request. McConnell handed off his responsibilities to Bezalel and bought a ticket back to the Philippines. "I put myself in a hospital under psychological care for two weeks," he said later. The doc- tors diagnosed him with major depression and severe anxiety, and put him on medication.

For all of McConnell's efforts in Florida, RX Limited's business remained precarious. But it was about to face an even more dam- aging blow: In December 2011, the DEA announced that Soma had been "scheduled"; it was now a controlled substance under federal law. Pharmacies would need special DEA approval to dis- pense it. A substantial portion of RX Limited's revenue evaporated overnight.

Le Roux told Oz and Berkman to close the Tel Aviv office. He was downsizing temporarily and moving all customer service to the Philippines. The new initiatives Le Roux had promised at their meeting in Kenya were to be reversed. Their job now was to un- wind the operation they had built. Le Roux had already closed down his nascent call center in India and sacked the Israeli he'd sent to run it. Now they laid off workers in Tel Aviv and shipped the computers and office furniture to Manila. There, Le Roux was handing off more responsibilities to his deputies Shai Reuven and Nestor Del Rosario. The transfers that Berkman normally received from Le Roux's accounts in Hong Kong started arriving from new places. Then they became sporadic. Soon the Israeli arm lacked the funds to pay severance owed to laid-off employees.

One afternoon, the former manager of the Indian call center ar- rived at the office in Tel Aviv and told Oz that the company owed him money. "I'm going to sue for my severance, I got two months' pay coming," he said.

Oz passed the message on to Le Roux. Two days later, the man returned to say that he'd reconsidered. Six men had come to his house and threatened to kill his family while he watched. He handed over a letter stating he was owed nothing.