A Delicate Matter

[Lan Porgata]

Private meetings were matter of routine for the IGBC, in fact, most if not all of the clientele of the banking firm requests very strict terms in order to meet and discuss their business transactions. Lan had cleared a large portion of his schedule for just an occasion as a mysterious entity known only as Jen had reached out for a consultation on some financial planning.

Ah, the secret language of finance. Financial planning and advice often acted as a cover for illicit activities that helped certain organizations clean up their books. So long as certain protocols were followed, and questions left unasked, then there was nothing strictly illegal about setting up some transactions that shift funds between a few offshore accounts, one system to another.

It was all a matter of business, of helping to ensure that certain steps were followed to the letter. Muuns could be sticklers for the letter of the law.

Lan had arranged for the client to arrive on a private shuttle and to be escorted directly up to his office via a turbolift and private hallway connected to the landing pad. Just another feature that allowed the IGBC to ensure the privacy and comfort of their guests.

The tall, gaunt Muun was dressed in muted maroon and brown, which seemed to look rather well with his smooth grey skin. He waited patiently for [member="Jen"] to arrive.

 

[Jen]

It was incredible what a large amount of make-up, a wig and new clothes could do. At least one thing was certain, had she stumbled upon any old associates of hers, chances were they would not have been able to recognize her by the slightest.

She could not even recognize herself. The faint reflection that could be seen on the otherwise transparent duraglass of the turbolift looked nothing like the face -the person- she had become accustomed to seeing every day in the bathroom mirror.

Her usual, punk like clothes had been exchanged specifically for today’s occasion with high district fashion. Today she was sporting a beige coat, a feminine grey blazer and a marron in color dress shirt that together with the pearl earrings, the rest of her piercings removed, and the blonde wig made her look like a whole new woman and more importantly; someone rich.

The large amount of make-up both softened up her features and covered her tattoos, this and the elegant silk scarf and gloves that helped conceal her tattoos around her neck and hands even further.

The soft sound of the elevator bell was heard behind her and with the most posh attitude she could manage, she turned around and stepped into the office of the Banking Clan representative she had requested a meeting with. She didn’t say anything at first, merely glancing over the well-dressed Muun as she surveyed the office room, finally speaking after a couple of seconds of silence: “Jenarae Lavanchy. We talked through the holonet.”

All traces related to the persona she had created only a few months back, would state that Jenarae Lavanchy was the inheritor of a large sum of credits, credits she had smartly invested and turned into a fortune. A fortune that according to her business papers only continued to grow.

[member="Lan Porgata"]​

 

[Lan Porgata]

"Greetings, Miss Lavanchy, welcome to the InterGalactic Banking Clan, I'm Chairman Porgata. I'm pleased that you were able to join me for this meeting. As you can see, our facilities are engineered to give our special guests the utmost privacy for their business with us. I do hope your trip out here to Muunilinst wasn't too terribly taxing."

He uncurled his long gaunt fingertips as he gestured to a tray of refreshments waiting on a table, which included glass decanters of colorful concoctions and sealed bottles of water and some assorted fruits and cheeses. When meeting with a new client, Lan always wanted to make the person feel comfortable and welcome. People who were relaxed during a meeting were more likely to be agreeable to transactions.

He moved surprising quickly for someone who looked that they could tip over in a stiff wind. Picking up a cup of tea for himself from the tray, he stepped back, allowing her to have her choice of available seats. His mind was already working through the probablities that she would take a drink, the probablity that she would choose a certain seat, as if those choices could give him an insight into her mind.

He had read the information she sent over many times and turned it over to his own investigators. It seemed fairly benign. Almost a little too benign. And a little too ...crisp. He hadn't figure her out completely, however he had an idea that she might have some interesting questions. But he waited to see how this would all start.

"How can we help you today? You mentioned some the need for some planning advice?"

[member="Jen"]

 

[Jen]

“Was a slow shuttle. Took almost an hour to get here. But was lovely you could pick me up either way.” Jennifer, disguised as Miss Lavanchy said, her snob attitude remaining. Practiced for many hours by the generous help of HoloNet dramas. Nevertheless, the sharpest of ears would be able to detect discomfort in her voice. Obviously, such a hint could be mistaken to have many different causes. Stress and jitters or simply a hesitant mind. After all, it wasn't everyday you went to see some of the most influential people in the banking industry.

The true cause however, was related to the fact that she just did not feel at home in the costume, the disguise she was wearing, mainly because it felt just like that. A costume. Not in a million years she would have thought she would ever dress like this, but she was certain the disguise would work well. Sometimes, a name simply wasn't enough, another personality would have to go with it.

