The Ties that Bind: Family Connections (Baader/Holt)

Ludger Holt ("Emcee")  was part of the Baader Meinhof Gruppe (Baader Meinhof group, also known as Red Army Faction) a leftist terrorist group in Germany. He also worked for the Stasi (who supported the far left group materially, financially and ideologically). He did 'cross border' operations into West Germany to destabilize what was seen as a pro-Nazi, corrupt and decadent government regime. He worked alongside the ideological founder, Andreas Baader, who had a brother, Josef Baader (Ezera's father). While Josef Baader was much less involved in the activities of the BM Gruppe (and never in their terrorist attacks) because his idealogical persuasions and ire were actually focused on the Communist regime in East Berlin (causing some family tensions), he occasionally housed members of the group trying to escape the pro-western (but ultimately more fascist) Nazi remnants now in power in West Berlin in his cabaret nightclub, which was also a hotbed of the resistance movement and safe haven for anti-regime intellectuals, artists, activists and those the East-German/Berlin regime targeted, but also obviously open to his brother. 

That's how the Holt and Baader family first met. Andreas Baader was later jailed with his comrades-in-arms and they all killed themselves in prison after agreeing to a suicide pact. For obvious reasons, Ezera doesn't talk about her uncle (whose association and activities she learned only later in life when she was old enough to understand such matters and instead immortalized and put her father and his work on a pedestal. Tobias Holt thinks these men had the courage of their convictions regardless of their different idealogical persuasions.) 

Two years later, Ezera's father, Josef Baader, was arrested by the Stasi for his anti-Communist activities at the cabaret club. Ludger Holt already has a strong relationship with the Baader's and helps Josef escape from a Stasi black site/prison. In return, Josef Baader hides Ludger Holt from the Stasi, who want to arrest him for colluding with the enemy on other occasions where he played both sides to get financial gains (to help with raising his son, Tobias).

The sordid story in between all of this is a Family Affair. 

A Family Affair

Tobias Holt was born as a result of an affair between Ludger Holt (Emcee) and German-Romanian, Mala Badis (Ezera's mother), in the early days of the Baader-Holt relationship, before Lugder even knew Ezera's father, Josef, but did know his brother, Andreas Baader, the leader of the Baader-Meinhof Group (aka: Red Army Faction) from his work in the Stasi and support of some of the group's ideals and initiatives.

The relationship was short-lived (it was only a brief marital interlude for Mala, anyway, who loved her husband dearly, but still had a more wandering nature that wasn't quite suitable for marriage in the first place) because of fears it would affect cross-border operations. However, Mala became pregnant because of the affair and in order to avert her husband's suspicions, went to stay in Dresden with an "ailing family member" for the last few months of her pregnancy.

Enter Tobias Holt into the world, who was given to his father and never knew who his mother was until a few months before her death.

In other words, Tobias Holt--Emcee's son--and Ezera Baader are half-siblings. Tobias suspects that Ezera might, in fact, be his fraternal twin, which would mean that Emcee was her father (something, if true, wouldn't go over very well with Ezera) and Mala Badis was a better schemer than most gave her credit for.

What Josef Baader knew or suspected, no one but perhaps Lugder and Mala know/knew. However, we do know that the two men became good friends for a long time, both saving one another from the Stasi. Josef Baader even hid Lugder and Tobias in his cabaret, giving the former a new identity and place in his club. For a few years, things were fine and Tobias had a home at the club where he and Ezera were told that they were cousins and that Lugder (now only going by the nickname "Emcee") was an uncle. Ezera had many uncles and aunts at the club and that was the only name that the children knew of the people going in and out for their and everyone else's safety.

But when the Berlin wall fell, the Stasi began cleaning up its loose ends which included traitors and those that fled with too many internal records and state secrets (like Emcee and Josef who would later use the material as blackmail against the German government for money and to get the state to fuck off).

The Baader’s and the Holt’s fled Germany in hopes of racing outside the reach of a dying intelligence structure. They fled separately. Ezera and Tobias, then about 8, never saw one another again. But Stasi assassins were never far behind.

