The Tyrant Billionaire

Andy continued: "Setting up a company in the Cayman Islands facilitates cross border business operations, helps avoid trade barriers and foreign exchange controls, and provides a simple registration process with easy management. It's perfect for overseas investment operations, such as our investment in Japan."

"If it really works like that, it's fantastic. We all have substantial overseas investments, so we could re-register those companies in Cayman and place our overseas companies under Cayman ownership. That would save us from paying a lot in taxes and make fund transfers much easier."

Other executives nodded in agreement.

They were financial magnates, and they immediately saw the benefits of the Cayman Islands as a tax haven.

Some of them were thinking even further ahead.

The vice president of Morgan Stanley asked, "How many banks are currently in the Cayman Islands?"

"Only Wells Fargo," Andy replied.

Since Cayman belonged to Hardy, and Wells Fargo was Hardy's privately owned enterprise with 100% control, naturally Wells Fargo would serve as the settlement bank.

All financial transactions would go through Wells Fargo.

Whether it was money from laundering, smuggling, drug trafficking, or corporate funds seeking tax shelter, all would flow into Wells Fargo in the Cayman Islands.

These financial tycoons quickly realized that in the future, an immense amount of capital would likely flood into Wells Fargo, causing the bank's assets to swell rapidly.

These financial groups had their own banks and were envious of this potential. Someone asked, "Can we establish banks in the Cayman Islands?"

Andy had previously mentioned that aside from banks, insurance, and military related companies, there were no restrictions. This meant that the first three types of businesses had some limitations.

Andy explained: "We certainly welcome financial institutions to establish branches in the Cayman Islands. However, there are some restrictions. You're all smart people—under Cayman's tax-free and foreign exchange unrestricted policies, the role of banks would be incredibly powerful."

"That's why we've set a rule: if you want to establish a bank, insurance company, securities firm, trust company, or fund management company in Cayman, you either need to pay a certain amount of taxes—though much lower than in other places—or allow Wells Fargo to invest."

The financial sector was extremely lucrative.

Cayman's policies were so relaxed that many financial institutions would want to take advantage of these loose monetary regulations for profit, which would, in turn, siphon off resources that Hardy had cultivated.

Cayman was tax-free to attract capital for Wells Fargo, but Hardy wasn't so generous as to offer the same benefits to other banks for free.

The crowd understood Andy's explanation and found his demands reasonable. If they owned such a territory, they wouldn't let others profit without a cost either.

Fortunately, Hardy's requirement was only that Wells Fargo take a share in any financial branch established in Cayman, which didn't affect the core of their financial empires. They would still profit from the funds circulating in Cayman.

"We at Morgan Stanley are prepared to open a branch in Cayman."

"We at Manhattan Bank also plan to open a branch in Cayman."

"Mellon Financial is planning to set up an investment division in Cayman as well."

Soon, representatives from the DuPont, Cleveland, and Texas conglomerates also announced plans to establish financial institutions in the Cayman Islands.

As for the shareholding structure,

Hardy's principle was that Wells Fargo would hold no less than 30% equity in any bank established in the Cayman Islands.

Besides earning money, Wells Fargo would sign agreements with these banks for the free flow of funds, thereby creating a powerful financial network. This would ensure that financial transactions between these banks and Wells Fargo would flow seamlessly.

Anyone trying to trace those transactions?

It would be nearly impossible.

Given the potential obstruction from the world's largest financial systems, Hardy knew how much resistance such an act would face.

This network of influence was so powerful that even the U.S. government had to tread carefully. Any politician issuing orders had to consider the consequences of offending several major financial conglomerates.

After the financial groups discussed their plans to acquire Japan's seized assets, Hardy submitted the price list to President Johnson's administration.

When President Johnson reviewed the list, his first impression was that the individual prices seemed low. However, upon seeing the total:

$570 million.

He was intrigued.

Japan was currently in extreme poverty, still burdened with hundreds of billions of dollars in war reparations. The government had no funds, and neither did its people.

If the U.S. could secure $570 million from this transaction, it could accomplish a lot.

Hardy explained to President Johnson, "I hope you'll present this list to Congress. If they approve, I'll move forward with the sales, which will allow us to recoup a significant amount of money. This money is crucial for revitalizing Japan's economy."

"Alright," President Johnson replied, "I'll submit it to Congress as soon as possible. I'm sure they'll be eager to dispose of these useless assets and help Japan become self-sufficient again."

President Johnson then introduced the proposal to Congress, asking the legislators to review it. A vote would be held during the next session. Once Congress passed it, the deal would be legal, leaving no room for objections.

Every congressman received a copy of the list of Japanese military industrial assets.

Naturally, this matter couldn't be kept secret, nor did anyone try to hide it. The Japanese Embassy in Washington quickly got hold of the list, and the ambassador's first reaction was that Japan's assets were about to be divided up. He immediately relayed the information back to Tokyo.

When the Japanese Prime Minister and cabinet members saw the prices, they felt as though their hearts were bleeding. These were national assets, painstakingly built with massive investments from the Japanese people, and now the U.S. was offering prices that were one twentieth of the original cost.

In truth, these assets had already been seized by the U.S. military.

Initially, the Japanese government had lost all hope, but over time, through repeated requests and heavy bribes, they managed to soften General MacArthur's stance.