America's Road to Wealth

2000,

August 25th.

Woolworth Building, Smith Capital.

David Mellon already knew that Abel wanted to move the company to Queens.

David Mellon doesn't understand this, but he can accept it.

Overall, Queens is less safe than Manhattan.

But it's much better than Brooklyn.

At the same time, Queens is a large area, and the area where "Spider-Man" is located is considered a civilian area, with poor security.

In comics, Spider-Man is needed to do a lot of good deeds.

But the business hub is located on the Manhattan side, and the security in this area along the Hudson River is much better.

The headquarters of many well-known large companies are also located here.

For example, Long Island Bank and General Electric Group.

There are also fashion brand Bulova, beverage company Glacéau, airline company JetBlue, piano brand Steinway \u0026 Son, and so on.

"American Express helped me choose two places."

In the office, Abel looked at David and said, "One is the Kaufman Building. One floor is about 9,000 square feet. You can rent up to three floors."

“Another option, not far from the Kauffman Building.

It is a four-story building with an area of ​​10,000 square feet and an underground parking lot. "

"Guess where I chose?"

"Kaufman Tower?" David said. "You like high places."

"Wrong. I bought the four-story building."

Abel shrugged and said with a smile: "This way you don't have to be neighbors with others."

David was curious: "Buy? How much does it cost?"

"It was formerly a supermarket. It cost about US$10 million to buy it and renovate it."

"The price is $120 million, which is very cheap."

120 million, very cheap?

David didn't know what "Versailles" meant, but that was how he felt.

But this is not a big deal, just changing the office location.

It doesn't matter where you work, as long as it's not far from Wall Street.

He picked up a newspaper and waved it in his hand.

“Now~The latest issue of the New York Post.

This guy Murdoch published the fact that you bought a house in Long Island for $60 million. "

Abel took it and read the report above.

It’s not on the first page, it’s on the third page, or it’s the headline on the third page.

The title of the report is "The Wolf of Wall Street's 60 Million Mansion."

The content and reporting style are, as always, in line with the tone of the New York Post.

That is, they like to use rendering and exaggerated language, which is their usual way to attract readers.

After looking at the content and words inside, Abel frowned.

"This kind of title, this kind of description." He said: "I don't like it."

David said: "It's good if you know. Most readers will definitely feel jealous after reading this kind of report."

Abel raised his head and looked at David Mellon, "Do you want to tell me something?"

The latter nodded and whispered: "I have received some rumors. Someone is investigating us."

This is the advantage of finding a top second generation who is also a Wall Street elite to act as his deputy.

Otherwise, with his shady connections on Wall Street, it would be impossible to know these things in advance.

Abel asked in a deep voice: "Why are you investigating us?"

David shrugged: "It is said that it is because our transaction is too "sophisticated"."

"Too "sophisticated"?" Abel was puzzled.

"It's mainly you." David Mellon said: "Dear BOSS, your investment and trading choices are almost never missed.

It can be said that he is too shrewd.

Even Peter Lynch and Buffett can't do it. "

"Is this also a mistake?"

"Of course." David Mellon said with a smile: "They are not me.

I haven't been with you, I haven't seen your performance with my own eyes, boss.

Of course they don't believe it. "

"So these guys doubt me?" Abel said.

"Bingo. That's right," David said.

Abel thought for a moment, then he drew inferences and said, "It's precisely for this reason that those people haven't come to the door until now, right? It's been five days."

“The high probability is,” David said, “These old guys, their information channels are more sensitive.

Being so greedy, it stands to reason that they should come here the next day. "

"But no one has come so far. So there is a high probability that they have also received the news."

The two of them were talking about the Hilton family's banquet a few days ago.

The thing about Charlie Scharf and those Wall Street giants.

At that banquet, Abel made it clear to them.

Next, Smith Capital will conduct its first private placement.

At that time, these people were all very interested.

They all said that they would come to negotiate soon.

But it has been so long, it has been five days.

None of these people have come so far.

This is incredible on Wall Street.

Normally, these capital hyenas would come to your door smelling money early the next morning.

"All right."

Abel nodded and said: "Then do you doubt me? Dear David."

"Doubt you?"

"Hahaha~" David Mellon laughed, "What do you suspect about me, boss? Insider trading, market manipulation? Illegal trading?"

"Let's not talk about it. I participated in the whole process and know everything."

"Even if you really want to engage in insider trading, you, a farmer's son from Texas, don't have such resources."

"It would be about the same if it were someone like me.

But it’s impossible to be as successful as you.

Insider trading cannot achieve your level of success. "

"Those guys." David took the "New York Post" from Abel's hand and pointed to the report on it——

"They were just jealous and doubtful of your success, so they took some actions."

Following his movements, Abel saw the report in the newspaper again.

Abel suddenly said: "Maybe this report is a clarion call for attack?"

"It's very possible." David was stunned for a moment, then thought about it and said.

"Then let them do it." Abel said grandly.

He had been wary of this kind of thing for a long time.

Wall Street does not mean that you can truly gain a foothold if you have great financial skills and excellent trading talent.

The darkness here is a hundred times gloomier than the entertainment industry.

The only thing that might be darker than here is probably the political circle.

From the moment he came here, any of his financial transactions were very upright.

All go through major banks and have records.

He is not stingy with taxes even on the income gained after investment.

To put it bluntly, he has paid taxes on financial gains in the past ten months.

Maybe they pay more than giants like Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch.

This does not mean that he makes more money than these giants.

It's just that he was on guard against being messed with, so he didn't choose to avoid taxes and paid as much legal tax as possible.

In contrast, any Wall Street company will try every means to avoid taxes.

Most of this is legal, but a lot of it is reported.

It will definitely make people very angry.

They make billions of dollars a year, but only pay tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes at the end of the year.

Is this reasonable?

Many wealthy people also pay taxes in a year that are completely inconsistent with their income.

For example, Ah Dong, who has a net worth of over one billion and several billion, ends up paying hundreds of dollars in taxes a year.

Legal tax avoidance here in the United States is normal and legal.

But many of them are unreasonable.

Abel actually doesn't want to do this, because paying taxes properly is very painful.

But he knows the darkness of Wall Street and these protection fees.

Even though it hurt, he still turned it over to the IRS, the federal Internal Revenue Service.

In addition, he is particularly fond of donating money.

Unlike those wealthy people who may appear to be donating money, they are actually donating it to their own private “charitable” funds.

The kind that goes from the left pocket into the right pocket.

His donations, like his donations to New York police.

It's real money.

These donations and normal taxes are all protection fees he paid to prevent today's scene.

I am still young and want to remain independent.

This approach is a choice made out of desperation.