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THE MASTERMIND 127

center manager said, "except to have 'his own little kingdom.' 'We'll have a kingdom in Africa.' 'People will refer to me as the great leader.' I heard that so many times."

As his early success in the pharmaceutical world metastasized into larger criminal pursuits, Le Roux struck his employees as in- creasingly paranoid. "His visibility was decreasing; from 2008 moving forward you would see him physically less and less," the call center manager said. "That's when he started changing his email address." Le Roux began using email servers he had created and encrypted himself—the first was called server73.net, then my-free-email.com. He provided custom email addresses to trusted employees, creating an entirely self-contained communication sys- tem, walled off from potential government snooping. He also ramped up his use of dummies, ensuring that his name was re- moved from companies that conducted the organization's business in Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, and beyond. He seemed to con- stantly test and question the loyalty of employees, sometimes slip- ping extra money into their salaries to see if they would return it.

Le Roux ordered Del Rosario to sell off any Manila properties that could be connected to his name, and to scout for an island off the Philippine coast for Le Roux to purchase. He wanted some- where with cellphone reception and space for a landing strip that could accommodate private planes, along with boat slips so he could move cargo in and out by yacht.

As the true nature of Le Roux's business became clearer, RX Limited employees were left to ponder the moral implications— and the danger—of staying on board. Eliel Benaroch, one of Le Roux's more trusted call center managers, recalled an afternoon when Le Roux summoned him to the Manila Polo Club. "Meet- ings with Paul were not something that was planned," Benaroch said. "He would call you that morning or in the night, because he never slept, and say we need to have a 'sit-down.' Usually you'd go right away. He'd say, 'Come to my house,' or he loved the Hard Rock Cafe, he loved the nachos. He'd never order you anything, that's how cheap that guy was. It was a message of power, I am

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