Free Web NovelThe look on Chairman Jamie Dimon’s face made it perfectly clear.
The people on Wall Street still didn't even realize how many institutions were going to collapse because of bad mortgage loans.
“I don’t literally mean Wall Street itself has to collapse. Who do you think owns Wall Street?”
“Owns Wall Street?”
“Yes. The owners of Wall Street.”
Jamie Dimon frowned.
“This is the first time I’ve ever heard anyone say Wall Street has owners. How could Wall Street possibly have owners?”
“Think about it. Who owns the shares of the major Wall Street banks? Can those banks really be free from the influence of a handful of families?”
“Well...”
Jamie trailed off.
Did he really not know?
If he were incompetent, maybe.
But he was the chairman of JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in the world.
A man like that couldn't possibly be incompetent.
“Are you going to tell me you've never heard of the Rockefeller family, the Rothschild family, the Wallenberg family, the Medici family, and finally the Habsburg family?”
Jamie Dimon pressed his lips together.
On Wall Street, speaking those families' names out loud was one of the greatest taboos.
Even for JPMorgan Chase, where their influence was relatively limited, openly antagonizing them was an entirely different matter.
“I intend to break the system where those families control Wall Street and the global economy. And the beginning of that process is the collapse of Bear Stearns.”
“That’s hard to believe. For decades—no, for more than a century—those families have moved the world economy. Mortgage-related losses aren’t large enough to bring them down.”
Instead of answering, I simply smiled.
They had fallen perfectly into my trap.
The banks and insurance companies involved had all signed CDS contracts.
When housing prices were rising, those contracts generated enormous profits.
CDS contracts, which essentially insured against homeowner defaults by quantifying the probability of default, had already grown to a scale exceeding fifty trillion dollars.
More than twice the GDP of the United States.
The mortgage defaults themselves were only a breeze.
The real problem was what happened when the CDS contracts started being triggered.
“Jamie.”
“Yes?”
“Stop pretending you don’t know. The mortgage-related derivatives market is worth hundreds of trillions. You know that mortgage defaults eventually translate into losses on those derivatives, don’t you?”
“...”
“Wasn’t the shadow banking exposure recently uncovered at JPMorgan Chase dangerous for exactly that reason? The same goes for Bear Stearns.”
Jamie still refused to answer, chewing on his lip instead.
I continued regardless.
“If JPMorgan Chase, which diversified its risks so aggressively, is in this position, do you really think the people who have manipulated the global economy for decades passed up an opportunity this good? No. They’re tied into this far more deeply than you imagine. To a degree that even the capital reserves of banks and insurance companies won't be enough to cover.”
“...How do you know their internal information?”
I shrugged.
There was no reason to answer that.
“That’s why I believe Bear Stearns has to fail. Then JPMorgan Chase suddenly stepped in and complicated the board, which forced me to choose this method. Jamie, when you tell me to stop, are you saying you understand that pulling out could put you in conflict with those families?”
“Well...”
Jamie couldn’t answer easily.
No matter what he chose, he was cornered.
“Jamie, getting out of this won’t be easy. Whether I win or they win.”
“Ha...”
He let out a deep sigh and rubbed his forehead.
He had walked into a storm with his own two feet. Of course he felt trapped.
“Why exactly did JPMorgan and I end up being used as tools in all this?”
“You seem to think I’m the one who made it happen. Let's be honest. It was the Federal Reserve, Chairman Ben Bernanke, and the Rockefeller family backing him who dragged you into this.”
“What? What do you mean...?”
He stared at me in bewilderment.
“Chairman Bernanke is little more than their mouthpiece. Maybe he started as an economist, but not anymore. Now he's simply someone who communicates their interests through the all-powerful institution known as the Federal Reserve.”
“That’s absurd. The chairman of the Federal Reserve, the institution responsible for U.S. monetary and economic policy, is a mouthpiece for one family?”
“Not one family. There are five major families, but many others are connected to them as well. Isn’t it an open secret that the Federal Reserve itself began as an alliance of those families?”
Jamie shook his head vigorously, as though rejecting reality itself.
“Back then those families and industrialists had tremendous power. But this isn’t that era anymore.”
“They simply stopped standing in the spotlight. The reality hasn’t changed. The opponents Dreamhigh has clashed with most often are those families.”
There was a reason I was explaining all this so patiently.
I intended to bring Jamie Dimon over to our side.
Sure enough, he asked in a suspicious tone:
“Charlie. Why are you telling me all this? Frankly, these are things I’d rather not know.”
“I’m giving you a choice. Either join me and bring them down, or stand with them and fight me for victory.”
Jamie visibly flinched.
I watched his reaction before continuing.
“Personally, I’d prefer that you join us. Of the five major Wall Street banks, every one except JPMorgan Chase is heavily influenced by those families.”
Something changed in his eyes.
No one became chairman of JPMorgan Chase by accident.
He had smelled money.
“If I accept your offer, what do we gain?”
“‘We’? Or Jamie Dimon personally?”
“Is there a difference?”
His sly question made me laugh.
“Let’s be honest, Jamie. Even if you're Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, not everything belongs to you, does it?”
“That’s true, but...”
“There will be plenty of benefits for JPMorgan Chase. But it’ll be even better for you personally. That much I can promise.”
