Cabernet Capers

By Dan Kelly

Cabernet Capers is a story about two unscrupulous Napa Valley, CA vintners, Duilio and Riccardo Paganelli, identical twins with identically huge egos, who will do anything to grow their business for the wealth, power and prestige that will come along with it, including forging a relationship with organized crime, hiring assassins and killing cops or anyone else who gets in their way.

On the flip side, there are two very bright, very courageous and very determined deputies of the Napa County Sheriff Department who keep getting in the way which builds frustration and tension to overflowing levels and this prompts threats of violence and then eventually the real thing with guns, rifles, bullets, bombs and knives taking center stage.

At first, Detective Sergeant Derrick Chandler and Deputy Julie Styversant believe it will be sufficient to avoid bodily harm if they heighten their awareness of what’s going on around them and watch each other’s backs when they are out and about on duty. But as things escalate, they realize this may not be enough to stay on the green side of the sod, so they take on some new partners who are also very smart and courageous, four legged officers of the Napa County K-9 unit, two of which they bond with very strongly, German Shepherds named Duke and Champ.

This is a tale that has something for just about everybody, suspense, intrigue, violence, mayhem, humor, romance and even a surprise ending. It’s a good read and an excellent way to while away some relaxing hours. Enjoy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dan Kelly
• Release date: Mar 26, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310385261

Dan Kelly

A Little Bit About Dan Kelly the Author"May you always find a good book to read and the time to enjoy it!"After spending forty years in the real world of domestic and international banking, my writing activities being largely restricted to business plans, internal memos, advertising copy, news releases and speeches, I decided I had had enough of the real world and made up my mind to pursue something I’ve wanted to do for quite a while, immerse myself in the world of make believe just for the sheer joy of letting my imagination and creative juices run wild.Except for the occasional humorous ode for the enjoyment of family, friends and colleagues, I never had the time to indulge the more fanciful side of my nature, but since July 2007 I’ve made great progress in atoning for that neglect. My Irish sense of humor coupled with my experience in dealing with a broad spectrum of people from all walks of life and social status are proving to be a wonderful reservoir of inspiration for me in character and story development.Celestial Capers, Casino Capers, Computer Capers, Caribbean Capers, Carat Capers, Calling Card Capers, Cabernet Capers, Calumny Capers, Canyon Capers, Capital Capers, Counterfeiting Capers, Cryptography Capers and Chopper Capers are the products of my first thirteen mental voyages into the realm of make believe and I hope you will be as delighted as I was to make these trips. I am currently embarked on my fourteenth safari into the relatively unexplored dimensions of my imagination, Campaign Capers, and I am finding the expedition as thoroughly enjoyable as my first thirteen tours. I’m hoping you will too.If you'd like to contact me, feel free to send me an e-mail at [e-mail].

Book preview

Chapter 1

Wine has been pleasing and intoxicating mankind for millenniums, going back to biblical times. However, for some individuals besides its alcoholic content it has another intoxicating feature, its ability to generate wealth and power. Two such individuals are the identical twin Paganelli brothers, Duilio and Riccardo.

Like their grandfather, Basilio, and their father, Alfonso, they have been vintners their entire adult lives, but unlike them they aren’t in the business because they can make a good living doing something they love. They are in it strictly for the potential wealth, prestige and power it affords them and have no scruples when it comes to dealing with the competition.

Basilio and Alfonso learned their trade by working for some of the larger wineries in Italy and in the early 1980s when they had saved up enough money emigrated along with Grandma Paganelli, Mariella, to America and purchased some land in Napa Valley, California. That was the beginning of Paganelli Wineries.

Unlike their father and grandfather, Duilio and Riccardo have never had to work as field hands. When they came along the family business was steadily growing and bringing in decent revenue. They went to good schools and both graduated from the University of California - Santa Barbara, Duilio with a degree in Ecology and Riccardo with a degree in Economics. Upon graduating from university, they both joined the family business as management trainees.

They don’t look like the pencil pusher type even though their stature is average in height because their builds are like those of men used to heavy physical labor. Their features reflect what many people of Italian heritage possess, thick wavy dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, a nose with a small hump and a slightly drooping tip and skin the color of a newly acquired tan. They have no problems in the dating arena, but are driven by other desires.

