Anchors Away (Season 19, Episode 17)
Premise: A demoted TV reporter is killed while pursuing a tip that a celebrated hedge fund is a fraud, and the case exposes a jealous anchor, a Ponzi scheme and a devoted marriage.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 19, Episode 17
- Detectives
- Det. Cyrus Lupo (Jeremy Sisto), Det. Kevin Bernard (Anthony Anderson)
- ADAs/DA
- Exec. ADA Michael Cutter (Linus Roache), ADA Connie Rubirosa (Alana de la Garza), DA Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston)
- Guest stars
- Edward Herrmann as Frederic Matson, Jill Eikenberry as Irene Matson, David Rasche as Joe Delaney, Jennifer Mudge as Sue Martin, Felix Solis as Livan Santana
- Ripped from the headlines
- The story partly draws on three 2008 news events: the killing of Little Rock TV anchor Anne Pressly, Bernard Madoff’s investment fraud, and Philadelphia anchor Larry Mendte’s firing for reading his co-anchor’s email. The victim shares her first name, Dawn, with Mendte’s wife.
- Director
- Alex Chapple
- Writers
- Ed Zuckerman & Matthew McGough
Summary
The Investigation
“Anchors Away” begins with the murder of Channel 8 reporter Dawn Prescott, found in her ransacked apartment with her laptop and notebooks gone and a palm print where someone unplugged the computer. Once a City Hall reporter, she was moved to light animal stories after revealing photos she had emailed to rival-station reporter Al Lee reached a gossip site along with a threatening email from his wife, Sharon. The Lees deny an affair, but Al recalls Prescott hurrying off to talk to a source called Steven. The leak traces to the computer of co-anchor Sue Martin, who was covering the inauguration in Washington that day.
Martin’s computer holds hidden keystroke-logging software, and veteran anchor Joe Delaney admits planting it on both women’s machines to spy on his younger rivals and leaking the photos, but denies the murder. Intercepted emails show “Steven” telling Martin, then Prescott, that Frederic Matson’s celebrated hedge fund is a fraud. The tipster, former Matson employee Vince Decker, was shot dead at his Westchester home a week earlier. Martin had pulled her money from the fund after Delaney told her about Prescott’s story and said he would warn Matson.
When the fraud becomes public, Matson confesses to a Ponzi scheme that took $40 billion from more than 500 clients but denies the killings and asks to stay in custody. One investor, cartel front man Livan Santana, lost $100 million. Matson’s lawyer offers testimony against Santana for a lighter charge; McCoy refuses any deal and suggests leaning on the family. Irene Matson is arrested over business checks in her private study, and her booking prints match the palm print. Her phone also puts her on Prescott’s block around 11 p.m., when her daughter called her.
The Trial
Irene’s fraud charge is replaced with murder. Decker’s killing looks like Santana’s work, but he has left for Colombia. To show that Irene knew of the story, prosecutors need Delaney, who claims press shield protection. They tell Sue Martin, on the record, that he could face a homicide charge for alerting Matson, and once she rushes to report it, Delaney agrees to testify.
Matson then offers to testify, without conditions, that Santana was behind both killings. When prosecutors ask Irene to sign a statement backing him, she realizes the testimony could get her husband killed and confesses that she went to Prescott, offered her money to hold the story, and killed her when she would not.
Spoiler, the ending: No trial is shown; Irene’s confession closes the case. Delaney signs off for the last time and says he plans a book about the justice system. The Matsons’ daughter, broke and receiving threats, asks Cutter for help and is taken to Victims’ Services.
Why it stands out
- Edward Herrmann and Jill Eikenberry guest star as Frederic and Irene Matson, the couple behind a $40 billion Ponzi scheme.
- Prosecutors overcome a veteran anchor’s press shield claim by letting his rival co-anchor report that he could be charged in a colleague’s death.
- McCoy rules out any plea deal for the swindler, pointing to the charities and ordinary investors he ruined, including an orphanage forced to close.