The Bank of Universal City $($BUC$)$ is a medium$-$size state banking organization that is

located in Louisiana. BUC offers a good variety of pro$-$ ducts and services, including checking

and savings accounts, a bill$-$paying service, credit cards, business consulting, insurance, and

investing services. The CEO of BUC, Chuck Charles, has publicly stated that he intends to grow

the bank's assets by $15$ percent annually for the next five years. Although $15$ percent is a fairly

robust growth rate, it is not an impossible goal for BUC. In fact, last year, which was the first

year the plan was implemented, the bank's assets grew nearly $20$ percent. However, much of the

growth occurred because there was a significant increase in population when a large

manufacturing firm relocated to Universal City $18$ months ago.

With only three weeks remaining in the current fiscal year, Mr$.$ Charles is concerned that

actual growth for the year will fall well short of what is needed to keep the bank on track to

achieve its overall growth projections. As a result, Mr$.$ Charles has instructed the vice president

in charge of Univest, which is the investment management division of BUC, to find a way to

increase the amount of investment funds the bank currently manages.

As the assistant to the vice president of Univest, you are responsible for sales and thus get

paid a commission for the funds the division manages. Your boss and the CEO of BUC gave you

names $($leads$)$ of persons and organizations they think are good prospects for Uni$-$ vest. After

contacting the prospects, you discover that the only one who seems interested is Rudolph

Radcliff, the head of a radical religious organization based in Universal City. It has been

rumored that the organization, which is called Righteous Freedom Choice $($RFC$),$ funds

foundations based in countries that are not friendly to the United States. It is suspected that some

of the organizations RFC sponsors support terrorist activities around the world. A few days ago,

a col$-$ league told you that he thought RFC would be moving its funds to a new investment

organization because the firm that currently manages the funds refused to continue as its

investment adviser; it was discovered that the funds had been received from organizations that

are involved in illicit activities. This information was reported to your colleague during a

conversation that he had with two prominent businesspersons at a charity gala the previous

weekend. Your colleague noted, however, that the tone of the conversation suggested that the

two businesspersons were not on friendly terms with Mr$.$ Radcliff.

When your colleague relayed this information to you, you did not ask questions, such as

the names of the businesspersons, because you didn't expect to be involved with RFC$.$ Now, you

need to make a decision whether to pursue RFC$\text{'}$s funds to help Univest and BUC meet their

growth objectives. Unfortunately, the colleague who told you the information about RFC is on

vacation for the next few weeks and cannot be contacted to answer questions you might have.

Univest's sales have been stagnant this year. As a result, if sales don't increase substantially

during the next several weeks, the commission you earn will be much lower than normal. And, if

your commission does not increase, you and your spouse will have to consider moving from the

luxurious house that you purchased five years ago. What should you do$?$