STAINS ON THE PAYROLL

The accounts/records/ledgers were a tangled mess/web/knot of fraudulent/illegal/dubious deals/transactions/activities. Every month/quarter/fiscal year, the balance sheet/profits/numbers would come up short/missing/deficit. Nobody could pinpoint/trace/figure out where the money/funds/cash was going. But deep within that monstrous/gargantuan/colossal