gold. Money that arrived into accounts for companies Le Roux controlled—Ajax Technology, Southern Ace, East Asia Escrow, and at least two dozen others—was wired to the local subsidiary of Metalor, a Swiss precious metals dealer, to purchase gold bars. That’s where McConnell’s role began. From his home in Manila, he flew to Hong Kong to supervise runners who picked up the gold, along with an occasional diamond purchase, and transported it to any of several properties Le Roux owned in the city. Each stash house was outfitted with a large safe. From there, the gold would often be packed in military-style black plastic trunks called Pelican cases and moved to the waterfront, to be loaded onto a yacht bound for the Philippines, where Le Roux was based. Some- times an entire safe might make the trip. On other occasions, the cases were driven to the airport and handed to a pilot to carry, unchecked by customs, on board Le Roux’s jet. McConnell didn’t inquire about the destination.

Lachlan McConnell was one of the players on a darker side of Paul Le Roux’s business, one stocked with modern soldiers of for- tune, mercenaries who operated outside the digital realm, in the world of atoms, metal, and flesh. Employees on any one side of Le Roux’s multifaceted operation were told little or nothing about those on the other. For people like Moran Oz, who subsisted in the virtual world of RX Limited, whispers of Le Roux’s other endeav- ors amounted to puffed-up rumors and scare stories. For the likes of McConnell, on the gold-and-guns side of the business, RX Lim- ited was just an abstract explanation for how his boss made money. The mercenaries’ modus operandi was on the ground, providing the manpower and muscle for a staggering array of projects around the globe.

McConnell joined Le Roux’s business in 2008, hired by a friend and British ex-soldier named Dave Smith, who told him only that the client was “a very wealthy individual who had multiple busi- nesses, including but not limited to the world’s largest pharmacy.” McConnell had lived in the Philippines for a half dozen years, bounc- ing around in the risk-management industry—a catchall label for