America: My Time

Chapter 434 Killing someone with a borrowed knife

Chapter 434 Using a borrowed knife to kill

"Real estate? I think we can start with real estate. The Mandarin Oriental Group has expanded in real estate, right? Perhaps we can do that. Commercial centers and shopping malls are a good option!"

“That makes sense. The Cultural Oriental Group now owns a lot of such assets and has also established its own real estate management. If we use such real estate as a bargaining chip, we might be able to complete a deal with this little fox. Everyone has such assets.”

For those guys on Wall Street, who doesn't have such assets? Even if they don't, they can acquire them with their methods and abilities. As long as a settlement is reached with John, this price is worth paying.

These guys quickly came up with a solution. They owned a lot of commercial real estate in New York and even controlled shares in all the retail companies. If they could use that to reach a settlement with John, that little fox, it would be worth it. After all, if they didn't act quickly, they would face the risk of bankruptcy if the dollar continued to depreciate.

These guys put some properties on Fifth Avenue in front of Hurricane Investment. They couldn't find John, so they had to go to Hurricane Investment. After all, this matter couldn't be delayed for too long; every day of delay increased the risk. They contacted Hurricane Investment the very next day, which shows how fast these guys were.

Although they could sell these assets, it wouldn't be easy at this time, and everyone knows their true situation, so they would definitely try to drive down the price. Therefore, it would be better to use this as leverage to reconcile with John.

Having already received instructions from John regarding the hurricane investment, upon seeing the properties these guys presented, I briefly assessed their value but, in their presence, called John to report on the hurricane investment and the benefits these guys were offering.

"Real estate? They want to use the Fifth Avenue properties as the price for a settlement? It seems these guys are really desperate and don't have much money left. Let's agree to it. After all, we need to save face for the White House. If these guys go bankrupt, the White House won't look good either!"

Upon hearing John's reply, these guys breathed a sigh of relief; it seemed their gamble had paid off, and they could finally relax. However, they all harbored deep hatred for Lehman Brothers. Their involvement in this affair was solely due to the brothers' manipulation. When faced with danger, Lehman Brothers abandoned everyone else to plead with the White House and reconcile with John, leaving them to face such pressure. Having learned their lesson, they would never trust Lehman Brothers again, and given the right opportunity, they would surely deliver a fatal blow to them.

"Alright, everyone can rest assured now. John, that little fox, is actually quite easy to talk to, just a bit petty. We will absolutely not participate in any more investments in Hurricane in the future!"

"That's right. We will not trust Lehman Brothers in the future either. They have no integrity at all. They were the ones who took the initiative to contact us and dragged us into investing in Hurricane. But when danger came, they abandoned us and ran away. They contacted the White House behind our backs and reconciled with that little fox John, leaving us to bear the consequences of losing our sense of direction."

"Who told us to be so stupid as to believe Lehman Brothers' lies? Luckily, John, that little fox, is easy to talk to, otherwise we would be in big trouble this time. I even suspect that this was all a conspiracy by Lehman Brothers to kill us, to use someone else to do their dirty work, and to take advantage of the devaluation of the dollar to eliminate us."

"It's not impossible. After all, Lehman Brothers has no credibility whatsoever. These guys are capable of anything, and it wouldn't be difficult for them to use someone else to do their dirty work. For Lehman Brothers, these losses are nothing. As long as they can take us down and wipe out a large portion of the companies on Wall Street, they will reap amazing profits!"

"Hiss! That's certainly possible. Many of those who fell were misled by Lehman Brothers, and most of their assets ended up in their hands. In fact, this time the dollar depreciated, Lehman Brothers only suffered losses on the surface. Their actual losses were not that great. If we also fall, perhaps Lehman Brothers will not only not suffer any losses, but will also have a large income."

"Insidious! This is absolutely insidious! Lehman Brothers actually did something so despicable and shameless, trying to use Hurricane Investment to destroy us, swallow our resources, and yet they don't even have to bear the infamy themselves; Hurricane Investment will take the blame. What a clever scheme! I've got this figured out. Don't let me catch them in the act, or they'll be in for it!" "Damn Lehman Brothers! How dare they scheme against us like this? They're so arrogant! If we hadn't been quick to react, we might have really fallen into their trap. This isn't over. We must spread this far and let the entire Wall Street know how insidious and cunning Lehman Brothers is."

