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pitenius ago

For one moment, forget anything about kids, okay?

Why am I selling or buying a wildly overpriced item? To provide a legitimate paper trail for an illegitimate product. This kind of money laundering is very clear in Japan. Geishas work this way, accepting small, token gifts from incredibly expensive stores. Then, they sell the gifts (hand-carved combs, etc) back to the stores for exorbitant prices. No "bought sex". They exchanged a gift. Pachinko parlors work on the same idea. Gambling is illegal, so you win stupid highly authenticated trinkets produced by the parlor. Across the street is the shop of a trinket collector. (Congratulations -- you've also just cracked Damian Hirst and the modern art market. Ever wonder why Podesta was so into art?)

If someone legitimately buys a $10,000 cabinet and receives the illegal material, that would expose the whole thing. Right. Good job. Except that won't happen. Either you'll receive the legitimate cabinet, or the item will be mysteriously out of stock. They're not moving hundreds of thousands a day. Maybe only tens. If you're not on the list -- perhaps even with a shibboleth, like requesting black gift wrap in the order form -- you're not getting the item.

So, it's some kind of money laundering. And I suspect it's porn/snuff films, because multiples of 5k are what seems to float around for that kind of thing.

Alex_Jones ago

Show does the money get back to the peddler of illicit material? Do they own the manufacturer who sells to Wayfair? Wouldn't non profits and other speculative enterprises like art, antiques, and collectables be more efficient?

Wayfair is a large retailer with many accountants doing legitimate work, wouldn't those people notice? The whole account department can't be in the loop, that's retarded.

pitenius ago

Wayfair would have to be the peddler, but only some part of Wayfair. What might interest me is whether these products were repped by one salesman, or part of a B2B divison, or some other internal division. A commission would be a smoking gun. I suspect it's just "on-line sales".

The manufacturer has nothing to do with this. The manufacturer is the legitimate work that provides cover.

Would other routes be more efficient? Yes, perhaps, but if that's not what you have already, then no. Wayfair could legitimize other exchanges beyond the traditional peddler-pervert exchange. If ChaseManhattan were dropping $100k a month at "Olde Trinket Shoppe" it would look odd. Eventually, some auditor would look into the shop. Wayfair? Not really. The legitimate work would be the cover. Accounting isn't in the loop -- they see "custom cabinets". The fact that they are a large, legitimate retailer is useful for covering the illegitimate portion. A maximally efficient system would be obvious.

That's probably the next question, though: how much of Wayfair is involved with this?