Legendary FBI Detective

New York, a cafe off Wall Street.

This cafe is not big, and soft piano music is playing. Luo An and Michael Bray are sitting face to face at a round table in the deepest part of the cafe. There is no one else here except them.

Michael Bray, the head of Wall Street's "Successor Capital", Luo An had asked him for help before, buying financial products that shorted federal real estate (Chapter 575).

“The coffee in this cafe is very good, real Blue Mountain coffee.”

Michael Bray picked up a metal spoon and stirred it in the coffee cup, smiling:

“Apart from being expensive, there are no disadvantages.”

Blue Mountain Coffee, one of the most expensive coffees in the world, Luo An picked up the coffee cup and took a sip, smacking his lips and frowning slightly:

"Well enough."

The dense, rich and aromatic taste was Luo An’s first experience with Blue Mountain coffee.

Moreover, the coffee itself has the right amount of sweet, sour, and bitter flavors, so it has no bitter taste at all and only has an indescribable sour taste.

Luo An has always been sensitive to sour tastes, and he doesn't like eating sour things on weekdays.

Blue Mountain coffee is indeed expensive and tastes good, but Luo An really doesn't like the sour taste that is always lingering in his mouth.

After taking a sip, Luo An did not continue to taste it. He briefly chatted a few words to bring the conversation to the main topic, and asked with a smile:

"What brought you to see me today?"

Seeing this, Michael Bray stopped talking nonsense. He looked around to make sure there was no one around. He coughed lightly and leaned forward, lowering his voice and asked:

"Team Leader Luo An, have you heard of Bernard Madoff?"

"..."

Luo An raised his eyebrows, this name was too familiar to him.

The previous Ponzi scheme case, and Supervisor Elmer came to him for help. Although he did not meet Bernard Madoff specifically, he has never forgotten the name.

With a flash of thoughtfulness in his eyes, Luo An nodded and replied:

"Bernard Madoff is the former chairman of Nasdaq, so of course I've heard of him."

"Since Team Leader Luo An knows, I won't introduce him anymore."

Michael Bray moved his chair to Roan's side, his voice lower than before:

“Team Luo An, Bernard Madoff has recently been selling CDS, a financial product, through internal channels.

But the price he sold it for was only two-thirds of the market price.

You know what CDS is a financial product, so I won’t go into details. I came to you today just to ask if you would like to add money to buy CDS from Bernard Madoff. After all, this is a rare opportunity! "

"..."

Luo An's eyebrows jumped. When he heard the name Bernard Madoff, he would subconsciously think of the word Ponzi scheme.

IRS Director Elmer has already launched an investigation and evidence collection campaign against Bernard Madoff, but no one has been arrested yet.

Today I heard Michael Bray say that Bernard Madoff was selling CDS at a low price. Luo An had two first reactions:

Either there was something wrong with Bernard Madoff's capital chain, and he started selling financial products to withdraw funds.

Either Bernard Madoff sensed something was wrong and was about to do something about it.

Thousands of thoughts flashed through his mind instantly, and Luo An's expression remained unchanged. He did not answer Michael Bray immediately, but asked:

"Where did you get this information?"

Michael Bray thought that Roan was doubting the truth of the matter and was a little worried. He immediately patted his chest and said that it was absolutely fine, and then lowered his voice and said:

“On Wall Street, stocks are not valuable, and information is the most valuable item.

As long as there is a demand, there will be a market, and information is no exception.

So on Wall Street, information is also a commodity on the shelves, and it is more expensive than stocks! "

Luo An frowned slightly. Since information can be sold, it is probably not a secret that Bernard Madoff is running a Ponzi scheme.

Luo An shook his head and smiled silently in his heart. Sure enough, there are no fools on Wall Street, they are all smart people, but these smart people are more greedy.

Michael Bray picked up the coffee and took a sip:

"So, this is a rare opportunity. Team leader Luo An, do you want to continue to invest in the purchase?"

Luo An shook his head:

"Thanks for the message, but no thanks."

Luo An also has greed in his heart, he also likes money, and he also likes to see the numbers in his account increase.

But compared to greed, Luo An is more cautious.

Bernard Madoff has been targeted by Director Elmer of the IRS and the FBI for running a Ponzi scheme. If he is caught later, all his assets will be completely frozen.

No one knew whether Bernard Madoff had tampered with those CDS sold at low prices or in which aspects.

It's okay if he doesn't, but once he does something, he will be frozen by the IRS, which will be too embarrassing, and it will be very troublesome later.

"OK."

Hearing Luo An's rejection, Michael Bray smiled and didn't care. He simply told Luo An the news, and it was up to the other party to decide whether to buy it or not.

Michael Bray then took out a document from his briefcase, opened it and handed it to Luo An and introduced:

"This is the CDS product you purchased, Team Leader Luo An, the premiums in the past two months, etc."

The premium for the past two months was US$1.35 million. Michael Bray had already transferred the money to the bank. Luo An checked for a moment and found that there was no problem, so he put the document away.

Michael Bray went on to say that the CDS he purchased for Luo An were BBB-level, which is the lower level.

During this period, through buying low, selling high, and exchanging in batches, Michael Bray successfully raised these BBB levels to AA levels.

Levels aa and bbb are the evaluation standards set by Wall Street rating agencies. Level c is the lowest and level aaa (level 3a) is the highest.

Taking out another folder and handing it to Roan, Michael Bray smiled quite proudly:

"Previously, Group Leader Luo An spent US$450 million to purchase BBB-level CDS products worth US$3 billion.

After the level was upgraded to AA level, the value of these products increased from the original 3 billion to 4.123 billion.

In addition, during the transaction, 450 million US dollars of CDS were sold for a total of 473 million US dollars, with a profit of 23 million US dollars, or 23 million US dollars.

Is this how Team Leader Luo An plans to arrange this profit? Should you continue to invest in buying CDS, or withdraw it and transfer it back to your account? "

"Wow."

Looking at the numbers in the folder, Luo An suddenly raised his eyebrows.

He originally thought that the US$450 million would sit quietly for more than ten months, waiting for the subprime mortgage crisis to erupt and the real estate crash.

Unexpectedly, Michael Bray's operation was so simple. Not only did he sell low-grade CDs to other buyers, but he also bought high-grade CDs to upgrade Luo An's CDs. He also made more than 2,000 yuan for him during the sale process. Ten thousand U.S. dollars.

With the corner of his mouth raised, Luo An handed the document back to Michael Bray and said with a smile:

"Continue to buy CDS products and you can handle it."

Luo An is now more and more certain that his original judgment was correct. It is indeed better and more useful to ask professional fund managers to help invest than to wander around in the market by himself.

The more than $20 million and product upgrades during this period are evidence of this.

"no problem."

Michael Bray smiled and took back the folder. He also got a commission for helping Luo An make money. It was a win-win situation for both of them.

After chatting for a while, Michael Bray stood up and left first. The saying "time equals money" is completely literal for him.

Luo An left the cafe and got into the car. He pondered for a few seconds, took out his mobile phone and found a number to call. The call was quickly connected and a male voice came out:

"This is Elmer."