“The billions of dollars they owed all over the world were not all related to the gold shipments, of course, and a chaotic, international hunt for the assets of these three firms was soon unleashed by the affected banks, so armies of lawyers, investigators, and other specialists, employing the most advanced sleuthing techniques, including forensic audits, etc, began to comb every corner of their businesses, descending on all the known countries these firms did business in, in order that the banks could claim these assets.”

“And that’s how they stumbled on the gold shipments.”

Tycho paused, and sat down again, “That’s the effort I was referring to earlier.”

Bette nodded her head, and took another sip of water.

“Now, a few of the questions my board had asked, early into the crisis, was why we got into bed with these firms, even if we were layers removed from being directly involved, when, despite the owners of the firms being known billionaires, it should have occurred to me that none of them had had any previous known involvement in the gold business.”

Bette pursed her lips, “I’d have to agree. I’d have asked, too, if I was in your board. That’s why I asked earlier whether there was something else.”

Tycho ran his hands through his hair roughly, irritated, once again, with himself why he, did, indeed, greenlight those transactions.

“At that time, the board and I, as was the case in many, many international banks and financial institutions, were grappling with the cascading effects of the global financial crisis. And I explained to the board the losses to financial institutions from their exposure to those firms were indeed massive, but it was affecting over a hundred institutions, and had also affected the stock markets where those firms were listed. Those firms had simply fooled a lot of people.”

“As you may recall, it was a full-blown crisis we were dealing with — and everyone was just fighting to survive, at that point. Firms, even large ones, like Lehman, were going under on a daily basis.”

Bette sat up, as something clicked in her mind. She asked Tycho quickly, “So the timing of the gold shipments was such that they occurred just as these firms were imploding, and the associated borrowings were undertaken at the same time?”