4 ms·

You're missing the point of these night clubs. Nearly all of them are owned by, or involve criminal gangs because they're a fantastically convenient and efficie

You're missing the point of these night clubs. Nearly all of them are owned by, or involve criminal gangs because they're a fantastically convenient and efficient way to clean dirty money. Buy a jeroboam of champagne wholesale for $300, sell in night club for $30,000 or more.

ZeroGravitas 11y ago
I did briefly consider this, but it seems the celebrity isn't really required for this scenario, and is therefore an uneccesary expense.
- twoodfin 11y ago
  It does present a vaguely plausible justification for why you can sell that bottle of champagne at such an insane markup.
nradov 11y ago
I'm not quite following. Are you claiming that criminal gangs are investing in night clubs just because they have high profit margins? Or are you claiming that they pass dirty cash under the table to certain customers with the understanding that those customers will immediately return it as clean cash by paying artificially inflated prices for drinks? There is a common money laundering scheme where a criminal gang purchases a bar and buys a bunch of inventory. But they don't really try to earn a profit or have many real customers. They just write up fake receipts for cash "customers" and then deposit their dirty money. Most of the inventory gets poured down the sewer. The IRS will sometimes send agents to count actual customers going into such places when they suspect laundering.
gaadd33 11y ago
Any info available about that? Most of the clubs I know of are affiliated with large corporate entities like Wynn or MGM. The highest grossing clubs are all run by the Tao Group. Also where can you get a jeroboam of Veuve Clicquot or Dom Perignon for $300 wholesale? I'd love a link or more info since I would buy a bunch for parties.
- sjtgraham 11y ago
  Do you live in Vegas? Go to London, LA, or NYC and you'll find popular nightspots are not corporate affairs. I didn't specify brand. £230 Moet Jeroboam (including 20% VAT) - http://www.drinksupermarket.com/moet-chandon-imperial-brut-nv-champagne-3ltr-jeroboam http://www.drinksupermarket.com/moet-chandon-imperial-brut-n...
  - gaadd33 11y ago
    Are there places that charge $30K for non Dom Perignon/Armand de Brignac champagne? I think at Marquee (NYC) you can get something larger than a jeroboam of Veuve for $30K. (Probably a methuselah or salmanzar since I think they keep one of them on hand for all their venues) What top grossing nightclubs in NYC aren't corporate affairs? All the top ones I can think of are; Tao, 1Oak, Lavo, PHD, VIP Room, etc. I'm sure there are smaller ones that are purely independent affairs but they aren't doing 10M+/year in revenue.
    - anon827495 11y ago
      Drais in LV had $250k bottles opening weekend in 2014
- 55555 11y ago
  A club is a great way to launder dirty cash without crossing borders. Just say that 500 people came last Friday and all paid a $50 cover. That's $25,000 USD laundered and there's no easy way to prove after the fact that it didn't actually happen. If these imaginary people averaged three drinks each, that's another easy $15,000 laundered. Few other business models are able to charge so much for intangible value and maintain such high margins while being believable. This, ofcourse, does nothing to explain why they'd need to pay famous people for appearances. I assume they do that because they expect to make money from it from real customers.
- Intermernet 11y ago
  Can I recommend Tsarine over both Veuve Clicquot or Dom Perignon? I know it's personal opinion and all, but I find it to be much better than both of the above. Jeroboam for 183,64 € [1] [1]: http://boutique.tsarine.com/catalogue/formats-speciaux/jeroboam http://boutique.tsarine.com/catalogue/formats-speciaux/jerob...
collyw 11y ago
Probably quite a good place to sell the sort of things that criminal gangs deal in as well - drugs and prostitution.

ZeroGravitas 11y ago

I did briefly consider this, but it seems the celebrity isn't really required for this scenario, and is therefore an uneccesary expense.

twoodfin 11y ago
It does present a vaguely plausible justification for why you can sell that bottle of champagne at such an insane markup.

nradov 11y ago

I'm not quite following. Are you claiming that criminal gangs are investing in night clubs just because they have high profit margins? Or are you claiming that they pass dirty cash under the table to certain customers with the understanding that those customers will immediately return it as clean cash by paying artificially inflated prices for drinks? There is a common money laundering scheme where a criminal gang purchases a bar and buys a bunch of inventory. But they don't really try to earn a profit or have many real customers. They just write up fake receipts for cash "customers" and then deposit their dirty money. Most of the inventory gets poured down the sewer. The IRS will sometimes send agents to count actual customers going into such places when they suspect laundering.

gaadd33 11y ago

Any info available about that? Most of the clubs I know of are affiliated with large corporate entities like Wynn or MGM. The highest grossing clubs are all run by the Tao Group. Also where can you get a jeroboam of Veuve Clicquot or Dom Perignon for $300 wholesale? I'd love a link or more info since I would buy a bunch for parties.

sjtgraham 11y ago
Do you live in Vegas? Go to London, LA, or NYC and you'll find popular nightspots are not corporate affairs. I didn't specify brand. £230 Moet Jeroboam (including 20% VAT) - http://www.drinksupermarket.com/moet-chandon-imperial-brut-nv-champagne-3ltr-jeroboam http://www.drinksupermarket.com/moet-chandon-imperial-brut-n...
- gaadd33 11y ago
  Are there places that charge $30K for non Dom Perignon/Armand de Brignac champagne? I think at Marquee (NYC) you can get something larger than a jeroboam of Veuve for $30K. (Probably a methuselah or salmanzar since I think they keep one of them on hand for all their venues) What top grossing nightclubs in NYC aren't corporate affairs? All the top ones I can think of are; Tao, 1Oak, Lavo, PHD, VIP Room, etc. I'm sure there are smaller ones that are purely independent affairs but they aren't doing 10M+/year in revenue.
  - anon827495 11y ago
    Drais in LV had $250k bottles opening weekend in 2014
55555 11y ago
A club is a great way to launder dirty cash without crossing borders. Just say that 500 people came last Friday and all paid a $50 cover. That's $25,000 USD laundered and there's no easy way to prove after the fact that it didn't actually happen. If these imaginary people averaged three drinks each, that's another easy $15,000 laundered. Few other business models are able to charge so much for intangible value and maintain such high margins while being believable. This, ofcourse, does nothing to explain why they'd need to pay famous people for appearances. I assume they do that because they expect to make money from it from real customers.
Intermernet 11y ago
Can I recommend Tsarine over both Veuve Clicquot or Dom Perignon? I know it's personal opinion and all, but I find it to be much better than both of the above. Jeroboam for 183,64 € [1] [1]: http://boutique.tsarine.com/catalogue/formats-speciaux/jeroboam http://boutique.tsarine.com/catalogue/formats-speciaux/jerob...

collyw 11y ago

Probably quite a good place to sell the sort of things that criminal gangs deal in as well - drugs and prostitution.