They have just turned thirty and in the past eight years have mastered the ins and outs of running a winery, so much so that Dad and Granddad have turned the reins over to them and retired. Now that they are in charge, the company’s business development plan is going to be put the through the wringer and go through some major overhauling. The founders’ strategy was to rely on the quality and variety of their wines to reach the buying public through limited advertising and word of mouth which would foster growth, but on a scale that would enable them to continue to manage the company themselves. They didn’t want to get too big too fast and have to deal with the kinds of problems that would engender.

The brothers, however, have much more grandiose ideas for growing the business, including mergers and acquisitions, the establishment of franchised retail outlets, going international, aggressive advertising and perhaps even going public. They have also just hired a team of horticulturists to explore the possibility of developing a new grape hybrid to give them an edge over the competition.

On the surface this looks quite normal, but to implement these ideas costs money, lots of it, and targets for mergers and acquisitions aren’t always going to appreciate someone trying to muscle in on their operations. This is where their paucity of scruples comes in. The brothers are willing to do anything to remove any obstacles that get in their way, anything.

Chapter 2

Derrick Chandler is a deputy sheriff holding the rank of detective sergeant with the Napa County Sheriff Department and he’s been with the department ten years. At the age of thirty-five, he still looks twenty-five and attributes that to good dirty living and drinking a bottle of wine every day.

Besides standing six foot three inches in his stocking feet, weighing two hundred and ten pounds most of which is rock hard muscle which he keeps in shape with rigorous physical training and martial arts programs and having a face that most women would call ruggedly handsome, he has a good sense of humor. His head sports a shock of curly black hair and a set of dark blue eyes that relay his mood very effectively and his family doesn’t have any idea where these genes came from. He’s always kidding his parents that he believes he’s adopted and for some reason they’re keeping it a secret.

He’s just gotten off the phone with David Bedel, the Chief Operations Officer at a small family winery, Aragon Winery, who had an alarming tale to tell. It was alarming because it was similar to several other calls he has received over the past two weeks from small wineries in other sections of the county.

Over the past several months, the owners of Aragon Winery have been approached by an independent business broker acting on behalf of a client with offers to buy the winery. At first the offers were reasonable for the area, but after each refusal the successive offers became more and more aggressive.

Depending on the location, the cost of an acre of land in Napa Valley ranges from $50,000 to $300,000. When you add the value of the business to this, the final price tag can be quite large. The business broker’s client seems to have deep pockets and is willing to pay more than what the land and business is currently worth. When asked why, the business broker replied that his client is very optimistic about the future growth of the winery business and wants a piece of the action.

The last offer was received and refused about a month ago and nothing has been heard from the broker since. However, some strange things have begun to occur over the past several weeks and Mr. Bedel thinks the broker and/or the client might have something to do with them.

Equipment malfunctions, leaks in vats, truck breakdowns and computer problems being the most prominent of a series of abnormal incidents and if the true cause of these issues isn’t quickly addressed, the effect on the winery’s bottom line could be quite serious.

As he’s tapping his desk with his pen thinking about how he wants to proceed with his investigation, Bill Bemis the County Sheriff walks into the outer office and heads for his inner sanctum. Derrick follows him into this private enclave to apprise him of the latest development.

Bill, if you have a minute I’d like to give you a heads up on the latest with respect to the rash of winery incidents that have begun to pop up.

Whatcha got?

Derrick gives him a summary of his conversation with Mr. Bedel and then ends it with his gut feeling. "Bill, we’re talking big bucks here. These winery operations aren’t giants like Gallo, The Wine Group or Constellation, but they are apparently big enough and successful enough to attract the attention of someone with the resources to put some very tempting offers on the table.

In all of the instances that I’m aware of, the offers have been repeatedly refused and soon thereafter the companies begin to experience operation difficulties. I’m very suspicious whenever coincidence rears its head and I strongly believe that all of these occurrences are somehow related. I just don’t know what the common denominator is yet.

I agree, Derrick. Wineries are a key industry in our state and if someone’s gotten it into his head to start messing with it, we’ve got to put a stop to whatever they’re up to before it gets out of hand. Put this on top of whatever else is on your plate at the moment and keep me in the loop regarding your progress. This could turn into a real political brouhaha if we don’t make damn sure we dot all of the Is and cross all of the Ts, to say nothing of putting anyone breaking the law where they belong. What’s first on your to-do list?

