Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series)

Swimming with the Sharks (2020)

Samantha Mathis: Melanie Franks

Photos 

Quotes 

• Olivia Benson : [to Melanie]  How could you do that to another woman?

  Melanie Franks : Lori? Luna? She spent her whole life doing that to other women. Growing up, we didn't have a lot. One Christmas, my father got me a gold heart necklace. I know I shouldn't do it, but I wore it to summer camp. Then one day, it disappeared. I was wrecked. I lied to my parents. I told them I didn't like it anymore. The next summer, who shows up wearing my necklace? Lori. I asked her if it was mine. She denied it, but then she said I could borrow it sometimes. She spent her whole life doing this stealing what is mine, then acting gracious, letting me have just a little back. It's a crazy kind of gaslighting.

  Olivia Benson : So you gaslighted her right back.

  Melanie Franks : We-B-Well was my idea. I made the business plan. Luna... she's gorgeous, charming, radiant. I just wanted her to tell me she was sorry. You know, I just wanted her to give me my necklace back.

• Counselor Art Blumfeld : What exactly do you have on my client?

  Olivia Benson : She's part of a conspiracy with Vinay Gupta and Bobby Frost to frame Luna for embezzlement and to rape her.

  Melanie Franks : No. No, that was never part of the plan.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : When you help plan a rape, you're just as guilty as the rapist.

  Melanie Franks : [Blumfeld whispers in her ear]  No, Bobby told me that never happened, that Luna was making it up.

  Olivia Benson : Well, after he saw the rape kit results, he told us that it was consensual sex.

  Melanie Franks : God damn it. Bobby... he never got over her dumping him.

  Olivia Benson : And you had nothing to do with this assault?

  Melanie Franks : No, I swear. It was all to protect the company. We all knew that at some point, Luna was going to drive us over a cliff, with an HR lawsuit, the FDA. She has no boundaries. It's all about her all of the time.

  Counselor Art Blumfeld : Have Bobby and Vinay cooperated yet?

  [Carisi shakes his head] 

  Counselor Art Blumfeld : So we get the cheese?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : The whole wheel.

  Olivia Benson : He has to cut a deal with you, but... if it was up to me...

• Vanessa Hadid : [to Melanie]  I spent five years in white collar crime, Ms. Franks. I see offshore LLCs, that's a red flag.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Yeah, most often for embezzlement, drug running or money laundering, so which are you involved with?

  Melanie Franks : None of them. I tried to tell Luna it would look bad. She stopped listening to me. We've known each other a long time. Her star rising, the money, celebrity friends She let it go to her head. My mother used to say, "You climb too fast, you end up gasping for air."

• Melanie Franks : So Vinay said that she was diverting our tech budget to fund the foundation? My god. There's no saying no to Luna.

  Amanda Rollins : But you're the chief operating officer. It's your job to keep her in line, right?

  Melanie Franks : She's the majority shareholder of her own company. The board is all of her rich girlfriends. It's Luna's world. None of us would be here without her.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Is it possible that she was using the foundation as a personal account?

  Melanie Franks : How do you mean?

  Amanda Rollins : There are wire transfers to offshore LLCs. There's payments to shell companies. Eleven checks made out to cash, $9,000 each, deposited by a Tisa Chee.

  Melanie Franks : Tisa. She worked in creative. I didn't know these were for her, but Luna did ask me to approve these payments.

  Amanda Rollins : Did she tell you what they were for?

  Melanie Franks : Consulting fees.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : We need to get in touch with Ms. Chee.