Chapter 4 - NORTH RIDGE PROMOTIONS
North Ridge Promotions was real.
That made everything harder.
It organized:
contractor events,
regional product demos,
builder lunches,
trade-show booths,
and digital campaigns.
Bennett Home Supply had used it for three years.
Owner:
Derek Sloan.
Jason’s college friend.
That alone was not illegal.
Related relationships could be disclosed.
The company had approved North Ridge as a marketing vendor.
But the $742,800 problem was not ordinary vendor billing.
Large manufacturers often gave Bennett Home Supply:
volume rebates,
co-op advertising credits,
display allowances,
and promotional reimbursements.
Those funds normally reduced cost of goods or reimbursed actual marketing expenses.
Claire found that some manufacturer credits had been redirected through North Ridge.
Example:
HarborStone Flooring issued a $126,000 co-op credit.
Bennett records showed:
$126,000 marketing expense to North Ridge.
North Ridge then issued a separate “campaign development rebate” of:
$38,000
to a company called JBD Strategy.
Owner:
Jason Bennett.
Claire stared at the incorporation record.
Her brother had a side company.
He had never disclosed it to her.
Grace asked:
“Did he disclose it anywhere?”
Board minutes showed one reference to Jason performing “outside consulting.”
No company name.
No vendor relationship.
Jason’s defense arrived quickly.
JBD Strategy performed legitimate work.
Brand analysis.
Dealer recruitment.
Sales training.
He had invoices.
Deliverables.
Presentation decks.
Nothing was entirely fake.
The question was whether Jason had used Bennett vendor relationships to route undisclosed compensation to himself.
Jason had lived in Claire’s shadow long before North Ridge.
Claire was the one Robert trusted with numbers.
At twenty-four, she found a payroll-tax error before an audit.
At twenty-six, she helped refinance the main warehouse.
At twenty-eight, Robert started bringing her to bank meetings.
Jason brought customers.
Big ones.
He landed two regional contractor chains and one hotel group.
Revenue followed him.
But every time he asked for more authority, Robert said:
“Sales is where you’re strongest.”
Jason heard:
Claire is the adult.
You are the salesman.
He told Lauren later:
“I built relationships that put millions through the company and still needed Claire to approve whether I could expense a dinner.”
Lauren asked:
“Did that justify hidden compensation?”
“No.”
“Did it explain why you resented her control?”
“Yes.”
That resentment mattered because Jason did not wake up one morning deciding to steal from his sister.
He spent years convincing himself the system undervalued him.
North Ridge became his way to “capture value” the company supposedly refused to pay.
First a consulting fee.
Then travel benefits.
Then a larger cut.
One rationalization at a time.
When Claire finally found it, Jason did not think:
She discovered fraud.
He thought:
She is taking away what I earned again.
May you like
That belief made framing her easier.
And whether Robert knew.
