On 5 March, Anderson and Peacock were convicted of unauthorised regulated activity, in a scheme masterminded by Pruthi.

Police suspect the group of Chinese were brought to Japan as cheap labor under a scheme masterminded by yakuza groups, Japan's organised crime gangs, the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) television said.

But that was nothing compared with the scheme masterminded by Streisand herself.

They ridiculed accusations by the prosecution that prices for customers were inflated by hundreds of millions of dollars a year through schemes masterminded by mobsters who were top officials at four carters' trade groups.

Nine other people were convicted in November in the scheme masterminded by Dr. Carl Lichtman, who has admitted submitting more than 600 fake bills from 1986 to 1995 for therapy sessions that never took place.

Soon enough he is drawn into a dangerous scheme masterminded by the sinister Tucka Mertslin, cosmetics queen, and the aptly named Dr. Hiril Mennus, a plastic surgeon who runs a spa ominously called the Last Resort, in their pursuit of a formula to ensure eternal youth.

He insists as well that he has proved conclusively - through a careful examination of newly released papers - that Levin was a pawn in an elaborate scheme, masterminded by Hellman, to control Anne Frank's legacy.

The logistics of that bit of chicanery are eventually laid out with a flourish, but first Valentine must figure out how it fits into a broader and deadlier rip-off scheme masterminded by an Atlantic City mobster.

The scheme, masterminded by Vishnu, was to wrap the serpent Vasuki around Mount Mandara and then to rotate the mountain and to churn the surrounding sea in the manner of a gigantic food processor, by alternately pulling on the serpent's head and then on his tail.

But things only get worse, as the PC is framed for the murder of a Flaming Fist officer and must stay hidden while working to uncover the truth, finally uncovering a grand scheme masterminded by Sarevok, the man who slew Gorion.