Purposefully ignoring the refreshments, Jennifer strode towards a chair by the opposite side of Lan Porgata’s office desk, taking off her coat and adjusting her blazer as she sat down, crossing her legs. “Yes, lets get right to it, dear. I’m in need of a two heavily secured bank accounts. We’re talking about a couple of billion credits. Perhaps a bit more should everything pan out fine.”

Hopefully, Chariman Porgato would not ask too many questions.



[member="Lan Porgata"]

 

[Lan Porgata]

"We Muuns do not do anything rashly, including travel. I am forced by virtue of my position to travel so you have my sympathies and apologies for the length of the ride down. I will speak with the shuttle service and get you out of here as quickly as possible."

She passed on refreshments and Lan watched her as she removed an article of clothing and took a seat opposite his desk. He adjusted his jacket as he too took a seat and prepared the console to enter the information she would provide.

At her first statement, he paused with his fingers hovering over the keyboard. Two accounts and billions of credits. Those kinds of amounts would require them to file papers with several regulatory agencies in charge of galactic markets. This might need a touch of gentle inquiry and discussion however Muuns were not emotionally astute enough to handle delicate situations, although Lan tended to fare better than most.

"Allow me to be frank. The amounts you have specified are past the limit designated by several regulatory agencies across the galaxy. Should you open these accounts in these amounts, you will have to provide information about the funds and how you acquired them. Depending on your fondness for audits and investigations, it could turn out fine, however, I suspect that we are meeting because you might need another option or two for dealing with large sums of cash and fewer questions and scrutiny."

With a small movement, he opened his desk to produce a tablet, which he manipulated a couple times before he set down in front of Ms. Lavanchy.

"This is the standard confidentiality agreement for our financial planning clients. Once signed and completed, everything said in this office becomes protected from search and seizure by regulatory agents. I can never be compelled under oath to testify to what has transpired nor what we have talked about."

He sat back a moment, eyeing her carefully.

"No one asks to privately meet the Chairman to discuss this much money unless they are hiding something. People who are used to this much wealth march through the front door and flaunt it to everyone. So that leads me to believe you have some other reason for having this money, in which case, there are easier and less conspicuous ways to accomplish what I think you want to accomplish. But that is going to take some trust. So that my dear lady is up to you."

[member="Jen"]

 

[Jen]

“Traveling is... Indeed... A-” She wanted to say pain in the ass, however, her current persona probably would not choose such words: “-true discomfort here in life.”

The fact that that he were already indirectly questioning the sources of the income surprised her somewhat, nevertheless, she was no banker and regulations were regulations when it came to agencies and their inquiring selves. Unless of course such facades were simply forgotten.

She glanced over the tablet once presented, reading it throughouly before pressing a few buttons, wirelessly sending it to her own datapad that she had removed from her purse, a small white and gold-rimmed device. She pressed the screen softly a couple of times before looking up with a grin: “It have been send to my lawyer for inspection.”

A minute later, the moment transpiring just when the Chairman had stopped in his conversation, a small beep was heard from Miss Lavanchys datapad. She grabbed it once more and read whatever had appeared on its screen. “The confidentiality agreement seems perfect. I shall sign it at once.”

She waited with continuing to speak until the Chairman had confirmed the confidentiality agreement. Once signed, she would adjust herself a bit in her chair with a smile, continuing to talk:

“Regarding your concern, I believe we could figure out a solution of our own. Even though you are not inclined to say anything about the following, we both know you safe keep the fortunes of Hutt Lords. I do not see any potential hindrances in getting a vault or two for my personal wealth. I need discretion and no scrutiny. Nevertheless, before I bluntly state my own proposals I would love to hear the proposals of your own, Lan. Can I call you that?” She finished, a smile seen on her face as she stood from her chair, wandering back towards the refreshments table, inspecting the assortment before picking out an apple like fruit.

[member="Lan Porgata"]​

 

[Lan Porgata]

The change in her demeanor took over almost immediately, and had Lan not been so tightly in control of his emotions, he might have laughed. The facade dropped, a weight on her shoulders uncomfortable and unwieldy but now as she perused the offerings of food and drink, he could begin to see her true nature and the calculations shifted.

"A vault is not discreet. To access it, you have to come to the same place, over and over, passing through several layers of security. If you are being watched, it will not be hard to figure out what you are doing visiting the IGBC branch on a certain planet over and over again. It is safer for you, and offers less scrutiny to take the money and sink it into short term investments that can be easily liquidated back to cash and sent to you via a clean transaction from anywhere in the galaxy."

There was a ghost of a smile on his grey skinned face for a brief moment before it evaporated in his careful movements. A screen light up behind him, showing her a simplfied version of an investment scheme that would take her money and rend it clean and virtually untraceable.

"As you mentioned, we are trusted to keep the Hutts money and they have yet to be dissatisfied with our efforts."

