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I once worked for the now discredited cable company Adelphia communications. You might recall the executives were all convicted of fraud (and it was a family business, so father and sons went to jail. Made for one heck of a Christmas card). The wife of the founder owned a high end furniture store in New York City which was basically a money laundering operation. All office furniture was to be purchased through this store, at an incredible markup. No facilities manager ever bought furniture, since it would quickly put the kibosh to any office remodel. They did however buy a lot of "misc office equipment."