Infinite Exposure (25 page)

The other men at the table weren't that interested until the final sentence. Now they were all paying attention.

“You might have noticed some stock movement for Pytho Corporation lately.”

Dimitri nodded.

“We were a big part of that movement. We found out some time last quarter that Pytho was about to roll-out a new software
product for a niche market. We made our buy while they were low, then sent out the leak about the new software product. I
assume you have also heard that leak?”

Dimitri nodded again.

“Do you know what the niche is?”

Dimitri shook his head.

“Banking”

The other two gentlemen sat more forward now and began to pay closer attention.

“The first client they have signed is First Global. They have just completed or are about to complete the roll-out of this
software to all French banking operations. As Pytho delivers other countries it will be rolled out to them. We don't have
hard estimates yet, but they should complete roll-out to everywhere inside of six months. At some point soon Pytho will announce
the new software product and some time shortly after that First Global will announce how much money they intend to save using
it.”

“Just how much money will they be saving?”

“Using a third-party product allows them to terminate all IT staff in every country except for a token few kept around for
whatever reason. It also lets them get rid of all the other computer systems. My own estimate is that they will reduce operational
costs by at least $10 million per year. France alone will save them nearly $2 million per year.”

There was silence and some glances. It was obvious to the men that Lenny was laying it all on the line. They could refuse
to invest the money for him and use this knowledge for their own profit if they wanted.

“What would you have of us?”

“I need to set up some kind of investment arrangement with you, get some money in your hands as quickly as possible, then
have you start buying an awful lot of First Global. I will tell you when to dump it. I will also tell you when to start selling
short.”

“You have no interest in making more money from Pytho Corporation?”

“I've already made over $8 per share from it in 72 hours. Yes, it will go up some more after the announcement, but not enough
to warrant my attention at this time. First Global is currently trending down thanks to other financials and is now below
where it was before I did the first play. That is where the money is to be made. Once they announce the use of Pytho software,
the rest of the industry will find out about $10 million per year in cost savings. Coupled with the dramatic drop in data
center costs, plus the profitable sale of a few data centers their stock will be up another $20 per share after they announce
this quarter's numbers. I'll be getting out once it crosses the $18 bump threshold.”

“And you wish to start shorting as soon as you are out?”

“I'll contact you and tell you when to start shorting, if I decide to make that play. We will be shorting Pytho Corporation
and Big Four Consulting, but some other country may force me to walk away from the First Global shorting.”

Even Vladimir was paying attention now.

“We haven't finished our research yet with respect to the insurance requirements and restrictions put forth by other countries.
In the U.S. there is a restriction that all workers with significant access to a bank's computer system must go through government
background and security checks. When the data center is in a different country and not owned by the bank, it is quite hard
to enforce the background checks and/or do them well. There may be another country on the list with the same restriction.
First Global is converting the foreign countries first because they have the highest cost of operation and least positive
impact on the bottom line. I know for a fact the announcement will come soon and that the French migration isn't going to
cause this problem. I will get to make the first play. The others will happen if no other country gets in the way, and if
that happens the others just won't be as big of a play.”

There was silence in the room now. Dimitri was looking directly at Lenny contemplating. Finally Dimitri spoke. “You don't
mind us and our clients riding along on this big play?”

“They can ride along, but they cannot ride along big unless you can spread the trades across hundreds if not thousands of
trading accounts held by individuals. Too much money being put into this will alert suspicion before it is time. Once you
notify me that all of my money has been invested I will put out the rumor that First Global is the first client of Pytho's
software. After that they can ride with as much as they want. The rumor will spread like wild fire.”

“You have no objection to some of our clients taking a small gain with Pytho on its way up after the announcement?”

“That information is out there, do with it what you will, I can only handle so many angles of this at once.”

Again Dimitri nodded. “And you are looking to put half a million in play?”

“Half a billion” responded Lenny. “That is why I need someone who can spread the trades around. If all of that hits from one
place on one day it will attract too much attention. When it comes time to do the shorting there will probably be three quarters
of a billion sitting in the account that will allow for a lot of shorting credit.”

“We have quite a few customers we advise privately. Being able to bleed them the Pytho story and being able to tell them when
to get out would make them very happy. If they can make $8 per share in a week, they are more than happy. We have some old
people we do investing for. They don't have a lot of tolerance for risk since this is all they have. That kind of turn around
will go a long way to making their lives easier. Call me soft, but when I find a small score like that I run it for them.
Most need more than a 6% return to survive.”

“Then they should be very happy. When I tell you to start shorting First Global you should take half of their profit from
that trade and use it to back some short sells, it will net them a much larger return and be almost the same risk level.”

“Assuming we get to make that play.”

“Yes, of course.”

“Until then, you have the short hop of Pytho, then the major bump of First Global. Even if some country does out First Global
before we can play it, we should still get to play Big Four Consulting in full.”

“You did not inform us as to the play with them.”

“They own a big piece of the company providing the off-shore data center services. They are also the ones who sold the idea
to the board at First Global. They are the ones assisting with the roll-out of Pytho software at First Global. The only play
for them is a shred, and it doesn't matter who blows the whistle on First Global to make it happen. Of course, it will be
better if they wait until the U.S. data centers have all been migrated. The shred will have a lot more effect when it comes
with congressional hearings and criminal indictments.”

Vladimir had believed himself the only one in the family with this gift until that moment. Lenny obviously had the same ability,
just far less desire when it came to dodging bullets.

