Paper Trail Grader

A publicist’s round number from 2011 gets copied between aggregators until the copying itself starts to read like evidence. This grader asks the only questions that matter: which document is under the figure, when did it take effect, does it separate accumulated wealth from a single year of earnings, and does it say whether the number is before or after the money comes off. Answer those and you get a Paper Trail Grade, with the arithmetic shown.

Strongest document behind the figure

Pick the best document that actually exists — not the one the article implies exists.

Years since the document’s effective date

Effective date, not publication date. A 2011 scale schedule is 2011 money.

The source carries an effective date you can read off the document.It separates stock from flow — accumulated wealth is not mixed with a single year’s earnings.It states the basis: whether the number sits before or after commission, fees and tax.A second, independent document reaches the same figure.A later filing contradicts it — a newer agreement, an amended schedule, a settled case.

Paper Trail Grade

37/100

Do not print the number. This is repetition, and repetition is not evidence.

Component	Working	Points
Document class	40 × 0.50	20.0
Recency (3 yr since effective date)	84 × 0.20	16.8
Separates accumulated wealth from one year of earnings	0 × 0.15	0.0
States whether the figure is gross or net	0 × 0.15	0.0
Independent second document	none	0.0
Raw total	before caps	36.8

The grade rates the paperwork, not the person and not the plausibility of the number. A figure can be roughly right and still grade F, because nothing in the chain can be checked. Weights and bands are published in full in our methodology.