There was a huge difference between Han Kyungyeong and me taking center stage versus Jamie Dimon doing it.
Han Kyungyeong had considerable influence, but on Wall Street he was still an outsider.
Jamie was different.
He started his career at American Express.
Later he became COO of Travelers Companies, then President of Citibank after Travelers merged with Citicorp.
Eventually, internal politics pushed him out of Citigroup, and he moved to Bank One as CEO.
That was when his luck began.
Bank One merged with JPMorgan, making him COO.
Two years later, he became Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, the third-largest bank in the world.
He was a man who had lived on Wall Street his entire life.
A symbol of Wall Street itself.
On top of that, he was a Greek Jew.
He maintained good relations within Jewish communities.
Not every Jew shared Baltice’s agenda.
Most simply followed because their power was overwhelming.
“I’ll show you Citigroup’s downfall. No—I'll help JPMorgan Chase acquire Citigroup.”
“That’s impossible...”
At the moment, Citigroup was the leading bank in the world.
“You think it can’t fall?”
Even without my help, Jamie Dimon would seize this opportunity and eventually surpass Citigroup to become the largest bank in the world.
But with my assistance, he could crush Citigroup completely and take it for himself.
“Citigroup is going to collapse?”
“If you and I decide to make it happen, yes. The bomb headed toward Wall Street is that large. Citigroup is deeply tied to the Rockefeller family. If the Rockefeller family falls in this fight, Citigroup won't escape the crisis either.”
A dangerous gleam appeared in his eyes.
“If that's true, I'd sell my soul to the devil.”
“Then will you accept my offer?”
“I still lack justification. As you said, JPMorgan isn’t actually mine.”
“Hmm...”
I nodded.
“That can be arranged. I’ll give you justification. We’ll save Oakwood Partners. Dreamhigh will acquire Oakwood Partners for one dollar.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Why does the reason matter? We’d be taking JPMorgan’s losses onto our own shoulders. Your board would probably welcome it with open arms.”
Of the three companies that had recently been exposed, Oakwood Partners was the most dangerous.
It was already on the verge of bankruptcy.
And Oakwood Partners held a massive amount of CDS contracts owned through our paper companies.
Even if we acquired it, we were confident we wouldn’t lose money.
“That’s true. Are you serious?”
“Yes. Transfer the company to us for one dollar. That covers all of Oakwood Partners’ assets and liabilities.”
JPMorgan Chase had invested over one hundred million dollars in Oakwood Partners.
But even if they had to swallow that loss, transferring it to us would prevent far larger losses in the future.
Jamie understood that.
His face brightened immediately.
“I’ll return and discuss it with the board.”
“Do that. If necessary, you can bring James in to speak with them. I’ll make arrangements.”
“Really?”
“We need to give you enough justification to join us.”
“More than enough. Dreamhigh’s reputation alone carries that much weight.”
I stood up and extended my °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° hand.
“Excellent. We’re comrades now.”
He rose and shook my hand.
“Comrades. I like that. But what about the Wall Street Journal articles?”
“Leave them alone. We need to keep feeding the fire. This won’t be bad for JPMorgan Chase either. If you show the public that you're cleaning out bad assets, you'll be praised for acting differently from Bear Stearns.”
At this point, there was no stopping the Wall Street Journal.
Well, technically there was.
But the cost would far outweigh the benefits.
There was no reason to take that risk.
“The day will come when the authority of the Wall Street Journal becomes an opportunity for JPMorgan Chase.”
“Understood.”
Though reluctant, Jamie quickly accepted it.
“As for the Bear Stearns acquisition, don’t give the Federal Reserve any answer yet. Just tell them you're still reviewing the matter. Giving them time to find another buyer would be a mistake.”
Allowing another buyer to emerge would be the worst possible move.
And I had no intention of making mistakes.
* * *
The Wall Street Journal continued publishing its series of articles.
The fallout was moving far beyond anything the Federal Reserve had anticipated.
In the end, the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury decided they could no longer wait for JPMorgan Chase’s response.
They chose to inject emergency rescue funds first.
The Federal Reserve approved a one-billion-dollar short-term loan for Bear Stearns.
But both the Fed and Bear Stearns knew that one billion dollars was nowhere near enough to prevent bankruptcy.
It was merely a desperate measure to buy time until JPMorgan Chase completed acquisition negotiations.
“Tsk. Those bastards really did it. They ended up giving them the billion.”
Han Kyungyeong clicked his tongue and lowered the newspaper.
“Because of the Wall Street Journal articles, negotiations that should have already started never even opened. If they do nothing, Bear Stearns collapses. This was their attempt to put out the immediate fire.”
“If JPMorgan Chase announces it won’t buy them, Bear Stearns is finished. But I still don’t understand. Why aren’t the other banks stepping in? Opportunities like Bear Stearns don’t come along often. The Fed is even offering loan guarantees.”
There was a reason the saying “too much of a good thing is bad” existed.
Bear Stearns was a poisoned chalice.
I shrugged.
“They’re probably too busy putting out their own fires. Especially the banks and insurance companies connected to Baltice.”
At that very moment, nearly every major bank was probably watching flames spread beneath its feet.
The fact that they were too occupied extinguishing those fires to pursue an acquisition was something nobody else knew yet.