For the Baader family, whose immediate involvement in the underground resistance movement in Germany had been significant, the pressures became unbearable as the Stasi threatened their lives even overseas via these contracted assassins. Finally bowing to the pressure and realisation that he couldn't protect his family on his own, Josef Baader made a devil's deal with the mafia so that his family was always protected and Emcee, whether from loyalty, mixed family relations or to protect his son, did the same. With with previous criminal, resistance, and state security experience, they were contracted by the mafia to do jobs, falling ever deeper into criminality. For reasons only revealed to Tobias much later in life, he learned that "uncle" Josef Baader faked his death, leaving his family. That always sat wrong with Tobias. Eventually, both "Emcee" and Josef became fixtures in the criminal underground (the former has property and racketeering enterprises and the latter used entertainment venues for drug and human trafficking fronts and to house prostitution rings.)

The difference between the families was that the Baader clan never told Ezera the truth of what happened. That was the last remnants of mercy from a father who loved her. Emcee pulled Tobias into the fold. It cannot be said that Tobias minded, although what choice does a child have when he grows up around criminality? But Tobias isn't unaware. He's made a conscious choice.

Families need to stay together. If even they are crime families.

Business: Deutsche Commerzbank International

Deutsche Commerzbank International
CEO: Tobias Holt

Deutsche Commerzbank International is a small specialised boutique bank for the world’s wealthiest clients. It’s the seventh largest private bank in the world.

As the CEO of a small boutique bank that caters to the rich and famous, Tobias Holt rubs elbows with politicians, entrepreneurs, presidents, oil tycoons, governments, and less savoury characters like dictators, terrorists and rebels. Basically, the bank is involved in an enormous amount of fraudulent activities including an impressive amount of money laundering and movement of funds to get around tax laws. Tobias Hunt is so good at cleaning dirty money that he has positioned himself in a way that makes his enterprise useful to most crime related organisations so his true competitors are few and far between. After all, when you have the dirt/blackmail on people’s financial goings-on as Tobias does with the ability to hold the dirty laundry away from you at arm's length, you’re pretty much in his pocket. And if you’re not in his pocket but need to be than rest assured that someone who owes him will make sure that you’ll feel the pressure from someone that does own you. However, his smooth talking ways make you feel like he’s just giving you the better end of the short stick. The bank operates with complete discretion and anonymity in regards to its client list, so that clients don’t even know of one another, which, in the past, has included former customers like Saddam Hussein, Manuel Noriega, Abu Nidal some of the (other) Bin Laden’s as well as the Russian mafia and the Mexican cartel, among others. Even the CIA and other various international agencies have used its accounts to fund some “freedom fighters” during different wars in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Syria. He gets to skim a princely sum for his services. Of course, all of this is background knowledge only since on the front, the Deutsche Commerzbank International operates like any other private bank that has its records and transactions in order. 

The bank operates internationally with its main HQ in Switzerland and an administrative branch in New York. It also has a branch in Germany, meant to be seen like its main operational HQ, but it’s really just the front facing legitimate corporate PR portion of the bank. Although it launders the money via different means, the bank does run money through different shell companies and third party transactional banks. In other words, Tobias gets really creative with the way that he moves money. Of course, the bank also does legitimate business. 

Some of their financial money laundering methods include:

• Capital flight money
• Funnelling via shell banks
• Funneling through countries with lax financial regulations
• Bribery
• Blackmail
• Bitcoin movement
• Movement of money through non-traditional banking systems like the hawala.

Tobias also finances private endeavors. Unfortunately, he occasionally finds a way to ensure those endeavors fail (not always, but he has his preferences on people he'll screw over. OOC: It's probably best to ask the mun whether that could happen to your muse if it's not something you want your muse to experiance) in order to collect at a very high percent--sometimes, when a person can't pay, with their life or other "in his pocket" favors.

