The St. Petersburg Times has a fascinating article about Matthew Cox, the accused fraudster on the run from the FBI. Apparently, Mr. Cox wrote a 317 page novel entitled The Associates which details the fraud scheme in which he is alleged to have engaged. He wrote the book before perpetrating the scheme and then ran it by friends and colleagues in the industry for input as to whether the fictional account was accurate – “Do you think this fraud would work” and “See any holes?” The book contains fascinating parallels to Cox’s eventual conduct – the protagonist even drives the same type of car as Cox. The article contains some details of the schemes. Of course, in the end of the book, the protagonist parks his car in an airport parking lot and sails off on a cruise ship to meet his girlfriend on a Caribbean island – with a lot of cash in his pocket. In real life, Cox’s Audi was found parked in an airport parking lot but Cox allegedly later turned up in Georgia running a similar scam and has since disappeared. Whether he’ll spend his life sitting on an island with Rebecca Hauck, spending his ill-gotten loot on Pina Coladas, remains to be seen. In this one, I’m betting on the feds.