I’m going to check out the business broker, a Giuseppe Pelegrinno, and then pay an unannounced visit to the wineries involved to sniff around for something that might not smell right.

Okay, get to it and it might be a good idea if you have someone watching your back on this one. Take your pick of anyone in the stable of deputies out there. Just let me know who it is so I can remove him or her from the daily roster.

Will do.

Chapter 3

Duilio and Riccardo are sitting in Riccardo’s office discussing a phone call Riccardo has just received. Duilio, that was Nick Petrillo and he wants to turn up the heat on our expansion targets. I told him our eyes and ears are picking up some disturbing bits of information concerning the Napa County Sheriff’s Department being brought into the picture and we are trying to keep their involvement to a minimum through covertness and subtlety. In his inimitable way with four letter words he said that he has no problem with that if it gets results, but he isn’t seeing any and his folks don’t like to dawdle around with circuitous routes to get where they want to go when there are more direct routes to get to their destination.

Nick said that. I didn’t think words like dawdle and circuitous were in his vocabulary.

Chuckling Riccardo says, Well, I edited his remarks a little. The bottom line though is our benefactors are running out of patience and want to see some results. Although Nick didn’t come right out and say it, he certainly intimated that our tactics should become much more intimidating.

What? Is he suggesting that we start threatening people with bodily injury or worse? I’m not ruling that out, but it’s at the bottom of my list of ways to persuade. If we’re determined to keep the Sheriff’s Department involvement to a minimum that definitely isn’t the way to go.

Duilio, I wouldn’t rule that out either, but there are a lot of ways to intimidate without using violence. One in particular immediately jumps to the front of the line.

I’m listening.

Black mail. Everyone has something they’d like to keep under wraps because revelation would be very embarrassing, damaging to their reputation and relationships or even put them behind bars. The key to this tactic is finding out the secret or secrets that have been buried without it being detected until we want to use it to our advantage. That way there will be no time allowed for any attempts to cover up what we ‘ve uncovered.

How are we going to do that in a time frame that will keep our partners happy?

Do you remember Gerry Haggerty?

Yeah, he was in several of our classes in high school and he lived around the corner from us. I never hung out with him though because he was a sneaky and nosy sucker who never would mind his own business. Why?

I ran into him a couple months back in Santa Rosa. After working for a big security firm in San Francisco for ten years he decided to go out on his own where he could decide what cases to take on and what his fees would be. He said corporate America wasn’t for him and, according to him, he’s doing quite well. We exchanged business cards and I’ve added his to my collection. He might be just the person we need to do some digging. We don’t have to tell him what we’re really up to. We can explain our interest by saying it has something to do with some merger and acquisition activity we’re contemplating which is entirely true.

We’ve got nothing to lose. Give him a call. We’ve got to show some real progress or Petrillo and his pals are going to be very difficult to deal with.

Nick was happy with our recent acquisitions regarding our retail outlets and the launching of our new advertising campaign, but by results he’s referring to significant amounts of new money flowing into their accounts.

Well, when we invited them to the party, we knew it wasn’t going to be a picnic. Without the kinds of bucks they can give us and the influence they can exert, we weren’t going to get our new business plan off the ground for a long time. Make the call.

Initially, the brothers thought they would get a lot of support from the banking community in their area because the winery has been around for a long time, it has been profitable every year of its existence, their credit is good and they already have significant working capital lines with the banks. The winery is in a steady growth pattern and they just want to speed up the process which should also present opportunities for many other enterprises in the area to participate in their growth as well, including the banks. This coupled with the fact that they provide a lot of jobs for people in the area and additional growth should provide additional employment opportunities for the community had them feeling fairly confident that they would receive significant backing from the banks. It didn’t happen. The banks thought there was too much risk involved.

They next looked to the venture capital market for financing and found capital was available that they could tap, but the terms were unacceptable and they would been required to have representatives of these investors sitting on their board of directors which would mean interference with how the company was managed.

When these two options fizzled out, the brothers turned to less conventional sources to finance their expansion, hence Nick Petrillo.

Many people think that the Mafia is nothing more than a memory now in the 21st Century. They are very much mistaken. It is very much alive and well, but it’s now under new management that recognizes the importance and value of keeping its presence low key. It still has the need for laundering money and using the accounts of established business enterprises is an excellent way to accomplish that. Riccardo was well aware of this and figured this need might give him an entrée to the financing they needed.

