In June (2003), Prince Albert met his spymaster Robert Eringer in London for meetings with senior representatives from two friendly intelligence services.

Eringer wrote this memo for the Prince:

The purpose of these meetings is to develop a high level of trust and cooperation between the US/UK and the Prince personally. In practical terms, this means that we may call upon the tremendous resources of CIA/SIS to assist us with our ongoing enquiries. Conversely, CIA/SIS may call upon us to discreetly assist with their own operational concerns in Monaco, an overlapping of mutual interests. Best of all, these meetings convey the Prince's good faith for wishing to keep Monaco clean of money laundering and organized crime activity.

It is my role to manage these relationships; not only for maximum effectiveness, but also to ensure the Prince's best interests are preserved. As such, I become a liaison between parties-understood by all-with loyalty to my client, the Prince.

Afterward, Eringer and the Prince decamped to a private dining room above Bedlam Bar in Hampstead, north London.

A bottle of good champagne had been chilled in advance of their arrival, but the Prince opted for Bedlam's Walt Freeman Lobotomy, an absinthe cocktail. Eringer was joined by Piers to brief the Prince over hot dogs, french fries and a bottle of Ridge Geyserville zinfandel.

Allied forces, Eringer told the Prince, had discovered documents in Iraq linking Patric Maugein to Saddam Hussein. The Iraqi dictator had wired six hundred thousand dollars each month to a European bank account belonging to Maugein-presumably for Jacques Chirac. Moreover, ex-Iraqi Prime Minister Tariq Aziz revealed under interrogation that Maugein received five million dollars from Iraq for Chirac's presidential campaign, adding the Iraqis believed Maugein was Chirac's nephew.

Then Eringer addressed the Prince's earlier request for information on one Kenneth Anderson, a British national who had apparently represented himself as the owner of Vantis PLC, which desired to purchase shares in Monaco's football team.

Piers determined that Vantis was not owned by Anderson, who was merely an accountant used by Vantis as a proxy for purchasing companies. He learned through sources that Anderson, by reputation, was "a dodgy, third-string footballers agent who occasionally turns up to make a deal with other peoples money and it always falls through." Anderson had many dissolved companies to his name, and those still current had neglected their obligation to file company accounts.

Vantis PLC was actually owned by a UK national named A.L.R. "Bob" Thornton, also an accountant. Morton founded Morton, Thornton, an accounting firm that owned Vantis. Morton also owned a trust investment vehicle called Southwind Ltd, based in the British Virgin Isles. For its investment deals, Vantis used money belonging to its wealthy clients whose identities were shielded. Hence, Vantis was a nominee front.

Eringer and Piers recommended that the Prince request Vantis to declare precisely from whom such investment funds would emanate, along with the specific routing of such funds. His spymaster could then investigate such a declaration to ensure its veracity.

Result: No Vantis investment in ASM football.

Next, another requirement the Prince had given his spymaster pertaining to one Johannes van Dijk, owner of a nightclub in Monte Carlo called Point Rouge, rumored to be a haven for drug-dealing.

Eringer and Piers determined that Van Dijk, from Rotterdam, first came to the attention of Dutch police twenty years earlier when known criminals regularly acquired vehicles through his Rotterdam Mercedes dealership. Police suspected Van Dijk of involvement in criminal activity with his customers, which included a spectrum of fraudsters, organized crime figures and drug-dealers. They also believed Van Dijk engaged in the altering of vehicles for smuggling. A Dutch police officer familiar with Van Dijk speculated that his set-up in Monaco was financed with the ill-gotten gains from his associations with known criminals.

Result: Point Rouge closed down.

The Prince provided Eringer with a new requirement: Investigate a Russian named Leonid Sloutsky, deputy chairman of the Duma's committee on International Relations. Sloutsky was also a delegate to the Council of Europe and had been charged by that body to determine whether or not Monaco was a suitable candidate for membership. Sloutsky, the Prince told Eringer, had barged his way into the royal court and seemed to want something for himself in exchange for green-lighting Monaco's acceptance into the Council.

Sadly, the briefing was interrupted at this point. The Prince had arranged to meet a buddy and two brassy buxom blondes in the main restaurant downstairs, and this took priority.

Coming Next: A U.S. Senator joins the Mix