming some sections.

An intriguing story of corporate malfeasance.

Kirkus Reviews