Riccardo’s circle of friends includes a relative of someone in the higher echelon of the ‘family’ businesses and he used that friendship to approach the appropriate people with a proposition. Soon after he talked with his friend he got a call from Nick Petrillo who explained that he was representing some interested parties regarding the investment opportunity Paganelli Wineries would like to discuss. Riccardo had figured correctly.

Via Nick, Riccardo proposed that since Paganelli Wineries is a privately held corporation, 49% of the company be sold to them at the current market value to be determined by an independent business broker in exchange for which the new buyer(s) would agree to invest additional monies as needed for the implementation of the new business plan. The net profit after taxes and after setting aside 10% of the net for unanticipated expensed would be shared on a 51:49% basis annually. The details of the agreement such as future dissolution of the agreement or the sale of the business could be worked out later.

The Paganelli brothers knew they were offering a good deal, but still anticipated getting a lot of static when it came to revenue sharing. Neither of them has the patience for haggling, so they made the proposal on a take it or leave it basis and hoped they weren’t inviting trouble.

The very next day they received a counter offer. These potential investors didn’t like to haggle either. On a take it or leave it basis, they offered to provide whatever capital is needed on an ongoing basis for as long as it takes to implement the new business plan which cannot take longer than three years to accomplish, but they will garner 50% of the net profit after taxes and before anything is set aside for unanticipated expenses from all of the winery’s operations, both current and future, on a quarterly basis. There would be a cap on the amount of the investment which would be determined after the investors see a detailed business plan with the associated costs. The funds will be provided by a group of investors know as Investors Anonymous and if the relationship is to be terminated all of the investment capital must be repaid on a monthly basis over a five year period at a rate of Prime plus 5% with additional prepayments allowed. There would be nothing in writing and they would have the right to audit the books whenever they wanted to audit them.

Duilio and Riccardo took a day to think about the offer and the only two flies in the ointment were they would have to immediately share profits from existing business and there would be no written signed agreement. However, it didn’t take them long to realize that they would have no way to legally enforce a contract with someone providing funds from illegal operations anyway and their investors had their own ways of enforcing contracts that had nothing to do with the law. What things really boiled down to was it was in the best interests of the Paganelli brothers not to renege on any of the provisions of the verbal agreement because they would have the required funds to finance the profitable growth of their business to say nothing about avoiding serious bodily injury or worse and it was in the best interests of the investors because they would have a way to turn their dirty money into squeaky clean currency and reap a very nice return on their investment to boot.

The next morning, they accepted the counteroffer, emailed the detailed business plan to Nick and soon after anonymous offers were being made via a business broker to the acquisition candidates.

Riccardo made the call to Haggerty, but it went to voice mail so he left a brief message saying he might have a need for his services and for him to call him ASAP. They’d have to wait to put this ball in motion, but they had other balls in play. One of them was looking for ways to disrupt the logistics of their competition, primarily interfering with the deliveries of supplies to them and their product to their customers, so they focused their attention on that. These guys aren’t willing to waste a minute of their time when it comes to achieving the growth they seek for their company and the methods be damned. Becoming one of the big boys in the winery industry has become an obsession with them and this doesn’t bode well for their competition.

Chapter 4

It’s a typical sunny morning in Napa Valley, a little on the cool side with the temperature in the high sixties, but the sky is clear and the traffic is surprising light.

Derrick has just finished eating breakfast at the IHOP nearby his house and is heading out for San Francisco to drop in unannounced on Giuseppe Pelegrinno. Derrick ran a background check on the man and came up with nothing to hang his hat on. On the surface, Mr. Pelegrinno appears to be what he purports to be, a business broker who’s been in the business for close to twenty years. He’s had no run-ins with the law, not even a parking ticket.

It’s about an hour’s drive from Napa to San Francisco so if there aren’t any traffic snarls he’ll be arriving a little after nine. He’s not sure what he hopes to learn from this little excursion, but experience has taught him that face-to-face encounters, especially surprise ones, can be a lot more revealing than telephone conversations and a coonhound has nothing on him when it comes to picking up the scent of something out of sight.

Pelegrinno has a suite of offices in an office building on Market Street and when Derrick walks through the double glass doors into the reception area he’s quite impressed with the décor and the gorgeous blue-eyed blonde sitting behind the reception desk.

