Former TigerDirect President Indicted In $230 Million Laundering Scheme

McGruber writes "Carl Fiorentino, known to many slashdotters for his regular hyperbole-filled emails advertising 'unbelievable' blowout pricing on memory, storage, other components, and overclocker specials, has been indicted in New York federal court on seven counts of fraud and money laundering charges. Fiorentino allegedly took more than $7 million in bribes and kickbacks in exchange for steering more than $230 million in business to the Taiwanese and California companies that made the payments."

so

[WGFCrafty]

So he laundered 7 million in kickbacks from steering $240 million in business, not a $240 million dollar money laundering scheme. Too bad he's not HSBC, the only government authorized money launderer.

Was I the only one?

[TWiTfan]

Was I the only one who always always found TigerDirect to be kind of sleazy? I mean, even back *years* ago, they always reminded me of those skeevy camera stores that are notorious for false advertising and bait-and-switch deals.

Re:maybe their prices will FINALLY come down then

[slashmydots]

I have a dedicated rep that I talk to whenever I need to make an order (business account feature only). She tells me if it is actually in stock, how many, which warehouse, and real shipping times. Also, she informed me that if the item number starts with YY that means that it's being drop-shipped from a completely different company that's a "partner" with them and it could take many more days or run into strange backorder problems.

I have noticed that a lot of items are held in relatively low stock at their own warehouses. Like one time I asked how many of a common Pentium G-series CPU there were and there like like 30. I would have thought 1000 at their sales volume level. She seemed to think that they purposely ride it pretty tight because their vendors can renew their inventory very quickly and also to prevent part depreciation from holding it too long in between purchases.

Re:Not surprising

[ScentCone]

for what i still have no idea

Exactly, you have no idea. Here's the likely explanation: trespassing. The store is private property, and the guy has probably been told to stay out because of earlier incidents. If you've been formally told you're not allowed in the store, and come in anyway, that's trespass. And it is a crime, and you get arrested for it. And no, it's probably not going to mean jail time unless you are a real ass and just keep doing it over and over again.

Which has nothing to do with money laundering and the way it's prosecuted.