Trent's testimony unfolded over the following two hours with a raw, methodical honesty that Ivy watched land, visibly, across the jury's careful attention, every uncomfortable detail laid out exactly as he'd prepared it, no softening, no strategic omission.

"He taught me to identify companies with internal governance weaknesses," Trent explained, voice steady despite the visible effort each admission cost him. "How to acquire minority stakes quietly, through intermediaries, how to manufacture governance concerns compelling enough to force leadership votes, how to install myself in positions of control and extract value before anyone fully understood what had happened to their company."

"And you applied these techniques against Vane Corp specifically," the...