What they had going for them is "hey, this is Durham" and had it stayed in Durham, it might have worked.
But what they forgot was the big fish/small pond factor.
The great white sharks are not to be messed with.
This could be where the "theres more money to be made in there" came from. Kim is the mystery, did she know about and originally not want to go along with or not know at all, but in either case went along when she found a way to "spin it to her advantage"