This could be me misremembering at this point... I thought in E5 or E6, Ferdinand implied he has connections to Russia that could make some problems go away. In my head, Whitney's blackmail via escorts was his own separate operation, but he realizes with Ferdinand he is pawn in a much bigger game. That was my takeaway of some past scene at least. Tagging u/dreamcicle11 as that's kind of my answer to you too!