The Tyrant Billionaire

Everyone in the room, all financial moguls, immediately lit up upon hearing Hardy's plan to eliminate these heavy taxes. Someone quickly responded, "If we were to set up a company in the Cayman Islands and conduct import-export business, with funds circulating through the Caymans, we would save a huge amount on taxes."

High taxes sometimes reach 35%, which is a third of the profits. Especially for large transactions involving millions or even billions, it's no small matter.

"I'll go into the details of the Cayman plan later," Hardy said. "But regarding our current investment in Japan, we could easily register hundreds of companies in the Cayman Islands and use these companies to acquire control of Japanese businesses.

"And for the companies in the Cayman Islands, the Cayman government's policy is strict confidentiality—no shareholder information will be disclosed to any external party, including the U.S. or U.K. governments, and there are no foreign exchange controls in place."

"These companies could engage in cross-holding of shares. As for how to manage that, I trust that any bank or financial management firm could easily handle it, right?"

The others finally understood Hardy's plan.

If things were truly as Hardy described—no taxes, highly confidential information, and no foreign exchange controls—then the Cayman Islands would be an absolute paradise for corporate investment.

They could operate in Japan with much more freedom, and when profits were made, they wouldn't even need to bring the money back to the U.S., avoiding high taxes. Instead, they could use the funds for further offshore investments, directly from the Cayman Islands, making the Caymans a legitimate and legal investment haven.

Not only would this apply to the Japan investment, but they could use the same method for all of their foreign investments. They could open another company in the Cayman Islands to hold shares in their overseas assets, allowing profits to flow into Cayman accounts, again avoiding hefty taxes.

American entrepreneurs had been playing cat and mouse with the U.S. tax system for centuries, always under heavy scrutiny. But now Hardy had introduced a method that felt like opening an enormous window of opportunity for these men.

It was simply brilliant.

The vice president of Morgan Stanley asked eagerly, "Mr. Hardy, I agree with your proposal for joint investment and cross holding of shares. But I'm even more interested in hearing all the details of your financial regulations for the Cayman Islands—the more detailed, the better."

The others all nodded in agreement.

At this point, their interest in the Cayman Islands had surpassed their interest in the Japanese investment.

Everyone present was intrigued by the Cayman Islands' policies. Hardy smiled and said to Andy, "Andy, why don't you introduce the details to everyone?"

In recent days, Hardy and Andy had been studying the situation in the Cayman Islands. The idea of turning Cayman into a tax haven was Hardy's proposal, and he shared his knowledge of future tax havens with Andy.

Andy was astonished by the concept of a tax haven.

Taxation is one of the most crucial mechanisms for a government to function. Without taxes, a government cannot operate. But Cayman was different. It was a small place with minimal financial needs, and since Cayman belonged entirely to Hardy, as the owner of the Hardy Group, he didn't care about collecting a bit of tax revenue.

Turning Cayman into a tax haven had enormous benefits.

Take Hardy Group, for example. It already had significant overseas operations, including in Hong Kong, the U.K., France, the Netherlands, Italy, and soon, Japan.

The total asset value was approximately $200 million.

If these companies earned profits and those profits were repatriated to the U.S., a large portion would be seized by the U.S. tax system.

In the past, funds would be transferred to Switzerland, but even Switzerland required some taxes, and their financial management fees were not low.

If Cayman became a financial hub, those taxes would no longer need to be paid, significantly reducing tax expenditures. This could save a considerable amount of money, especially as Hardy's enterprises grew larger.

Additionally, Cayman could become a focal point for international trade financing. If others settled their accounts through Cayman and transferred their funds to Wells Fargo, the bank's capital would expand rapidly, potentially turning it into a global financial giant.

Once the bank had money, everything else would be easier to achieve.

In the past few days, Andy, along with a team of lawyers and financial experts, had been refining the Cayman Islands' financial management policies, and a framework was already taking shape.

"From now on, the Cayman Islands will implement an exemption from taxes, meaning no direct taxes will be levied on individuals or companies."

"Setting up a company in the Cayman Islands will have a very low threshold. People from any country can register a company here, with no nationality restrictions, as long as they are 18 or older."

"The registered capital will be $50,000, but no capital verification is required."

"A company only needs one shareholder and one director, and the shareholder and director can be the same person. Aside from banks, insurance, and military related businesses, there are no restrictions on what the company can do."

"In addition, foreign exchange in the Cayman Islands is completely unrestricted. The government does not impose any limitations on the movement of funds, and it's even possible to not register the owner's name—only a fund code and withdrawal password are needed, ensuring a high level of confidentiality."

When Andy finished explaining this point, everyone in the room immediately thought of money laundering.

This was unrestricted, blatant money laundering without any limitations. It was shamelessly overt.

For many, this was an extremely important point.

"The Cayman Islands is a British Overseas Territory, so it enjoys the protection of the U.K., which ensures its security. But as an autonomous territory, Cayman can implement its own administrative and tax policies."

"The Cayman government will charge a company registration fee, an annual report fee, and an annual audit fee. These are fixed costs to maintain company operations, but beyond that, there are no other fees."

Everyone understood.

These fees were trivial for a company and could easily be ignored—maybe only a few hundred or a thousand dollars a year. But if enough companies registered, these fees could generate sufficient revenue to cover the Cayman Islands expenses.