ready for some work. He glanced down in the corner; six thirty. Figured he didn’t want to get home before nine.
First thing he did was check on Dominic Shea. Found the same information he’d discovered before. Privately owned, it didn’t disclose whether or not the shareholders were all family members or not. Didn’t make any commercially available products. Gave money routinely to a wide variety of charities, but Tommy looked up a few of the big ones and didn’t see any members of the Shea family on any of the boards. It was common for very old and wealthy families to ostensibly create charitable foundations, but in reality they were simply finding another way to exert their private influence on public policy. One of his professors had been fond of saying that the only thing one could know about a tax-exempt non-profitable entity was that they didn’t pay taxes. He’d meticulously shown how several of these non-profits were only established that way so they could keep their operations secret from the public. For-profit companies had certain reporting requirements, but non-profit corporations did not. Tommy had been amazed to find out that some of the board members of these non-profit organizations pulled larger salaries than CEOs of Fortune 500 companies.
But as Tommy searched through all the names of the five biggest charities that Shea Industries donated to, he couldn’t find any obvious connections. It appeared that they gave money without receiving any obvious benefits.
The next thing he looked up was Prieto and Cutting Edge Capital, his venture capital company. This had plenty of information. They’d been around for over a decade. They were also privately owned, so their holdings, both the companies they invested in and their financial size, were not disclosed. However, there was plenty of information on their principal founders, of which Prieto was one. The company had started in the mid 2000s, before the housing bubble had crashed. Prieto seemed to have seen it coming, and had made a substantial amount in a short amount of time. Before that he’d been a venture capitalist for several other organizations. Graduated with an MBA from Stanford in 1988, which made him just a few years over fifty.
Tommy found several articles about Prieto in various financial magazines. He was reportedly worth several billion. Definitely had a skill of turning money into more money. Tommy decided he was legitimate. There were few articles with a negative bias, other than those that had the same negative bias regarding any other ultra-rich individual who kept getting richer while everybody else was getting poorer.
Tommy decided to take a chance. He reached over and grabbed his phone, and made a call.
“Marco Winston,” his friend answered, surprising Tommy with his professional demeanor. He must not have checked the number.
“Yes, I hear you’re making loans? I’d like to borrow a couple grand to buy some hookers and blow, and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to pay it back,” Tommy said as seriously as he could.
“Of course, sir, let me look up some information here,” Marco said, playing right along. “Yes, it appears that we do have a special plan for hookers and blow, but the interest rates are fifty percent per week, and non-payment does come with a death penalty,” Marco said.
Tommy laughed out loud, despite the ill timing and nature the humor. “Hmm, I think I’ll pass,” he said.
“What’s up, man, you having second thoughts? We’re already getting some interested investors, I mean serious people,” Marco said.
“Actually, I got a real job, working for a mega-rich real estate family. I was actually calling you to see if you wanted to do some work for me, as I have a sizeable budget,” Tommy explained.
“What, you want me to wash
First thing he did was check on Dominic Shea. Found the same information he’d discovered before. Privately owned, it didn’t disclose whether or not the shareholders were all family members or not. Didn’t make any commercially available products. Gave money routinely to a wide variety of charities, but Tommy looked up a few of the big ones and didn’t see any members of the Shea family on any of the boards. It was common for very old and wealthy families to ostensibly create charitable foundations, but in reality they were simply finding another way to exert their private influence on public policy. One of his professors had been fond of saying that the only thing one could know about a tax-exempt non-profitable entity was that they didn’t pay taxes. He’d meticulously shown how several of these non-profits were only established that way so they could keep their operations secret from the public. For-profit companies had certain reporting requirements, but non-profit corporations did not. Tommy had been amazed to find out that some of the board members of these non-profit organizations pulled larger salaries than CEOs of Fortune 500 companies.
But as Tommy searched through all the names of the five biggest charities that Shea Industries donated to, he couldn’t find any obvious connections. It appeared that they gave money without receiving any obvious benefits.
The next thing he looked up was Prieto and Cutting Edge Capital, his venture capital company. This had plenty of information. They’d been around for over a decade. They were also privately owned, so their holdings, both the companies they invested in and their financial size, were not disclosed. However, there was plenty of information on their principal founders, of which Prieto was one. The company had started in the mid 2000s, before the housing bubble had crashed. Prieto seemed to have seen it coming, and had made a substantial amount in a short amount of time. Before that he’d been a venture capitalist for several other organizations. Graduated with an MBA from Stanford in 1988, which made him just a few years over fifty.
Tommy found several articles about Prieto in various financial magazines. He was reportedly worth several billion. Definitely had a skill of turning money into more money. Tommy decided he was legitimate. There were few articles with a negative bias, other than those that had the same negative bias regarding any other ultra-rich individual who kept getting richer while everybody else was getting poorer.
Tommy decided to take a chance. He reached over and grabbed his phone, and made a call.
“Marco Winston,” his friend answered, surprising Tommy with his professional demeanor. He must not have checked the number.
“Yes, I hear you’re making loans? I’d like to borrow a couple grand to buy some hookers and blow, and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to pay it back,” Tommy said as seriously as he could.
“Of course, sir, let me look up some information here,” Marco said, playing right along. “Yes, it appears that we do have a special plan for hookers and blow, but the interest rates are fifty percent per week, and non-payment does come with a death penalty,” Marco said.
Tommy laughed out loud, despite the ill timing and nature the humor. “Hmm, I think I’ll pass,” he said.
“What’s up, man, you having second thoughts? We’re already getting some interested investors, I mean serious people,” Marco said.
“Actually, I got a real job, working for a mega-rich real estate family. I was actually calling you to see if you wanted to do some work for me, as I have a sizeable budget,” Tommy explained.
“What, you want me to wash
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