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“It all has to be laundered” finished Gina and Janet nodded at her. “You see Bobby, I need a high end data center with massive GPU capabilities to crunch all of the data needed for that project. There is not enough available capacity on the market and I wouldn’t trust it to third parties anyway. Building and operating such a data center would require north of a billion dollars. I could even lease portions of the excess capacity out to ventures looking for cancer cures . . .”
“But you don’t have a billion?” questioned Bobby slowly.
“You really do fuck is brains out don’t you Janet?” Gina asked looking directly at Bobby’s wife. Janet bust out laughing and said “I do my best!” Then rubbed her baby bump. Turning to Bobby Gina continued “I have the money, more than even Janet’s description, but it needs to be laundered so it doesn’t set off any red flags when one of my companies build such a data center.”
“Not as difficult as you make it sound” Janet answered. Gina snorted and Bobby just looked gobsmacked. “Seriously. You are two f the smartest people I know and even I can solve this problem.”
There was a pause in the conversation as the brains of the other two churned through every possibility they could think of. If it was possible for the night to be filled with the sound of brains sucking air, it would have happened at this moment. Finally Gina looked Janet directly in the eyes and asked “What do you propose?”
“It’s not quick, but it is simple” Janet stated. “Actually, probably quite a few simples all strung together.” Lowering her voice and leaning closer to both of them she said “You wanted me to be a matriarch and that means thinking about the family. It may look like I’m mother hen running around without a head when the kids are here, but I have quite a bit of time to think. Your first solution comes from your mother’s world, Publish or Perish. Every academic at every university around the world has to produce X number of peer reviewed articles every year while they strive for tenure. Most of these get published in journals nobody reads. More shockingly the PhD graduates tend to not get good jobs if the university they attended doesn’t hire them. Corporate America kind of leaves them hoping to one day make $80K/year and most of them don’t bother reading the work of their peers.”
“I still don’t see how that helps us any wife O’ mine” uttered Bobby.
“It’s a 24-hour Laundromat you guys are ignoring” stated Janet. “It also solves the other problem Gina has without alerting any suspicions.”
“Which problem would that be?” asked Bobby.
“Keeping on top of all the relevant research without letting anyone onto what I’m interested in” answered Gina. “Assuming, of course, there was more to this than a statement of the obvious.”
“There is” responded Janet. “You already have access to quite a few developers and quite a bit of clean cash. Design a targeted science Web site. Not just any site, the best of the best. Amazing search capabilities with a large competent review staff. Make it all up front and legitimate. More importantly, make it subscription only. A thousand dollars per year. Include a patent database and even set up a subsidiary with lawyers and everything to assist patent filers and take a small cut of any patent proceeds.”
“Aren’t there already various flavors of such things today?” asked Bobby. “I mean late night television, when the ambulance chasers aren’t running commercials it is all about inventor help services.”
“Maybe. Doesn’t matter. Are you waking up in the night and watching television?” segued Janet.
“Only when I’ve got a lot on my mind” answered Bobby. “Past few weeks, yeah. I think I have everything cleaned up though. Well, I have everything in the lab, assuming nobody has anything hidden away at home. Nobody but me worked on any naughty stuff so whatever they have at home is something they would try to run through such a service. Anyway, continue.”
“She doesn’t have to” Gina answered. “Well done matriarch” uttered Gina with genuine sincerity.
“Could you fill in your stupid younger brother please?” asked Bobby sarcastically.
“It will take under a year to set up and about three million to launch initially. Ten million to keep going for the next five years, but completely doable” answered Gina.
“You really think you can get a billion dollars through such a service?” asked Bobby.
“No” responded Gina. “I can launder a billion dollars through it easy. Think about it Bobby. My shell companies can create other shell companies, not to mention the various universities I’ve donated to in the past. The patent database is a nice idea. Especially if it is an international and multi-lingual database with incredible search capabilities. Patent search services charge north of five grand a pop to do a search. We could include two searches with each annual renewal. Even staff it with qualified patent search people to assist. I’m told there are subscription tracking services just like there are book sales services who report and rank vetted numbers.”
“I’m still a bit lost sis.”
“I set up a new company to do this. All legit and tax paying like. Sell a few of the condos and some legit stocks to ensure it gets seeded with between five and ten million dollars. I don’t launch it here though. Not in Silicon Valley. This place is overplayed. I need to launch it in the middle of nowhere. Some place where I can buy two square miles of land reasonable. Also has to have access to high speed black fiber channel and lots of power.”
“How many qualified people do you think will want to live in the middle of nowhere sis?”
“Oh, she can build a luxury condo or apartment complex on 40 acres with paved walking trail, underground climate control parking and tunnels between buildings, indoor jacuzzis and pools, especially if she seeds the company with at least ten million” Janet stated. “You can even join in as a partner. We’ve got three million floating around in the legitimate side of life which is extra for all intents and purposes” answered Janet. “When your current company gets sold that will be enough to pay you both back while sinking another 10-20 million into the venture. Lots of places in the Midwest where you would own the town. Small towns not far from Interstates now nearly destitute without factories or breweries. The Rust Belt already has dozens if not hundreds of abandoned factories. Doze the buildings. What you are interested in is the fact they already have massive electrical grids wired to the property.”
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