So if its is something to do with development property, it might look something like: you want to buy property, a room-for-improvement building that was worth $1 mil last year (but in the increasing property market worth $5 billion this year yet made more affordable to the prospective buyer due to by foreign investment, tax incentives and opportunities), but you don't have all the cash because you might have a record or some other financial blemish. The realtors and lawyers will do their jobs and sell you the dream and they will ensure you that if you can get the zoning or planning or whatever else you might need from the city council, you're gold. It'll cost you 200k to fix up and 50k for the applications, fees and other. The lawyer tells you it's a done deal (a great deal), that you should get the money ready but--wait--you don't have that much upfront. And maybe those blemishes mean that a bank won't loan it to you (or maybe you don't want to go to a traditional bank because it'll raise red flags).

That's ok. Mr. Holt will lend it to you. With some stipulations. Since it's hard money, it's gotta move fast and he wants it back at a percent-a share of what the building makes (and your share if he loses more than 15% on the deal--but how likely is that when everyone's telling you it's a done deal). And God forbid you don't get that planning. Which, of course, you won't because you haven't bribed the appropriate people (or not enough) because if you had those connections and money, you wouldn't have needed Tobias in the first place...

So the deal falls through and now you got a very short time to give back a whole lotta money with interest. You tried to screw him over, he'll insist. To which he'll say that he's taking the building that he's just been screwed into buying, plus he expects back what he initially loaned you, part of which you've obviously already committed to fees and applications. Of course, you're reeling and trying to figure out how to get that much money or your digging a deeper hole for yourself. Meanwhile, he's just bribed the councilman into giving him the planning. So now he has property, the zoning/plans and you, in a lot of trouble. Not to mention that he just got a property for free that'll make him more money as property value goes up. 

Profile Character Sheet

Name: Tobias Holt
Born: Dresden, Germany

Resided: East Berlin (Germany), London (England), Singapore, Zurich (Switzerland), Manhattan (New York, USA) - current (lives: SoHo, works: Financial District)

Languages: German, French, Arabic, Russian, English, Mandarin

Concept: Criminal | Businessman | Crime boss
Demeanor: Director
Alignment: Sinner
Type: Original Character
 

Summary: Worldly and well traveled with good schooling and internships in some of the most prestigious banks during his college years. Knows many of the languages that are spoken in the financial centers of the world. Got involved in his family's dirty business in his teens. Showed a talent for "financial matters". Decided that mucking around in the mud with the pigs (mafia) for scraps was small minded. In a way, he was a con-man first, faking a posh lifestyle and background to gain connections to social climbers, politicians, entertainers, criminal elite, etc. It worked. And then the con was made into a reality. His network could make Facebook jealous.

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Family & Relations

 

Father: Ludger Holt (aka: Emcee, yes...that one)

Mother: Mala Badis (deceased)

Siblings: Ezera Baader (Sister/half-sister - we're not saying) snakechahmah

 
Relatives: Josef Baader (deceased) (“Uncle”. Not a blood relation.)

 

Summary: The Baader and Holt family have an extensive history. Tobias Holt had a vision of bringing his family back together, even if they are a bunch of criminals in one way or another at some point in their lives (even Ezera has broken the law, except she does it for causes and the social good). Tobias is actually a very family oriented man as a result of his own circumstances early in life.The irony is that despite his best efforts, his family (the Holts and the Baaders) imploded in violence and now, there's very little to salvage. Also, only Tobias knows the truth of what happened to Ezera's mother and he's not sure that she's going to want to know (and he won't be in a hurry to tell her). There's also another issue. Tobias is a sociopath. Maybe a psychopath. He manipulates and doesn't really understand the concept of family the same way that other, normal people, do.

___________

 

Occupation

Business: Deutsche Commerzbank Bank International
Position: CEO

Summary: Tobias Holt is a billionaire financier and banker to the worlds wealthiest clients. Um, nothing illegal to see here. Nope.

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Journal Contents

1. Profile 
2. Business: Deutsche Commerzbank Bank International
3. The Ties that Bind: Family Connections (Baader/Holt)
4. A Family Affair