- "You don't have the Antares files, do you? Tell Annalise I want to see my deal and proof that there's any illegal files or I will tell the police what really happened that night."
The Antares Files case was a small case in the second half of season 4 that came around as a result of Simon Drake being framed by the Keating 4 + Oliver for stealing files from the Antares servers. The real story is that Laurel worked out her father was behind Wes' death and wanted to bankrupt his company and find proof of his illegal activity to send him to jail as well. She had the rest of the group steal Tegan's key card and break into the Antares severs to steal as much as they could to then hand the files off to the authorities.
The original plan was for Tegan's key card to be returned to her when they were done with it but Asher had the idea to plant it on Simon to further incriminate him. Simon ended up catching wind of what they were doing and getting himself shot with Laurel's unregistered gun. She then left for Annalise's hotel with the drive and had her baby in the elevator and fell unconcious. By the time she awoke in hopsital, Bonnie told her that the hard drive was gone. Jorge Castillo then fabricated Laurel's medical records to gain custody of her son because he wanted the hard drive. This led to everybody's top priority being getting the hard drive back.
Case[]
That night[]
After Simon shot himself, Laurel fled the scene with the drive and Michaela went downstairs covered in blood which prompted somebody to call the police. When she was interviewed by detective Nicholls, she told her she went upstairs to check if she locked Tegan's office with Asher. Michaela said they then ran into Oliver once upstairs and then saw Simon. Oliver said he was 'jittery and panicked'. Michaela continued that they caught him coming from the server room, causing him to 'freak out'. Oliver said they tried to calm him down but he pulled out a gun and was waving it at them. Michaela said he had been planning what he did for a long time but he shot himself because he would rather die than go to jail. Oliver and Michaela both said that Asher picked up the gun. Asher told the detectives this as well during his interview which was why they arrested him.
After Michaela's interview she listened to a voicemail from Connor about what happened to Laurel after she left. She then started to panic and left when the detectives weren't paying attention. On her way out Tegan stopped her and asked how Simon got her key card when Michaela was the one holding her clutch. She said Simon stole it and she didn't know how and Tegan said she didn't believe her. Bonnie arrived shortly after and asked Oliver where the hard drive was because it was the only evidence that incriminated everybody involved. He said that Laurel had it at Wes' apartment. Following that Connor arrived posing as Oliver's lawyer as an attempt to get him out but in the end Bonnie was the one who got him out.
Bonnie then went to St. Edith's Hospital after signing Laurel's bag out from evidence. She said the drive was never in it because it wasn't logged as evidence, meaning it never made it to the police station. After that Bonnie went back to the station after the police searched Simon's apartment and found his laptop. Nate explained that evidence was found on it that corroborated Oliver, Asher and Michaela's statements about him wanting to steal Antares files. Nicholls said the story was too perfect and she wanted to charge Asher to see if he cracked so Bonnie said they couldn't do that because she was his ex and if Asher's lawyer found out his ex's office was charging him with nothing but circumstantial evidence, the case would be immediately thrown out.
Later, Asher was released from jail and went to the hospital to meet with everyone. He told them that he could still be charged but it wouldn't be for murder anymore because Simon was alive. ("He's Dead")
A few days later[]
Asher and Connor were working on Annalise's class action in Michaela's apartment to choose a face case. Oliver hacked the hopsital's internet to see how Simon was doing. Later, Frank asked Bonnie to be the group's mole because Denver worked for Jorge and Bonnie worked for Denver. She said no. Nate went to Michaela's apartment to tell Asher that one of the partners at Caplan & Gold told detectives he 'roughed up' Simon at cocktail party. Asher asked if it was Tegan because she didn't believe the story that they told police. Nate asked why Asher didn't say anything about that sooner. Connor came in and while they were chatting Oliver snuck out to visit Simon in hopsital.
The next day, Bonnie gave to Denver the research recovered from Simon's laptop. She said there was evidence linking Antares to his campaign funds so she destroyed it with any other evidence that incriminated him. Back in her office she played back an audio file from the conversation she just had, showing that she was recording her meetings with Denver. Later Nate met with Tegan, who lied and said that she believed the story that was told to detectives the night of the shooting. ("Everything We Did Was For Nothing")
One night Oliver was setting up a fundraiser for Simon's parents to come and visit him in hopsital. This cause Connor to confront him about his suspicious and guilty looking behaviour. ("He's a Bad Father")
Simon is awake[]
Some time later Simon woke up in hopsital he requested to see Oliver. When Oliver got there he was met by detective Nicholls who warned him about feeding Simon any information that could prompt him to a different version of events the night of the shooting. She said he would be arrested with obstruction of justice if this was to happen. All that Simon had to ask was if he came out to Oliver.
