Difference between revisions of "Furniture Row"
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==How It's Done== | ==How It's Done== | ||
*'''Real Estate as a Laundering Tool:''' Owning numerous large retail spaces could serve as a means to launder money by overvaluing properties or through convoluted real estate transactions, where money could be funneled through shell companies or inflated lease payments. | Furniture is a high ticket item that usually is not purchased with a cash transaction, but there are ways around that. | ||
*'''Inventory Inconsistencies:''' Reporting higher sales volumes or inventory purchases than actually occur, providing a way to move large sums of money through the business without corresponding physical goods. | |||
*'''Employee Payments:''' A laundering scheme might involve paying employees in cash or through untraceable means, or overpaying for services which could be a method to distribute laundered funds. | *'''Real Estate as a Laundering Tool:''' Owning numerous large retail spaces could serve as a means to launder money by overvaluing properties or through convoluted real estate transactions, where money could be funneled through shell companies or inflated lease payments. Again, take a look at the size of their buildings and just how much they would have to spend to keep them up. | ||
*'''Inventory Inconsistencies:''' Reporting higher sales volumes or inventory purchases than actually occur, providing a way to move large sums of money through the business without corresponding physical goods. Who knows just how much stuff is in those buildings? Pretty easy to lose a couch here and gain ten dining tables there. | |||
*'''Employee Payments:''' A laundering scheme might involve paying employees in cash or through untraceable means, or overpaying for services which could be a method to distribute laundered funds. This is why it is so expensive to have the furniture delivered to your home. $400.00 just to drive 15 minutes??? | |||
*'''Supplier Relationships:''' Furniture Row might engage with suppliers who are fronts for laundering operations, where payments for goods are inflated or where goods are never delivered but payments are recorded, thus moving money through the supply chain. Also, have you seen the price of "premium" furniture these days? | |||
==Odd?== | ==Odd?== | ||
Revision as of 01:34, 16 January 2025
Chances are, if you live in a larger metropolitan area, there is a Furniture Row near you. That's where the suspicions begin...
Quite a bit like a Mattress Store, Furniture Row seems like a business that cannot sustain itself yet miraculously does. In the company's "about us" section, they say:
Furniture Row® is a family-owned company that offers high quality home furniture at an incredible value. We got our start as four separate specialty furniture stores in a small shopping center - the first “Furniture Row” - and these humble beginnings taught us an important lesson: the power of an enjoyable, hassle-free shopping experience. People loved being able to shop for their living room, dining room, and bedroom furniture at one location, and we quickly made providing a superior shopping experience the cornerstone of our business. 
What You Find
But just like mattress stores, Furniture Row is just a big, temperature controlled building that has a massive amount of inventory just standing around with one or two employees in the building. Yes, it is probably a money laundering scheme. They must pay tens of thousands just to heat and cool their mostly empty (of people) buildings.
Seriously, you drive past one and there are probably only one or two cars in their enormous parking lots. These cars are probably the two employees that work there. On top of that, once you are inside, you are met with an 87,000 square foot building that you could park the Hindenburg in, yet there are no customers.
How It's Done
Furniture is a high ticket item that usually is not purchased with a cash transaction, but there are ways around that.
- Real Estate as a Laundering Tool: Owning numerous large retail spaces could serve as a means to launder money by overvaluing properties or through convoluted real estate transactions, where money could be funneled through shell companies or inflated lease payments. Again, take a look at the size of their buildings and just how much they would have to spend to keep them up.
- Inventory Inconsistencies: Reporting higher sales volumes or inventory purchases than actually occur, providing a way to move large sums of money through the business without corresponding physical goods. Who knows just how much stuff is in those buildings? Pretty easy to lose a couch here and gain ten dining tables there.
- Employee Payments: A laundering scheme might involve paying employees in cash or through untraceable means, or overpaying for services which could be a method to distribute laundered funds. This is why it is so expensive to have the furniture delivered to your home. $400.00 just to drive 15 minutes???
- Supplier Relationships: Furniture Row might engage with suppliers who are fronts for laundering operations, where payments for goods are inflated or where goods are never delivered but payments are recorded, thus moving money through the supply chain. Also, have you seen the price of "premium" furniture these days?
Odd?
Don't you find it odd that Furniture Row has almost no information about it on the internet (outside of it's own website), yet there are hundreds of articles concerning their now defunct racing team?
Barney Visser, the owner of Furniture Row, has an internet footprint. But it has nothing to do with his business. His internet presence is all about how he owned a auto racing team and how great it was, even though it is out of business now. Even his article on TOW mentions little to nothing about the company. It's as if they want the place to fly under the radar...