Prior to coming here Vladimir had received several emails from Hans. He knew for a fact Big Four Consulting was basically
running the operation in India for data center migrations. He had not heard who the client was other than it was a large bank
from the U.S. that handled close to one-third of the world's finances thanks to all of its recent acquisitions. There was
no way he could tell them how he got that information. He had taken it out of a message he found in the “sent items” box of
the trainer's email system.

“It is good you don't need to make the shredding play on First Global to be happy with your return,” Vladimir finally offered.
“They may tumble hard for other reasons.”

Now everyone was paying attention to Vladimir.

“One of the data centers to which they have been relocating is being canvassed by al-Qaeda. We don't know what, when, how
or even if, but we do know the where.”

“And you are unable to tell us who the
we
is?” asked Dimitri.

“Naturally. I have not figured out what they intend to gain by any attack on the data center. The bank has twin data centers
and fault-tolerant data storage. If one location goes down, the other will simply handle all of the transactions. Worst case,
some of the tellers will need to log in again. Bombing just one location won't do any more than kill a handful of people.
A bus bombing kills more and affects more.”

“At any rate, it will not affect the other shorting opportunity. Big Four Consulting has had a significant revenue increase
since the migration project began. I expect they will have a larger revenue increase when they announce their new quarterly
numbers due to participating in the sale of this software and its roll-out. That will push their stock up. Once First Global
gets nailed for violating federal regulations by migrating the data centers it will be a short matter of time before Big Four
is fingered as the one doing the sale. Their stock will free fall while they are under investigation. That's an easy $20 per
share play, but I start getting out around $15 unless they free fall so fast they are well past a $15 per share loss before
I can get the orders in to cover shorts.”

“So, you are asking us to facilitate some trades for you based upon your instructions. We are free to ride along on those
instructions as long as we don't get too greedy causing all of us to be put under investigation. At some point in the near
future you will want most of your money back. Correct?”

“Actually, if you are up for it I have one more task for you.”

“Go on.”

“Quite some time ago I had a law firm set up an off-shore company in a country which doesn't have an extradition treaty with
the U.S. I don't trust what they did, so haven't done much with it. I would like you to set up an off-shore trading company
for me in a country which has no extradition treaties with the U.S. Most of the money should be put into that company rather
than sent back to me.”

“Russia does not have extradition treaties with United States. Setting up a company will take a month or so. We will have
our people do it. Do you mind if it is in the same office building as one of our locations? We have offices in Moscow and
the Ukraine capital, Kyyiv. If you want to keep costs down Kyyiv will be your location.”

“No, that would be fine. I would want an actual office with air conditioning, Internet, the usual business tools. Would need
a couple actual offices in the office space itself. I may send someone there to train some staff so it doesn't look like just
a shell.”

“We might be able to share some staff. We have two part-time secretarial people there and one wants to go full time now that
she is married and thinking of having a family. It would be good if the other was working part time for you so we could call
her in when the other goes on maternity leave.”

“That might work out. I haven't approached any of my staff about running another location yet, so might have a hard sell in
front of me. Depends on what trappings could be had. The one I have in mind is rather young. He would want a nice place, clubs
to hang out in, fancy car, the usual trappings of wealthy youth.”

Dimitri thought for a while then said, “I like that you are up front about this. I do my investing much like you do. Getting
information ahead of everyone else allows one to make a killing as long as they don't get too greedy. We have recently had
a few bouts with greed in my company so have been using the off-shore company to handle a lot of our transactions. It has
been a long time since I had inside information this far in advance. We can even structure this deal legally.”

“Please continue.”

“Write up a letter of intent to enter a business relationship. For a 10% establishment fee we will establish an off-shore
company meeting your requirements. You will invest your half a billion in that company. In that letter also state that we
are contracting your firm to provide investment analysis services to us on a per transaction basis not to exceed 10% of profit.
Once that letter is filed and posted on the Internet in a PR-type place, it will allow just cause for funds to flow freely
between our two companies.”

“That does sound rather clean. Do you have that all down Vlad?”

Vladimir had started taking notes as soon as Dimitri stated the content for the letter. “Yes. I can go down to the business
center with your letterhead and have four copies up for signature in under half an hour.”

“Do you want to be included in this deal Vladimir?” asked Dimitri.

“No. Lenny is my cousin. You do have one of my trading accounts in your possession. Simply invest according to the play Lenny
has laid out. At some point I may have a new identity when I hit Lenny up for a job at his new off-shore company. Make sure
the office building has wheelchair accessibility.”

Everyone laughed.

“Not a problem Vlad!” said Lenny. “I honestly hadn't thought about retiring until today. If I had you running the off-shore
place and the guy I'm grooming back home running that company, I could even afford the divorce my wife would serve me with
if I decided to move to Russia.”

Now everyone really laughed.

“Only if we set it up so her lawyer cannot get to it,” put in Dimitri.

All the men roared at that one.

***

It was the wee hours of the morning when the disposable cell phone Lenny had given him rang. Jeremy fumbled around groggily
for it. Lenny had instructed him to keep the phone by his bed along with a pad and a pen.

“Hello.”

“Hello Jeremy. You need to get into the office as quickly as possible.”

Jeremy looked at the clock. “We don't open for another five hours,” he replied.

“There are a pair of faxes on the fax machine which are for your eyes only. The first is our signed letter of intent with
Dimitri's company to enter a business relationship. I'm bringing the originals with me in my briefcase. The second is the
instructions for where to send the wire transfer. You can enter the wire transfer information long before the bank opens.
It will happen once they can call to verify. We need them to get on this as soon as they open.”