Of the five people on the list, Kier knew Carnes the best. They had been friends through much of middle and high school and had even spent graduation night together, party hopping and cruising State Street in Carnes’s silver Pontiac Firebird. It wasn’t until a year after high school when Carnes left for Oregon State that the two of them lost contact. Twelve years later Carnes returned to Utah, a successful financial advisor. Carnes had united with a group of investors who were planning on developing a golf course community in the south end of the Salt Lake valley. They had completed most of the preliminary work but had yet to secure a particular piece of property vital to the development. Carnes learned that the owner of the property, MAC management, was a business associate of Kier’s so he went to Kier for some friendly advice on how to negotiate the deal. Because of the still unresolved nature of the project, Carnes was operating under strict confidentiality agreements with his development partners that required him to have Kier sign a nondisclosure agreement before sharing with him their plans; but because they were old friends Carnes ignored the formality.
