Mirtis - Cracks Empire 88 money laundering scheme

“So medicines are like that?” I asked. “Too expensive to make anything decent, so they make crap instead?”

“And Medhall is strictly small fry. I've looked at all the information that's publicly available, and it doesn't look like they ought to be able to make a profit at all. Yet they post a profit every year.”

What was he trying to say?

It took me a moment.

“You're saying they're being used to launder money?”

“They've got a lot of employees,” he said. “Look at the number of people on their books and compare it to the size of the Medhall building. There's not enough space, and they don't have any other buildings on record other than the factories. They've got at least fifty percent more people in administrative positions than is normal for a company that size, and less people who actually make things.”

“Fake jobs for gang members?” I asked after a second. “Isn't there a way to check that out?”

“Well, typically the government depends on audits and whistle blowers,” he said. “If you make sure that all the people who are in a position to put the pieces together are your people, and they know what you'll do to them and your family if they betray you, then you just have to make sure the paperwork adds up. It's not like they're running a car wash, claiming to make a million dollars while using the same soap and water that a ten thousand dollar car wash would use. They check for that.”

“You've looked into this,” I said.

He shrugged.

***

Helplessness