L&L Bank and Trust; Building on the Ashes of SLIB (Touchet Group Corporation) - an Interview with Lindsay Druart

In following up on Where In The World is JC Brinks? Missing Information about Touchet Group Corporation and Second Life Investment Bank, I learned a lot about the systems of SecondLife. The word came out today that SLIB has been bought by Lindsay Druart and renamed L&L Bank and Trust. A group of that name has been created, and the bank itself can be found within SecondLife at Port Druart (141,15,22).

So I asked Lindsay for an interview, and she gracefully responded. Here's the interview which we did in instant message (excerpt skips the hi,hello stuff):

[9:13] Nobody Fugazi: well - first question - why create L&L Bank and Trust from the ashes of SLIB instead of starting from scratch?
[9:14] Lindsay Druart: well L&Ls brand was on SLIB. our company was connected. Being who I am, I refuse to leave the customers out there like that. that would be a bad business practice on my end and would hurt my business and all businesses in the long run as people would not trust banks anymore
[9:15] Lindsay Druart: it would have been nice to start from scratch but i have customers to take care of first
[9:16] Nobody Fugazi: OK. 2nd question - What do you think of the 150% penalty inflicted upon SLIB, and do you think banks in SecondLife can mitigate the risk of having fraudulently generated funds deposited?
[9:18] Lindsay Druart: I think linden is justified in trying to combat that, but they have no assistance for the person they take the funds from. i think that is wrong.
[9:18] Lindsay Druart: and for the most part, unless you run a linden exchange, you cannot qualify for risk API.
[9:19] Lindsay Druart: to combat that, i would just have daily trans limits, and monitor large deposits in short time frames
[9:19] Nobody Fugazi: So you're saying Linden Lab policy doesn't scale well for banks at this time?
[9:19] Lindsay Druart: no it doesn't
[9:20] Lindsay Druart: per the TOS, and per billing, they can delete lindens at any time without any reason and we as residents have no recourse
[9:20] Lindsay Druart: we have to do our own policing
[9:21] Nobody Fugazi: Would you like to share anything else?
[9:23] Lindsay Druart: i just want everyone to know, all stakeholders, that we as businesses are out here alone. i didnt really realize how the TOS is no where near in the favor of the residents. we have to stick together as business to make sure no one in the forefront falls or we loose the trust of residents, and linden with never step in to assist.
[9:24] Lindsay Druart: this is why i did this. one fraud allegation like this, if not handled could hurt the entire market. as a business woman, i do have a little power and i will try my hardest not to let that happen if i can

For those of you in the nosebleed section of all of this, SecondLife Investment Bank got penalized 150% of what someone had deposited because the someone apparently got the money fraudulently¹. This is a documented practice which seemed alien to me and somewhat unfair given the nature of banking - but then, Linden Lab probably didn't consider banking when it came to SecondLife.

In fact, this is a problem with much in the way of financial statistics within SecondLife. When people invest in things such as banks or WSE, that money appears to be a credit for the people whose accounts accept the payments. A business could be profitable, investing money, and it would be seen by Linden Lab as losing money. This, among other things, flaws the financial statistics associated with SecondLife.

¹Gareth Qunha and Salamol Paragon helped me find this little tidbit which is hidden away on the Second Life website here (emphasis mine):

...If Linden Lab, in its sole discretion, determines that a Second Life user has purchased Linden Dollars for real currency through any means other than LindeX, and that the seller of such Linden Dollars acquired such Linden Dollars through fraudulent means, or any other means in violation of the Terms of Service, then Linden Lab will consider the buying user a complicit party in the fraud or violation. As a penalty for participation in such fraud or violation, Linden Lab will reduce the Linden Dollar balance of the buying Second Life account (and/or any Second Life accounts owned or operated by, or affiliated with, the owner of the buying account), by any amount up to 150% of the amount of Linden Dollars involved in the transaction. In addition, repeated participation in such fraud or violation will result in suspension or cancellation of the buying party's accounts. (The selling account will of course be suspended or cancelled on a single fraud or violation at Linden Lab's discretion.)...