There were at least a handful of storefronts he was running or involved with at the time, including a furniture/carpet company which had taken in a lot of investment money last summer. Tax records were public for all of these, and all but that new one were basically tanked with regard to solvency.
Just conjecture ... did you notice a pattern of creating artificial losses for accounting purposes for any of his father's clients, with the purpose of (for example only) reducing tax liabilities ?
It's certainly possible, there was no way for me to tell based on what I was reading. I did notice that what the father was involved with was clearly kept apart from what the son was involved with--the father's dealings appeared to be very clear and above reproach, he was involved in executing some valuable trusts, a couple of businesses which were in the black, and so forth. The Alpha owner appeared to be involved in mostly small or short-term ventures.