[member="Jen"]

 

[Jen]

Something about the Muun in front of her, made her feel uneasy. It was a feeling that sprung through every bone in her body and made her question the legitimacy of her decisions to come. Currently, Jennifer was not sure how to proceed. On one hand, she had heard much about the Muun and their ability to keep promises and be true to their words, she had however also heard about their tendency to violate unwritten agreements and thereby take advantage of their business partners.

Her hands shifted, fiddling with her fingers in her lap as she looked out towards the nearby window for a second. Thinking.

When she looked back towards Porgata, the hesitance that could have been seen moments before were gone, buried completely as she with the same snob voice as before opened her mouth to speak:

“Well I’ll have to inquire, my dear. How much would such an arrangement cost me compared to that of a normal bank account?Those are favorable to me after all, both because I do not want to lose credits in any investments I am not familiar with, but also because I have come to you because you have a reputation of being able to keep credits safe. Yes?"

She had an idea of how much it could end up costing, but better ask than set a price herself.


[member="Lan Porgata"]

 

[Lan Porgata]

"Ah but that is the beauty of it. We open a shell corporation for you, you put the money into it as an investor, the money comes to us from them. The investments are stable as they are bonds that are meant for short term turnaround. So we put money into them and gain a modest interest earning that you then keep. The money is clean, and returned to the shell corporation account which also earns interest and then pays you a dividend. The only thing it costs you are our fees which would be our standard rates of 500 credits a month and 50 credits per transaction that you put into short term investments which we would just take directly from the interest that is being accrued by the accounts. You are getting the better end of the deal on this one by far."

He produced a somewhat simplified diagram that showed the process of steps that her money would follow.

"In the end, it comes to you untraceable, clean, and available anywhere you happen to be without the tedious trips out here to Muunilinst."

He sat back in his chair, assessing her features. She was uncertain but that was to be expected. What they were doing wasn't exactly illegal although by some cultures it was less than morally sound. It took advantage of several galactic loopholes but if anyone knew how to work around loopholes, it was the Muuns.

[member="Jen"]

 

[Jen]

She looked at the diagram for a second. It was not that complicated, but thank the force she was never going to be an investment shark for real. After all, the money she wanted stored was not earned through investments of her own, that much was clear, she had never been good at economics. Instead, she was whitewashing credits for the supreme chancellor of the Republic. By the time the money would reach the Banking Clan, they had already underwent cleaning to a certain degree.

The scheme, so to speak, had went on for well over a galactic standard month and the credits kept flowing in at intervals. A portion taken directly from sliced Republic accounts, others taken through false transactions on the behalf of the Republic. It was interesting, what one could do with a legitimate access to the economical grid of one of the major chess pieces in the galaxy. She still wasn't sure what she was going to use with her cut... From what she had gathered, the chancellor was going to buy a planet and its beaches.

“Very well. I expect the upmost secrecy in the handling of the credits. You will be contacted approximately every week or so in regards to the investment transaction. I put a lot of faith in that you’re able live up to the companies’ legacy.”

She offered him a weak, yet somewhat sincere smile as she slowly stood from her chair, taking her time with putting back on her coat. “Is there anything else I ought to know, [member="Lan Porgata"]?”

 

[Lan Porgata]

"No, ma'am, I believe that is all. I will handle this matter personally and from now on the only correspondence will come from the shell corporation."

Lan rose from his seat and offered her a a small piece of flimsi with a number on it.

"This is my personal, private coms line. If you require anything at all, don't hesitate to contact me."

He gave her a short bow, his long gaunt fingers knitted together in front of his abdomen as he bent at the waist.

"It's been a pleasure, madam. My assistant Eon will escort you back to the hangar. My personal ship will convey you back to your waiting vessel."

Eon was waiting outside the closed office door, ready to take the visitor back to orbit and on her way.

[member="Jen"]

 

[Jen]

“Very well, I thank you for your dedication.” Jennifer said as she picked up the flimsy, putting it into her purse.

The stock personality of Miss Lavanchy was still used, so as the Muun bowed she respectfully nodded her head once in his direction. Otherwise, she would probably have wanted to shake his hand.

“The pleasure was all mine, my dear. I shall recommend you to my friends. Take care good care of yourself and see you soon.”

By the time Jennifer was back in her leased spaceship she was considerably more content with the results gained from the meeting. Hopefully, it would be a wise investment to have made and she hoped, that with one as smart Chairman Porgata as caretaker of her account, she would not need to worry about fluctuating economies.


[member="Lan Porgata"]

Spoiler

Thanks for the thread! Was fun while it lasted. I am not sure if the conclusion to this, once Jen needs to liquidate the funds would require an entire thread for itself, but I'm sure we will figure that out when it needs to be done. Should it happen, I hopefully won't be in the middle of an exam period by then!