A troubled hedge fund magnate desperate to complete the sale of his trading empire makes an error that forces him to turn to an unlikely person for help.
Robert Miller is a successful financial businessman with a loving wife and a smart daughter ready to take over the family business. Professional secrets involving illegal fraudulent activities start coming out at the same time that Robert's personal secrets take a turn for the worse and threaten to derail everything he has achieved.—napierslogs
Writer Nicholas Jarecki makes his feature directorial debut with this drama centering on a Wall Street hedge-fund tycoon and family man who scrambles to maintain a picture-perfect facade as his empire slowly begins to topple behind the scenes. Robert Miller (Richard Gere) is about to turn 60. One of the most successful businessmen in New York City, he lives a life of luxury that few will ever experience. But there's a storm coming, and nobody knows it better than Robert. If he can finalize the bank purchase of his trading empire before any evidence of his shady business dealings is unearthed, there's a chance he could emerge relatively unscathed. Not even Robert's wife Ellen (Susan Sarandon) or their astute daughter Brooke (Brit Marling) have any idea of the hole their family patriarch has dug, but they are about to be swallowed up by it as well. At the crucial moment when his plan falls apart, however, a deadly complication leaves Robert with no choice but to seek the help of shady Jimmy Grant (Nate Parker), a man the wealthy financier never expected to see again. Just when it seems the situation couldn't get any worse, NYPD detective Michael Bryer (Tim Roth) realizes he may have uncovered a key piece of evidence that will ensure Robert pays for his sins.
On the eve of his 60th birthday, New York hedge-fund magnate Robert Miller is the portrait of success - at least on the surface. In reality, Miller is in over his head, trying desperately to sell his empire to a big bank before the authorities and his family uncover the depth of his fraud. Unexpectedly, a critical error forces Miller to juggle family, business and crime with the aid of a former associate, but a detective's suspicions mean it may already be too late.
Sixty-year-old multi-billionaire Robert Miller (Richard Gere) manages a hedge fund with his daughter Brooke (Brit Marling) and is about to sell it for a handsome profit. However, unbeknownst to his daughter and most of his other employees, he has cooked his company's books in order to cover an investment loss and avoid being arrested for fraud. Miller has taken a loan from an investment banker of $ 412 MM to hide the investment loss & so that his firm can pass audit conducted by the prospective buyer. The Investment banker is threatening to take the money out of the escrow account if the deal is signed within a day or so.
One night, while driving with his mistress Julie Cote (Laetitia Casta), he begins to doze off and crashes; Julie is killed. An injured Miller leaves the scene and decides to cover up his involvement to prevent the public, his wife Ellen (Susan Sarandon), and the prospective buyer James Mayfield (Graydon Carter) from discovering the truth.
Miller calls Jimmy Grant (Nate Parker) the same night, a twenty-three-year-old from Harlem with a criminal record whom he helped get off the street in the past. After being driven home by Grant, Miller drags his injured body into bed at 4:30 am, arousing suspicion in his wife. The next day, he is questioned by police detective Bryer (Tim Roth). Bryer is keen on arresting a billionaire for manslaughter and begins to put the pieces together. Miller tells Bryer that he was home at night by 10 PM with his wife. Bryer attempts to speak to Ellen, but she refuses & asks Bryer to make an appointment. Bryer finds that Miller had leased an apartment to Julie via his firm's holding company. He suspects Miller to be driver of Julie's car that night.
Brooke discovers the financial irregularities, realizes that she could be implicated and confronts her father. Miller explains that he invested in a copper mine in Russia with a promise to triple in 6 months. He also hedged the income forward to ensure that no risks were kept in-house over the $ 100 MM investment. However, Miller failed to account for the change in the political environment, which made it impossible to export the copper. So even though the venture was wildly profitable, Miller still had to keep paying out of his own pocket to cover the hedges he made. Eventually the hole became too big & he had to borrow money from a investment banker & decided to sell the firm, so that the investors get their money back.
Bryer traces the call made from a public payphone near the scene of the accident to Jimmy. He brings Jimmy in. Bryer finds that Jimmy's dad worked for Miller for 20 yrs. He is sure that Miller made the call & Jimmy helped Miller drive away that night. But since Jimmy refuses to cooperate, Bryer decides to implicate Jimmy instead.
Jimmy is arrested and placed before a grand jury but still refuses to admit to helping Miller. Miller once again contemplates turning himself in. Even though Jimmy is about to go to prison, Miller tells Jimmy that investors are depending on him and that waiting for the sale to close before coming forward would serve the greater good.
Eventually the sale is closed. Miller finds that Mayfield had stalled the deal by asking Miller's auditors to delay the report, which was a prerequisite to the deal. Miller confronts Mayfield at a restaurant & talks tough. He exudes confidence that Miller's operation is a cash machine, which Mayfield needs & if Mayfield abandons the deal, his stock price goes down. Mayfield & Miller negotiate a deal of $ 525 MM.
Miller finds a way to avoid being charged. He proves that Detective Bryer fabricated evidence. Bryer had used a photo of Jimmy using a Toll booth the very night he got the phone call. While Jimmy maintains to Miller that he followed Miller's instructions & only took the highway. So, Miller gets his lawyer to drive through the tollgate & ten checks the Department of Motor Vehicle tapes to get the photo. Miller then compares the 2 photos & finds that resolution of the license plates is remarkably different in the 2, suggesting that Jimmy's photo was a fake. The case against Jimmy is dismissed and the detective is ordered not to go near him.
Miller's wife, thinking the police investigation is still on-going, tries to blackmail him with a separation agreement that entitles Ellen to all of Miller's wealth. When Robert Miller refuses to sign, his wife says that she will tell the police that he got into bed at 4:30 am, bruised and bloody.In the final scene, Miller addresses a banquet honoring him for his successful business either because of his wife or in spite of her.