When she greets him and asks the purpose of his visit, the sound of her voice adds to the impression that she’s something special. Its timbre, clarity and slight British accent give it a unique sound that is a treat for the ears.

He introduces himself and says, I don’t have an appointment, but it’s very important that I speak with Mr. Pelegrinno concerning an investigation I’m conducting involving some wineries in Napa Valley.

He’s in the office today, but he’s been on a conference call for the last half hour and I don’t know when that will be over. Let me put a note in front of him and get his response.

I’d appreciate that.

A few minutes later she returns and says, You’ve lucked out. He’s just finishing up and will be with you shortly. Please have seat. Can I get you some coffee, water, a soft drink?

Thanks and no thanks.

A few minutes later a distinguished looking guy with gray wavy hair, a thin almost snow white mustache and penetrating gray eyes walks into the reception area from a hallway off to the right of the reception area. His ensemble looks like something you’d see in a GQ magazine and his looks and physique show it off quite well. He’s a little over six feet tall and exudes the confidence of a successful businessman.

With an outstretched hand he approaches Derrick and says, Good morning, Sergeant Chandler. I’m Giuseppe Pelegrinno and I apologize for keeping you waiting. Please come into my office and tell me how you think I can help you with your investigation.

Derrick’s first impression of the man is, He’s a smooth one and a very cool one, perhaps too smooth, too cool. Most folks, even the innocent ones, get a little apprehensive when a deputy sheriff shows up on their doorstep unannounced. This guy’s acting like it’s an everyday occurrence.

Once seated, Derrick opens up with a comment intended to shake Mr. Cool up a little, maybe catch him off guard enough where he’ll spill something that will help with the investigation.

Mr. Pelegrinno, you may be playing with fire and could wind up getting severely burned.

Pelegrinno stared at him for a good ten seconds before responding with, How might I be doing that, Sergeant?

The man’s got a good poker face, I’ll give him that.

You’ve been acting on behalf of a client or clients in repeated attempts to purchase some of the smaller wineries in the Napa Valley and after responding with rebuff after rebuff these same wineries have begun to experience some very unusual interruptions in their operations. It appears that someone is trying to exert increasing amounts of pressure on the owners to get them to change their minds by sabotaging their operations. Are you aware of this?

After another long silent stare Pelegrinno succinctly says, No I am not.

Who are you representing in these acquisition attempts?

I’m not at liberty to say. My clients like to remain anonymous whenever possible.

Well, Mr. Pelegrinno, I’m afraid that fire I mentioned a moment ago is about to get a lot warmer. Because of your refusal to cough up the name or names of the people involved, I’ll be arranging to have you charged with interfering with an ongoing investigation and whatever else I can dig up.

Now just a minute. There’s no need for that. If it’s that important to your investigation, my client is a privately held foreign conglomerate looking to diversify their holdings here in the U. S., Industrial Ventures International. I was told by my contact that the company is headquartered in Milan.

Who’s your contact, where he’s located and how do you communicate with him?

It’s not a he, it’s a she. Her name is Maria Conti and she’s based in San Diego. I’ve never met her and I don’t have an address. We communicate by email or phone.

Give me her contact information.

He quickly retrieves the information from his desk top computer, writes it down on a piece of paper and hands it over to Derrick.

How did you and this lady get together?

She was referred to me by a mutual client, but she never told me which one. One morning I received a phone call from Maria and we were soon off and running.

How are you paid for your efforts?

On a percentage of the sale price of the business and the seller pays the fee.

Looking at him suspiciously Derrick says, So you haven’t received a dime for your time to date.

Pelegrinno isn’t stupid and he knows what Derrick is implying, but he just shakes his head in reply.

Well, that’s all for now. Thank you for your cooperation. We’ll be talking again soon, I’m sure.

Heading for his car he’s full of doubts about what he’s just learned. Industrial Ventures International could be nothing more than a big smoke screen made up of a mirage of dummy shell corporations that will lead nowhere. This Maria Conti could be a legitimate employee or part of something much more sinister. Pelegrinno could be a player or an innocent foil in the scheme of things. One thing is for sure, judging from the sheen that was forming on his forehead I believe I shook him up.