Whether all of this was a scheme by Lehman Brothers is unknown, but it is undeniable that these guys were all misled by Lehman Brothers, and many of those who fell were also influenced by Lehman Brothers. So as long as these guys voice their suspicions, Lehman Brothers' character will be questioned.

Of course, there's no such thing as integrity on Wall Street; everyone's a crocodile. If you fail, if you get scammed, it's just your own stupidity, your own fault. However, Lehman Brothers will pay a heavy price this time. Its influence on Wall Street will be greatly reduced in the future, and few people will believe their lies anymore. They might even be resented by these guys, and given the chance, they will definitely kick Lehman Brothers when they're down.

"What? There are such rumors on Wall Street? Is this all a conspiracy by Lehman Brothers?" When he heard Jimmy's report, Morgan was dumbfounded. How did this get involved with Lehman Brothers again?

"Yes, many people are saying that the losses suffered by everyone in this dollar devaluation are a conspiracy by Lehman Brothers. They want to use others to do their dirty work and use Hurricane Investment to eliminate those small and medium-sized investment companies. Moreover, those guys all say that they were misled by Lehman Brothers before they acted. Many of the investment companies that have collapsed were also misled by Lehman Brothers. Now Lehman Brothers is almost universally hated on Wall Street."

"Jimmy, have you confirmed this? Is it really as those guys say? Do you have any concrete evidence?"

"There isn't much evidence; it's just what those guys said themselves. However, one thing is very suspicious: many of the resources of those bankrupt investment companies ended up in the hands of Lehman Brothers, so there is some credibility to this claim. However, Lehman Brothers denied it, saying that it was a conspiracy by someone with ulterior motives, and that someone was targeting them."

"Forget it, let's not concern ourselves with these matters. Whether it was a conspiracy by Lehman Brothers or not, only they know the truth. However, after this incident, Lehman Brothers' influence will be weakened, which is a good thing for us. We can also secretly push things along, but we can't be in the open. Everything has nothing to do with us, do you understand?"

“Boss, I understand. In fact, many guys on Wall Street are doing this. Otherwise, this matter wouldn’t have spread so quickly on Wall Street and is poised to spread throughout the United States. This is clearly not something those guys could do. There must be some peers secretly pushing things along. I just don’t know if Hurricane Investment is involved.”

"No, Hurricane Return to Work won't do that. That little fox John won't do such a thing. It won't have a big impact on Lehman Brothers. In time, everything will be over. At most, it will just make Lehman Brothers look bad for a short time. The real impact won't be too great. John won't do something so foolish. This is just the retaliation of those who were schemed against. They are retaliating against Lehman Brothers for abandoning them. Since John agreed to the White House's mediation, there is no need for him to do such a thing. That would only make the White House resentful. Lehman Brothers is not worth such a risk for him."

“That’s true. If John does that, he’ll be slapping the White House in the face. But if something like that happens, Lehman Brothers won’t be in a much better position either. It will be impossible for them to still be able to wield influence on Wall Street and get everyone’s help. Nobody trusts them and everyone is afraid of being schemed against by them.”

"The impact won't be too great. We're all crocodiles; failure is just a matter of their own incompetence. These guys might resent Lehman Brothers' ruthlessness, but it won't have a significant impact on Lehman Brothers. If there's another chance like this, these bastards will still fall for it and still believe in Lehman Brothers because they're inherently greedy. As long as they have greed, it's not the end. Lehman Brothers knows this, so they didn't bother with these guys. It just benefited us, giving us the opportunity to find something for Lehman Brothers to do."

Just as Morgan had said, no matter how determined those guys were, when the next opportunity arose, when they received another warning from Lehman Brothers, these guys would rush in again, becoming Lehman Brothers' henchmen and standing on their side. Profits would drive them mad.

Profit is the foundation of everything; profit is the foundation of Wall Street. Faced with profit, these guys will compromise, compromise with profit. In their hearts, profit is the only eternal truth. For profit, they will do anything, even put aside mere hatred.

(End of this chapter)