I'm in the county town, and you say I'm a big shot?

Chapter 668 Threatening and Bribing
After finishing the call, Xia He took her phone, turned and left without saying a word.

Smith sat alone in the private room, silently drinking his coffee, before leaving on his own after a while.

The following day, Smith was fired from Topway Technology's New York office for causing trouble while intoxicated.

It was a little past seven in the afternoon when Kenjiro Kishida left his office in the New York office, got into his Toyota, and drove towards a bar in the Tribeca district.

Just like when I was working in Tokyo, I would go to a bar for drinks every afternoon after get off work and not return home until very late.

Unbeknownst to him, just as he started his Toyota to leave, a Ford also started up and followed slowly behind.

As Smith drove, he kept an eye on the Toyota in front of him. After leaving the office, he looked up the address of Mitsui & Co.'s New York office and Kenjiro Kishida online. He did one thing every day: park his car not far from the office entrance and watch the other party come and go.

He noticed a pattern: every afternoon after get off work, Kenjiro Kishida would go to a small Japanese pub called Kakureya to drink alone, and today was no exception.

This is a Japanese-style pub hidden in the bustling city center. Today, it was almost deserted and seemed a bit quiet. As usual, Kenjiro Kishida ordered a plate of grilled chicken skewers. The air was filled with the aroma of cooking, and he also ordered a bottle of sake. He slowly ate and drank.

He's been in a bad mood lately.

Even while drinking, he couldn't shake the deadly thought—he had manipulated the system at Mitsui & Co.'s Tokyo headquarters, according to his superiors, to inflate the data on copper inventory in LME-registered warehouses.

But these coppers don't exist at all!
It's not that they don't exist at all, but rather that the same batch of goods moved back and forth between registered warehouses in Busan, South Korea, Singapore, and New York, USA, causing the quantity of copper in these three locations to be artificially inflated.

But he understood that no matter how well he did it, it could still be exposed. As long as the LME's regulatory committee retrieved the warehouse transaction records for the recent period and analyzed them carefully over a period of time, they would find out!

If the LME holds them accountable, I'll be the first to be punished!
What's even more frightening is that, according to the boss, this is just the first step, and there will be even bigger "adjustments" later!
He felt as if he were standing on a steel wire about to snap.

Thinking about all this, he loosened his tie in frustration, picked up his wine glass, and took a big gulp.

Smith sat on the other side, drinking and carefully observing Kishida's actions.

Seeing the other person's agitated look, he knew the time was right. Seeing that there were only two customers in the tavern, he took his glass and sat down opposite them.

"Sir, may I sit here?"

Kishida was taken aback, only then noticing a black man standing opposite him, refined and dressed in a sharp suit, who looked like Brioni. Kishida knew this brand; it was a top Italian menswear brand.

It seemed the other party was also an elite individual, and Kishida nodded in agreement.

Smith sat down and handed over a business card with both hands. Kenjiro Kishida took it and saw that it belonged to Smith, President of Apex Consulting Co. Ltd.

Apex Consulting?

never heard of that.

However, there are countless consulting firms in New York.

"President Smith, is there something you need?" Kishida asked bluntly.

"Yes, I'm looking for you, Mr. Kishida. I've been commissioned to investigate the copper inventory data of Mitsui & Co.'s LME registered warehouses."

Upon hearing Smith's words, a flicker of fear crossed Kishida Kenjiro's eyes, but he quickly regained his composure and asked warily, "Who exactly are you?! Who commissioned you?!"

Smith did not answer him, but said: "Kenjiro Kishida, male, 40 years old, deputy section chief of the Inventory Management Section of Mitsui & Co.'s Metals Division, based in New York, responsible for coordinating with Mitsui & Co.'s warehouses and logistics providers registered with the LME in the United States."

"You seem to have investigated my situation quite thoroughly," Kishida sneered. "If you want to know, you can check the LME website; the data is there. You don't need to go through all this trouble to find me." "It's useless, because it's fake," Smith said, taking a leisurely sip of his sake. "According to the information I've gathered, Mitsui & Co. headquarters instructed you to transfer the same batch of goods between different warehouses, creating false inventory data. How can I believe that?!"

what? !

How could he know? !

Kishida tried to calm himself down: "Mr. Smith, you need to provide evidence for your statements. I can sue you for defamation!"

“Go ahead and sue,” Smith said with a smile. “I have the phone numbers for the LME investigation committee and the New York District Attorney’s office. Shall I call them for you? Oh, I forgot to tell you, I’m also a lawyer.”

Kenjiro Kishida remained silent; of course, he dared not make any phone calls.

“Mr. Kishida, let’s make a deal,” Smith said again.

"What deal?"

“I need the names of the warehouses involved, their inventory numbers, the difference between the book and actual quantities, and detailed information on the subsequent fraud. In exchange, I will provide you with funds so that you can quietly leave the United States with your wife and children and start a new life in a safe place.”

"I'm sorry, I don't know anything about what I'm talking about." Kenjiro Kishida continued to resist.

"You really want to refuse?" Smith's eyes suddenly turned extremely dangerous. "Fine, but I'll make sure that within 24 hours, an anonymous email containing some clues is sent to the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission), the LME (London Metal Exchange), and the Wall Street Journal. Guess? Will Mitsui & Co. throw you out to take the blame first, or will the investigating agencies freeze everything on you and take you to court?"

Kenjiro Kishida's face suddenly turned pale.

This was his biggest worry. Given the company's usual practices, once this matter was made public, he would be the first scapegoat to be singled out!
The lively atmosphere in the tavern seemed to freeze at that moment. Kishida Kenjiro looked at the frighteningly calm black man in front of him and knew that he had no way out.

In New York, a city that seems free but is actually full of traps, his carefully maintained career and life have been pushed to the brink of a precipice with just a few words from the other party.

After a long silence, Kishida swallowed hard and nodded almost imperceptibly: "I want 500 million US dollars!"

"Wait a moment," Smith said quietly as he took out his phone, dialed a number, and then put the phone down.
“Okay, but I can only give you 200 million first. I’ll give you the remaining 300 million after the intelligence transaction is completely completed.” Smith said, taking out a notebook from his briefcase and unscrewing a pen.

"Okay, I'll start by talking about what's already been implemented." Kishida was now completely going all out:

"8000 tons of Grade A copper, registered under LME-CU-547389B, was registered in Busan, South Korea's LME warehouse 105 on May 20th. On June 1st, it was deregistered and 'shipped' to Singapore. However, it didn't actually leave; on June 8th, it was re-registered in Busan's LME warehouse 108 under the code LME-CU-550112D. This resulted in two data fluctuations in the LME's weekly inventory report: one deregistration and one addition. The net effect was that the market saw the illusion of a 'continuous' inflow of inventory!"

“There are five batches of copper going through this process, totaling 42000 tons. Their numbers are…” Kishida said softly, and Smith quickly took notes with a pen and paper.

After Kenjiro Kishida finished speaking, Smith handed him a slip of paper with his notes, which he glanced at and nodded slightly.

“Mr. Kishida, your memory is really good,” Smith said with a smile.

Kenjiro Kishida gave a wry smile and remained silent.

These five batches of falsified accounts were already etched in his mind. He had been thinking about them constantly during this period, so how could he not remember them?

“OK, you will receive the first $200 million tomorrow morning. I wish us a pleasant collaboration.” Smith raised his glass.

"It's a pleasure working with you," Kishida said, raising his glass as well.

He knew that from this moment on, his fate would be completely in the hands of this man named Smith.

(End of this chapter)