Smooth Talkin' Bastard

Pat Clauson was a glib-talking Australian who relocated to the United States, determined to make his living screwing small-to-medium startup companies of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of dollars. He used his smooth talk, fictitious contacts with a British bank and Hong Kong law firm, and financial savvy to con the companies into giving him signature rights to their bank accounts, a monthly consulting fee that he collected for doing nothing of any constructive consequence, as well as hundreds of shares of their newly issued stock, which he promoted illegally to hike the share price so he could sell out, pocket a small fortune, then disappear like a bad dream to strike someplace else.

He got away with it until he crossed swords with a client's wife and his administrative assistant.

The two women smelled a rat pretty early in his relationship with a growing aeronautic supply firm: the wife because of her worry about the financial security of her family, and the admin assistant because Pat couldn't keep his mind off her body. He got nailed by, of all people, the owner of a solid waste disposal company who had the kind of connections Pat had never encountered before.

The lead character in Smooth Talkin' Bastard is actually based on a person known to the author.

The real con artist died several years ago when he did a face plant in his soup during a meeting.