THE BEST NEWS FROM IVONA TO VOHEMAR

Blue Tycoon Behind Bars!
By Thad S. Knotwright

Rojo Leblanc, founder and C.E.O of the largest and most prosperous information-gathering company in Reial, was convicted today of the murder of Mia Fey, celebrated Ivonian journalist. A shroud of mystery hung about the case, but the tangled web of lies and coercion is finally cleared. Many citizens throughout the country are breathing sighs of relief; a great blight has been removed from the nation with Leblanc’s incarceration. Why, you ask, did this one man inspire such fear into the hearts of police, celebrities, and politicians alike?

The answer is simple: blackmail.

Until now, BlueCorp has been a powerhouse of sensitive information quite dear to many of our leading citizens. In this new age of technology, acquiring information becomes easier and easier. Rojo Leblanc has proven that this abstract concept has a very concrete value - and made a fortune off of threatening to release it to the press. No one can say how many suicides within the past decade were caused by BlueCorp’s blackmail.

Many despaired of Leblanc ever being tried for his crimes. Among his contacts were prominent members of the police, the courts, and the military. However, Grand Admiral von Karma has proven once and for all that the Ivonian spirit is impossible to intimidate. With his power and influence, the Grand Admiral called for a trial -- and the officials listened. Leblanc’s trial was given higher priority than that of Phoenix Wright, hitherto the chief suspect in the case.

This did not stop Mr. Wright from appearing at the trial. Having resisted arrest and vanished seemingly into thin air after the police issued a warrant for his arrest, Wright appeared in the trial as a member of the prosecution, along with a key witness. Mr. Mark Down, a salesman, was willing to sacrifice his reputation to stop Leblanc. He provided the court with records of the payments to Leblanc: proof that not even Leblanc’s wealth could wash away. At least, not under the watchful and just eye of the Grand Admiral.

Throughout the trial, Wright simply could not remain silent. The prosecution itself was woefully inept, thanks to Leblanc’s connections in the prosecutor’s office, but Wright himself made several key arguments, refuting the defense’s claims.

Despite all this, the trial was leaning heavily in Leblanc’s favor. Wright had been threatened with a contempt of court charge if he spoke out again. Despite obvious evidence that Leblanc had been in the room at the moment of Mia Fey’s murder, it appeared that he would be declared innocent - until Phoenix Wright interrupted. This time, it was not an argument or evidence that he presented, but instead a list of names. This list had a very marked effect on Rojo Leblanc, as he begged that Wright stop, in great distress. The judge ordered a bailiff escort Wright from the courtroom, charging him with contempt for repeated disorderly conduct. As he was all but dragged out of court, Wright declared, “Tell them the truth, Leblanc, or this list goes directly to the press! Take that, you--” The rest of his sentence was unintelligible through the doors of the courtroom.

After this taste of his own medicine, Rojo Leblanc was quite eager to confess his crimes. The conviction and sentencing took place with very little fuss. In the meantime, Phoenix Wright has been cleared of all charges save resisting arrest, with a small fine pending.

ROJO LEBLANC: MURDERER
THE TRUTH REVEALED AT LAST!
By Phoenix Wright

[the cover is a picture of a smarmy-looking man with curling, purple hair, sparkling rings, and a violet suit looking despicably evil]

Never has the axiom “money is the root of all evil” been more true as in the case of the C.E.O. of BlueCorp, Mr. Rojo Leblanc. His “information-gathering” company BlueCorp is nothing but a blackmail agency with insidious fingers in every aspect of Ivonan society, from prominent members of Parliament right down to independent merchants. Parliament, the courts, the police, and most businesses are under BlueCorp’s influence - and Bluecorp is on their payroll.

Of course, if any prosecution attempt is made, this slime of a C.E.O. will merely eliminate the threat with some well-placed threats of his own. No one can touch this man. Even the press is under his thumb.

