Page 61 of Saltwater Promises
The guests of honor arrived five minutes early. David, Washington’s state treasurer, walked in all smiles, with Benzini following him. There was also another guy Mike had never seen before – younger, in his twenties or so. They didn’t introduce him and he hung back as everyone shook hands.
“And who’s this?” Mike said, a slight edge to his voice.
“Don’t trouble yourself, Mr. Bomba,” Benzini said, waving a hand. “This is David’s protégé, Linus Filch. You can consider him a silent learner.”
Mike stared at Linus, playing up his annoyance. Really, the kid was perfect. He looked scared. If he was involved in all of this, he’d be the first to talk. Mike could feel it.
“I’m not sure we’ve met before,” David said.
Mike shook his head. “We haven’t, but I’ve heard good things.”
Ever the politician, David flashed a smile. “I hope so!”
They ordered drinks and Benzini put in for an appetizer. This was going to be a long ordeal, and Benzini was running the show.
In some ways, that was better. Benzini was a master, and he was incredibly charming, not at all off-putting like Lenny.
Also, he’d worked on so many political campaigns all across the country that he had powerful friends everywhere. He was able to make problems go away. When someone did him a favor, he made them feel like they were helping a friend.
The only issue was that Mike had no influence over Benzini. He could only watch and wait.
It wasn’t until their entrées arrived that Benzini started talking business.
“I take it you’re happy with the portfolio from DGG?” he asked David.
He nodded. “I am. They’re impressive.”
Never one to be left out, Lenny added, “Yeah, really good guys over there. I like them.”
“Good, very good.” Benzini took a sip of his club soda. Everyone else was drinking alcohol, except for him and Mike. “My contact Gordon assures me that they have multiple investment options for the state.”
“Oh yeah, that guy’s great,” Lenny commented, mouth full of bread.
Benzini continued. “It’s a stellar operation. They’ve been in business for years and have had explosive growth.”
David set down his wine glass. “You’re confident that they can handle the volume that we need?”
“Yes.” Benzini paused. “The more that you’re willing to commit, the greater the benefit will be, of course.”
“I’ve run the numbers,” David said, throwing a glance at Linus. “The initial offer still stands. It makes the most sense.”
“I agree,” Benzini replied with a slight smile.
Lenny butted in again. “The plan is still for half to go into their standard projects, and half to go into the premium portfolio?Myportfolio?”
Mike clenched his teeth. Lenny had sold those properties off. Why was he acting like he was still in charge?
Yet he could say nothing, so he sat there and seethed.
David didn’t miss a beat. “Yes, that’s the plan to start. A five hundred million dollar loss is easily written off as a rounding error. We can go up from there.”
Ah. There was the number. One billion dollars siphoned out of the pension fund, half for legitimate investment and half to line their pockets through Lenny’s dummy properties. Then Benzini would surely send generous kickbacks to David for his troubles. That was probably where the Rolls-Royce had come from. Half a million was pennies for an operation like this.
Mike prayed that his wire was catching all of this. When this went to trial – if this got to trial – it’d be important for the jury to hear the detailed plan, and that Benzini and friends were knowingly looting five hundred million dollars from the pension fund.
David was right, though. Half a billion may not even be noticed at first, or could be covered up without investigation. According to Mike’s research, the pension had over eighty billion dollars in holdings.
This would just be the start, though. For the greedy, nothing is ever enough. How much of the people’s money would David and company siphon off before being caught?
