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+--- Thread: [Society News] Scandal! Wealthy Heiress Pleads Guilty to Mercenary Financing (/showthread.php?tid=12256)
[Society News] Scandal! Wealthy Heiress Pleads Guilty to Mercenary Financing - Ha'uruh Nunh - 06-24-2015
UL'DAH - Fans of schadenfreude and society-watchers rejoice; another bold-faced name falls to scandal and ruin. The so-called "Cherry Blossom Socialiste," heiress Annunu Nunu, former fixture at high society soirees and dinners across the sultanate, completed her plunge from grace Firesday as she plead guilty to unlawful participation in and financing of an unauthorized and unlicensed mercenary group.
In a sworn statement before a magistrate, Nunu confessed to utilizing her formerly vast fortune behind the group known as "Khamja," which was said to be involved in several incidents at Garlean strongholds across Eorzea that threatened to reignite the Alliance's war against the Imperial aggressors. Nunu confessed to being Khamja's chief financier and organizer, plowing no doubt vast sums into hiring sellswords, former pirates, brigands, and ne'er do wells to combat the might of the Garlean Empire in an excess of patriotism, as she claimed.
The confession capped nearly a year of increasingly erratic behavior from the heiress, once seen as Ul'dah's most eligible bachelorette for consortium owners and aspiring businessmen looking for a quick infusion of cash along with their bride. Nunu shocked high society last year by very publically taking vagabond Miqo'te storyteller Chuta Allfriend as a lover, and further defied convention by announcing their engagement several moons ago. According to information exclusively revealed to the Lantern by an anonymous source close to Nunu, Allfriend greatly contributed to Nunu's financial ruin.
"Why else would he take up with a Lalafell half his age?" our source affirmed. "When she first became besotted with him, he realized he was set for life - the gravy train had rolled in! He was never far from the dice pits and the chocobo races after that, spending her money like water." Our source noted Allfriend only proposed to lock up access to Nunu's wealth for the long term.
It was shortly after her engagement, however, that Nunu fell in with the hardened criminals and sellswords that comprised Khamja's core leadership. The Lantern has identified one Erwin, an Ala Mhigan refugee and mercenary for hire, as a key commander in the group. The mercenaries spun fantasies of victories against the Garleans for the dim-witted heiress, claiming they only needed the appropriate funds to drive the Empire out of Eorzea. As beguiled by Khamja as she had been by Allfriend, Nunu again opened her pursestrings, paying heavily to arm and train the group. She also provided strategic intelligence from snippets overheard mingling in high society circles, which informed Khamja's misguided attacks of a moon hence. The Lantern has learned that Erwin has been recently released from Flames custody after posting a sizable bail and his current whereabouts are unknown.
According to our source, Nunu's heavy involvement with Khamja - and the subsequent loss of money - was a key factor in Nunu's rumored split with Allfriend two moons ago. "The well began to run dry," our source confided. "He got angry and scared that his sweet set-up for life was gone. So he told her, 'Me or Khamja.' But I guess she saw Khamja as a 'cause' by then, a real chance at ending the war - that, or she finally clued into the fact that he was only in it for the money." Based on the Lantern's knowledge of the Cherry Blossom Socialite, we'll guess the former. The Lantern has even obtained sale records for Nunu's familial estate in East Thanalan, said to be in severe disrepair due to neglect - a sign of Nunu's increasing financial desperation.
After hearing Nunu's sworn confession and testimony, and taking her motivations and all of the facts into account, the magistrate sentenced her to two years' imprisonment and a hefty fine of 3 million gil. The magistrate deferred Nunu's sentence on the condition that she obtain a recommendation by Her Resplendence's internal security unit, headed by Knight-Captain Elyas Rosewater, who will be conducting Nunu's security review.
Despite the deferred jail time, perhaps feeling the weight of her financial and personal ruin, Nunu wept as she was led from the courtroom in chains.
RE: [Society News] Scandal! Wealthy Heiress Pleads Guilty to Mercenary Financing - Gegenji - 06-24-2015
Ever since Annunu had left his side at the Still Shore's Medical Ward, Gogonji had sought to keep tabs on her. No longer having access to An's own skills at information gathering, nor his Khamjan network, he was reduced to mere hearsay and whatever meager tidbits of truth he could siphon from sensationalist rags like the Tonberry's Lantern. To think that the term for the warped descendents of an ancient advanced civilization would be attached to such filth was both insulting and yet oddly fitting - purpose twisted by madness. Something the Doman knew far too well.
One such copy of the Lantern had made its way to the end-table by his bed, likely set there by one of the nurses. At first he thought to dismiss it, the paper had yet to provide any substantial information on Annunu, or anything else for that matter. In fact, some of the gibberish inscribed within risked being more headache-inducing than the soul fragments still swirling angrily within his Lalafellan form. Yet his desire to know something - anything - urged him to slowly reach for the paper after propping himself up against the headboard for support. And procuring a cup of hot tea from Ezra, complete with her sneaky addition of a dollop of sweet honey.
Annunu's title of "Cherry Blossom Socialite" immediately grabbed the attention of Gogonji's violet orbs even as the cup of tea reached his lips. He poured over the article, absorbing each sentence, each quote as the situation was unfurled before him in the brusque manner he had come to expect from the Lantern. Most notably, the frequent allusions to her once-fiance Chuta Allfriend and the nature of their relationship. They had only touched briefly on the matter of Chuta, leaving the Doman wondering how much truth lay in these statements made by the anonymous source.
Still, all that paled in comparison to learning of the sentence. The fine would likely be little issue - either she could pay it herself or Gogonji could once again try plying the markets as he had when funding his Awakener project. Having her locked away in Ul'dah's deplorable cells for two years was much less palatable. Thus, he felt himself inclined to find out more about this security review - and what, if anything, he could do to assist. She had done so very much for him, it was only fair to return the favor.
He needed to know more.
Gogonji always needed to know more.
RE: [Society News] Scandal! Wealthy Heiress Pleads Guilty to Mercenary Financing - Mercurias - 07-17-2015
M'sato Tia clicked his tongue disapprovingly as he finished making notes to the report in his desk. Ten hours after fixing Lunae's misconceptions on what she's supposed to be doing was all it took before she brought him this little gem.
He sighed and leaned back in his chair as he looked over his additions at the bottom of Lunae's report.Â
Any damned fool with half a brain can read between the lines. She formed up a group willing to do what the Grand Companies are too afraid to and reclaim the lands the Garleans are basically allowed to keep on Eorzean soil. She funded them herself to try and do good. What she gets in return is shame and ruin from the people she did it all for.
I move to mark Annunu Nunu as person of interest. I want to see what she, and the people around her, are going to do from here on out.Â
-M'sato