Seeing criminals as pawns, he created Branchwater, a meta-human trafficking ring that would coerce and control meta-criminals into acting as his agents, performing acts of corporate espionage that would benefit Stagg Industries without implicating him in any impropriety.
To control his assets, Stagg hired Jervis Tetch, aka The Mad Hatter, who injected his victims with nanite technology that stripped them of their free will, turning them into obedient puppets. He also contracted various mercenaries to work for Branchwater, who would operate both as recruiters and handlers.
To facilitate and pay for these mercenaries, Simon created additional shell companies, each designed to ensure that no one could trace the meta-trafficking ring back to him.
However, fearing that one of his competitors would have similar ideas, he sought out a way to stop any meta-human who opposed him. Hearing that such a device - a meta-human failsafe - had been salvaged from Reach ships and sent to S.T.A.R. Labs Detroit for further analysis, Stagg ordered Branchwater to secure the tech and bring it back to him in Gotham.
Though the mission was a success, Branchwater was all but incapacitated by the Anti-light, who had learned of Stagg's operation and decided to expose him once and for all.
On September 26th 2019, he was arrested on the ground of possession of stolen goods. Simon would be taken into police custody, where he would remain in prison.
However, prison could not save him. While reading in his cell late one night, he was visited by The Shade, one of his former assets, who sought revenge on Stagg for Branchwater.
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