 McKinsey initially denied that the existence of a subcontractor relationship, and stated that they only "worked alongside" Trillian.However, in September, a letter written by a McKinsey director authorizing Eskom to pay Trillian as a subcontractor was leaked by a former Trillian executive, Bianca Goodman.Goodman alleged that Trillian was gatekeeping access to key South African clients, and that McKinsey was charging artificially high rates in order to give half of their fees to Trillian.