In 1998, Smith instructed a reporter that a wealthy media mogul in Montreal named Richard Szalwinski had invested in Vice. In 1999, Vice moved into an office paid out for by Szalwinski on West 27th Street, exactly where the founders were being astonished to locate espresso machines, 25 employees members, and a human-sources division that chastised McInnes for calling a homosexual co-worker a "fag.