During his drive back to Napa he calls this Maria Conti to find out more about Industrial Ventures International and who recommended Pelegrinno to her. The lady was in and took his call. I was anticipating your call, Sergeant Chandler, but not this soon. I just hung up from talking with a very upset Giuseppe Pelegrinno. He’s under the impression you suspect him of being involved in some illegal efforts to get some wineries that have turned down our offers to purchase them to capitulate. Is that so?

Ms. Conti, if Mr. Pelegrinno has done nothing wrong he has nothing to worry about. Just about everyone who comes up during an investigation is under some level of suspicion until proven otherwise. The reason I’m calling you is I’d like to find out more about your company and who referred you to Mr. Pelegrinno.

Industrial Ventures International is a diversified investment company headquartered in Milan, Italy that seeks real estate and business venture investment opportunities for its clientele all over the world. It has been around for over forty years and has an impeccable reputation. I manage its United States operation, Investors Anonymous, and have been with the company for over ten years. One of my clients referred me to Giuseppe, but I don’t remember which one.

Why the anonymity?

A lot of our clients are very wealthy people and prefer to keep their financial affairs out of the limelight. They are identified by account number and not by name and we jealously guard their privacy and our relationship with them using highly sophisticated security measures to keep the curious and other financial predators at bay.

Is your parent company a publicly traded company or is it privately held?

It is privately held. Our owners also like their privacy and conduct business through employee intermediaries. I’ve never heard any names mentioned when it comes to ownership of the company. Frankly, I don’t care who owns the company. I am paid well and treated with the utmost respect.

Well, thank you for your input, Ms. Conti. If you remember the source of the referral to Mr. Pelegrinno, please give me a jingle on my cell. He gave her his number and ended the call.

Hmm. Something doesn’t smell right about this company. There’s too much secrecy when it comes to ownership. I wonder if Maury Hoagland over at the NSA has ever come across them. Maybe he’d be willing to check around with his resources to see what he might uncover. I’ll give him a call when I get back to the office. He has his fingers in more pies than a baker. If this company is involved in anything shady, he’ll find it.

Chapter 5

When Derrick gets back to the office he gives Maury Hoagland a call and gets an earful.

Derrick, I’ve never come across Industrial Ventures International, but Investors Anonymous has been on our radar for some time now for the possibility of being involved in financial dealings with Mexican and South American drug cartels and Middle East terrorist groups. There’s a huge cloud of suspicion hanging over their heads, but so far it hasn’t burst. There are a lot of hints that they’re up to no good, but so far we haven’t been able to come up with anything solid enough for us to sink out teeth into to get a really good taste of what they’re really all about. They’re shrouded in a cloak of secrecy which we haven’t been able to penetrate. How did you come across them?

"Some of the smaller wineries in the Napa Valley have been experiencing some unusual and unprecedented operations problems which may be linked to repeated refusals of offers to buy them out. An independent business broker by the name of Giuseppe Pelegrinno has been representing Investors Anonymous in making these offers. I had a face-to face with him in his office in San Francisco earlier this morning and left without any strong opinion of his guilt or innocence in anything underhanded as far as the targets for acquisition are concerned. The only thing I got from the interview was the name of the parent company, Industrial Ventures International. Pelegrinno said he was contacted by a Maria Conti of Investors Anonymous because of a referral she received by a client whose name she couldn’t recall.

"I called her during my drive back from Frisco and she informed me that Pelegrinno had already called her about my visit to his office and was upset because he thinks I think he’s somehow involved in what has been happening at the wineries. If anything, his phone call to her has me leaning in his favor regarding lack of knowledge of any wrong doing with respect to the wineries and maybe even in Ms. Conti’s. I doubt the phone call would have been shared with me if they are somehow involved in what’s been happening to the wineries.

"All I learned about Industrial Ventures International is that they’re a private closely held corporation based in Milan, Italy. According to Ms. Conti, Industrial Ventures International is a diversified investment company that seeks real estate and business venture investment opportunities for its clientele all over the world. It has been around for over forty years and has an impeccable reputation. Investors Anonymous is a wholly owned subsidiary formed to handle business here in the States and she’s at the helm, an appropriate term since the subsidiary is headquartered in San Diego, a seaport of world renown. Ms. Conti says she has no idea who the company owners are and hasn’t even heard any names dropped in conversations she has had with anyone. Investors’ names are not used,