Page 95 - Hotel Tunnel's 100 Years of History

came to stay at our hotel. But they all had one thing in common: they were here to invest in art. It was around this time that I reali- zed what they were up to, or rather what their business plan was. You buy an art piece, leave it in the gallery, or take it home. The gallery then promises to repurchase it in one year, guaranteeing a 15% increase in value. In other terms, a pure Ponzi scheme.
I knew then that this was not going to last forever, but I was just happy, especially since the rent was paid on time.
Two years had passed and more and more happy art investors kept showing up, all seeming very upbeat, all none the wiser. It actually came to a point when I thought, "maybe this really works." But after a brief moment of insanity, I came to my senses, mostly due to an episode that took place during the summer of 2012.
By pure happenstance, I found myself in a restaurant on the bo- ardwalk in Puerto Banus. While enjoying an overpriced glass of Spanish white wine, I saw a gold-wrapped Hummer H2 slowly moving among the pedestrians. Behind the wheel, a very familiar face presented itself. It was M. S. He had moved location and now only operated from this part of the southern hemisphere, leaving his mother in charge of Malmo and Trelleborg.
Our eyes met, his face lit up, and he then parked the car right in front of the restaurant and joined our table, proceeding to order
a bottle of the finest champagne. Long story short, after a long but very interesting evening, we ended up in his lavish villa, over- looking the harbor, with a helicopter platform and a garage full of gold-wrapped cars.
At a certain point during the latter part of the evening, I had to excuse myself. M. S. gave me directions to the nearest bathroom. While passing an open door to the master bedroom, I noticed several stacks of vacuum-packed euros. I don't know how many, but I was not sure if I was on candid camera or in the last scene of "Scarface". Regardless, I excused myself and went back to my 2-star hotel, where breakfast was not included.
From here on out, it was only downhill. Rumors began to flourish that something was amiss with the gallery and its concept. People began to show up and demand that their investment be reimbur- sed, and rent payments were also beginning to be tardy.
Fast forward two months, and they had stopped paying, and we began the evicting process. But there is where the story takes a new turn.
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