80 bad publicity from a botched job: I was able to confirm all the details that Donovan gave me about his previous work and arrival in the Philippines, some specifics of which I have withheld here to maintain his anonymity.

81 availed themselves of Donovan's services: Donovan's portrayal of himself matches what I heard from others, including one American security contractor who told me that he was known as “the Ray Donovan of the Philippines,” after the lead character in the eponymous American TV series—a fixer in charge of bribes and payoffs for rich clients.

81 At the industry's fringes were “boiler rooms”: For background on the Philip- pines' prolific boiler room industry, see Sheila Samonte-Pesayco, “PCIJ Re- port: Filipino Is King of Boiler Rooms,” The Philippine Star, April 15, 2002; and James Hookway, “Manila Moves to Crack Down on 'Boiler Room' Op- erations,” The Wall Street Journal, August 27, 2001.

81 an Israeli acquaintance: When I contacted this acquaintance, he at first denied any knowledge of Le Roux, then said, “Maybe I've met him, I'm not going to deny that. I have nothing to say about him.” Then he hung up and declined further calls and messages.

82 “I was escorted in the building”: The details of this meeting derive from Don- ovan. The only other person present, according to his version, was Le Roux, who has not been forthcoming on his side of the conversation.

83 at $15,000 a month: This amount, given to me by Donovan, was later con- firmed by Le Roux in USA v. Hunter, Document 581, April 9, 2018, at 699.

83 Smith, by Donovan's account, brought Le Roux Donovan's contacts: The ac- count of how Smith came to work for Le Roux demonstrates, in many ways, the problem of reporting on Le Roux. The basic outlines of the story that Donovan told me were confirmed in interviews with two other ex-mercenaries who worked under Smith for Le Roux. One, Tim Vamvakias, confirmed that Smith met Le Roux while working for Donovan, and then left to work for Le Roux directly. Vamvakias, however, recalled that rather than telling Le Roux to fuck off, Donovan had in fact done paid work for Le Roux. So too did another former employee of Donovan and Le Roux. When I questioned Donovan about this, he told me that he'd been paid an up-front retainer for Le Roux just to meet with him, but never carried out any work and returned the money. The former U.S. Navy sailor who worked for Le Roux told me as well that he'd heard the story that Smith met Le Roux through Donovan. Lachlan McConnell, on the other hand, said Smith told him only that he and Le Roux had met in a bar. I have included Donovan's story, with caveats, be- cause it is the one that matches most closely the facts I can verify.

CHAPTER 9

85 a new company called Customer Service Worldwide: Publicly available regis- tration documents for CSWW include a copy of McGowan's passport.

85 located on another floor of the same building: Interview with Shay Aspril, Is- raeli journalist, as well as his prescient 2011 story about CSWW for the Israeli