No one tries, and with good reason. New details have come to light regarding the death of Mia Fey, a prominent journalist of no small fame, who had been investigating BlueCorp‘s doings for quite some time. . Several months ago, while investigating a suspicious suicide in Shashta, Mia Fey met her own end at the hands of an unknown assailant.

Rojo LeBlanc and his secretary, Miss June, checked into a small hotel directly across from the one Miss Fey was staying at. Through monitoring her difference engine, Miss June found out that Mia Fey was keeping evidence inside a clock-statue of a famous work of art, Confused Man. She had removed the clockwork to keep the papers inside, and had arranged for an acquaintance to pick them up at 9:00 P.M. and take them to a safer place.

At 9:00, Miss June was quite alone in her hotel room. She requested that a cup of tea be brought to her at nine o’clock sharp, and the bellboy can attest to her being completely alone. She seemed quite eager to distract him from the view outside the window, favoring him with a kiss to keep his mind on her and away from the scene unfolding in the next building.

Having learned from his secretary of the damning evidence inside the statue of Confused Man, Mr. LeBlanc approached her to take it himself. He struck her once with it, over the head, removed the papers, and left. He took care to wipe his fingerprints from the statue when he removed the papers, but was careless enough to leave a print on her difference engine when he erased its records.

[here is a photograph of a difference-engine keyboard. It is covered in fingerprints, but several have been circled. M. Fey is engraved on the bottom corner. There is another photograph next to it of a fingerprint on a copper speaking tube in the main office of BlueCorp‘s C.E.O. They match.]

Mr. LeBlanc has no alibi, feigning ignorance and claiming that he “seldom pays attention to trivial details such as time and place”. Any fair system would recognize one thing about this statement: this sorry excuse for an excuse is inexcusable! However, all the courts in Ivona and most in Vohemar are in his pocket. Those that are not can be bought easily enough - and blackmailed for accepting the bribe. In all probability, he will never even be tried for this crime.

There truly is no justice left in this country, and the sole ruling power is money.

BlueCorp: Benefactor or Blackmailer?
A Special Report by Phoenix Wright

The name of BlueCorp is known throughout Reial as a buyer and seller of information. Some call it a detective agency. Others call it a valuable source, where one can learn anything….for the right price. The truth, however, is much more sinister. Not only are BlueCorp’s methods far from legal, but the simple sale of its scoop is just the beginning of the company’s cash-in.

Here’s one example of BlueCorp’s insatiable greed. Five years ago, BlueCorp offered a young secretary (who shall remain unnamed) a handsome amount of money to provide proof that her boss embezzled company funds. In order to do so, she provided security codes to the company’s safe. BlueCorp proceeded not only to blackmail the corporate official for ridiculous sums of money, but it immediately turned around and sold the security codes to a criminal organization. These criminals escaped with over 15,000 francs, leaving the company foundering.

But is this enough for BlueCorp? No. Not content with the ruin of a company and a corrupt official, they informed the now-unemployed secretary that if she did not pay them $500 francs a month, they would reveal to the press that she had sold the security codes that led to the robbery and the company’s demise.

“It wasn’t so bad at first,” she told our reporter, fidgeting with her handkerchief. “Five hundred francs was a lot, but as long as I could find work, I always managed to pay them on time.”

Five hundred francs may have been manageable, but when the amount rose to six and even seven hundred, she turned in growing desperation to any source of income she could find.

“If I didn’t find money soon, they’d tell the police. I‘ve taken out more loans than I could ever pay back. I‘ve sold almost all my furniture.” She looks down at her folded hands. “I didn’t want to go to prison.”

But now, the company is asking for a whopping twelve hundred francs. She knows she can’t pay this month, and therefore agreed to this interview.

“My story’s going to come out, anyway,” was her statement. “I want my side out there, even if it’s only in an underground paper.”

She told us that she had considered killing herself - a method of escape many of BlueCorp’s targets have chosen to use. (For the full list and a brief summary of each case, see page 15.) It is this very threat that keeps BlueCorp’s many cash-cows silent. That is the sole reason that this has remained under wraps, and the country chokes in LeBlanc’s stranglehold.