One realistic issue I'd like to nitpick at.

Nick runs a night club.

I think it's very difficult for a revenue officer to prove how much money you really earn with a restaurant or club business. Just imagine you buy half of the drinks and food trough your books, the other half you pay in cash and don't account for. In your tax declaration you declare the official half and pay the taxes for the income that you earned with it. The other half nobody knows about and you sell this half of the drinks and food "tax free".

I guess Nick does it the other way around: he says he earns lots of money with his club. When somebody says you can't make that much with a night club of that size, he simply answers that the people like the atmosphere he creates there, or the choice of musicians he has playing there and stuff like that, and so the club works quite well financially. The revenue office will hardly complain about him paying more tax than other comparable club owners. Like that, he can "earn" a certain amount of money "officially", washing money from his thefts. The rest is on bank accounts that can't be related to him that easily.

In regards to sudden wealth and paying off the mortgage, I go back to Nick's
character and his need for discipline. Just because he can pay off his debts in one swoop doesn't mean he actually did it. I imagine he invested his money carefully and kept making regular payments on the club so as to not make anyone suspicious of his income.

mostly about cash. wide fluctuations in revenue are normal. why criminals run night clubs. also he could have the money to pay off the balance of the mortgage but not necessarily pay it off in one lump payment.



“Can't go wrong with taupe."- Wynn Duffy

Realistic? it's a movie

I think there is an assumption that the money was washed clean. He's been a crook for a long-time, and he has had to deal with large sums of cash before. But that's not to say it's always been cash. Remember the offer to allow Nick collect all the money and take out his cut and do a bank wire transfer to send back the rest. So it's very likely they have shell companies established or favors from others who own companies to help wash the funds.