insisting that Oz and Berkman encrypt their hard drives. But oth- erwise, as far as Oz was concerned, a boss was a boss.

A few months later, Le Roux announced that he wanted to meet Oz and Berkman in person, in the Philippines. They flew business class via Hong Kong to Manila. A driver fetched them from the airport and deposited them at a luxury condo located next to a synagogue. That night they met Le Roux for the first time at the Hard Rock Cafe in a mall in Makati City, in central Manila.

They had little idea what to expect. They'd been unable to find any photos of—or even references to—their boss online. When he arrived they immediately noted his size; Le Roux was rotund and lumbering, around six feet tall, with an enormous head and the bearing of a man who didn't regret his bulk. More striking than his size was the slovenly dress of their supposedly high-rolling boss. As nearly all employees who met Le Roux face-to-face discovered, he rarely deviated from a uniform of shorts, T-shirt, and flip-flops. His employees often mocked Le Roux's appearance behind his back, not realizing how he played it to his advantage, disarming expecta- tions. “I'm not saying he looks like that on purpose,” one em- ployee later said. “But nobody has ever thought the first time they met him that he runs a global criminal empire.”

He was in his late thirties but looked younger, his short hair dyed an unnatural blond. To Oz he seemed affable enough in per- son, in an offensive sort of way. “These Jews can't eat any of this!” Le Roux joked with the waitress. “Just get them some chips.”

When it came to business, however, Le Roux projected confi- dence and control. He explained to Oz and Berkman that he'd originally based the company in the Philippines, in 2004, to avoid taxes. Once there, he'd discovered the country's thriving call cen- ter business and started one for RX Limited, called Dial Magic, to cold-call potential customers, enticing them to go online and order prescriptions from RX Limited sites. He groused about his diffi- culty finding competent managers; the locals were “monkeys” who couldn't handle the responsibility. Now, with his operation expanding, he wanted Oz and Berkman to find job candidates in