Later, Michaela got a call being asked to come in for an interview with detective Nicholls. Once there, she interview began with Nicholls asking how Michaela would describe her feelings towards Simon. She said that they didn't like each other but were professional, so Nicholls said there were witnesses saying the two were openly hostile. Michaela said it was the occasional squabble, so Nicholls asked if one of those 'squabbles' took place the night of the party. Michaela asked who told her that so the detective said it was either true or it wasn't. Michaela then said Nicholls was overstepping numerous interrogation guidelines which advised against correlating 'innocuous interactions of the past' to extreme violence. She then ended the interview herself and left.
Later, everybody but Bonnie and Laurel were in Annalise's hotel room discussing the interrogation. Michaela said Simon was remembering more. After a brief disagreement, Annalise cut in and said that the only way to solve the situation was to control Simon. She said he had to hire her as his lawyer and the only way that would happen was if Oliver convinced him. Later when Oliver visited him again he said that he liked Simon back. Simon had told him the night of the party that he liked him. Oliver continued that Simon needed to hire a lawyer. Simon said he already had a lawyer and Oliver told Annalise this. During their conversation Tegan showed up and Annalise asked her if she was ok with such a large conflict of interest by represeting Simon. Tegan was confused, so Annalise continued that Simon broke into the firm's files and attempted to destroy their richest client. Tegan said Annalise wouldn't win this time so Annalise said that Tegan's real client was Jorge Castillo and she had to do anything to make sure the files he stole didn't get to the FBI. Tegan then said she hired a security guard to prevent unauthorised visitors to Simon before leaving.
That night, Nate rang Annalise and told her that Simon remembered Laurel was at the party and was giving a statement to the detectives the next day. Annalise told Laurel this and that she might be called into questioning that night so she had to hide with Frank. Annalise then went to Michaela's apartment and interrupted an argument between Michaela and Asher when he found out that she cheated with Marcus Walker. She said that Simon remembered Laurel was there and must remember everything else too. She said they had to convince Simon to give a statement by sending Oliver back in. The plan was for him to make a fake ID posing as Tegan's assistant and enter Simon's room to then give him a phone to speak with Annalise. Connor said that wouldn't work because Tegan would be in there, so Annalise had Michaela slow down Tegan by stopping her to chat.
The plan was successful and Annalise told Simon on the phone that whatever he said to the detectives would put him in jail. She continued that it was his word against theirs, healthy minds against a brain trauma victim. She added that there was also proof on his laptop that he planned to steal the files. She said all he had to do was admit he stole the files to be granted an S-visa for whistleblowers. The only part of the plan missing was the Antares files, which Bonnie was taking care of by bribing a guard to find out who took the drive from evidence. Once Tegan arrived in Simon's room, he told her to cancel the interview with Nicholls and then fired her.
Later, Bonnie rang Annalsie and left a voicemail saying that she found out Denver had the hard drive and he was playing 'both sides'. ("The Day Before He Died")
Getting the drive back[]
It is revealed that Denver died in a car crash shortly after Bonnie's voicemail. Annalise, Frank and Bonnie put it together that Jorge must have bugged all of their phones and heard the voicemail, so tampered with Denver's car to kill him for betraying Jorge. Nate said he would try his best to get the drive despite the FBI investigating Denver's death. That morning, everybody was in Annalise's hotel room. Laurel was called into an interview with the FBI because she was the last person to see Denver before he died. Michaela was tasked with keeping Simon occupied whilst they tried to get the drive. Later, Nate found the hard drive and Denver's files in an old case storage locker. Oliver began going through the files on his laptop in search of proof of illegal activity. After a while, Annalise realised it was taking too long and went to Tegan to convince her to swap sides and whisteblow against Antares. She verbally said no put wrote down yes on a pad, implying her office was bugged.
Later, Annalise met with Michaela who suggested she called I.C.E to get Simon deported because he brought an unregistered gun to work, which was grounds for deportation. Annalise said no. She went back to her hotel room and rang Jorge on Laurel's phone and told him they had the drive. They met and Annalise exchanged the drive for him recanting his testimony against Laurel to grant her custody of her son. The next day, presumably after Tegan informed against Antares, he was arrested outside St Edith's hospital moments after Laurel and Frank left with Christopher. Everybody met at Bonnie's house to watch the news of his arrest and Oliver said Simon would see the news and know something was up. Bonnie said Simon would be fine because she had him sign an affidavit saying he brought the gun to Caplan & Gold in exchange for his charges being dropped. Michaela then corrected Bonnie and said she had Simon deported. ("Nobody Else Is Dying")
See also[]
Appearances[]
| Season 4 | |||||||||||
| "I'm Going Away" | "I'm Not Her" | "It's for the Greater Good" | "Was She Ever Good at Her Job?" | ||||||||
| "I Love Her" | "Stay Strong, Mama" | "Nobody Roots for Goliath" | "Live. Live. Live." | ||||||||
| "He's Dead" | "Everything We Did Was For Nothing" | "He's a Bad Father" | "Ask Him About Stella" | ||||||||
| "Lahey v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania" | "The Day Before He Died" | "Nobody Else Is Dying" |