Reborn in America, I am a legendary short seller on Wall Street.

Chapter 87 Finding the Mole (Seeking monthly votes and recommendations)
Mr. Wallace was busy in Hartford until nine o'clock in the evening before rushing back to Colt Firearms Company.

These days, Mr. Wallace and four members of the bond underwriting team from the headquarters of Paine Weber Securities are staying in a villa specially arranged by Colt Company.

Every day after work, the five of them would sit in the warm living room chatting, joking, smoking, drinking, and sharing their friendship.

But today, after Mr. Wallace returned to Colt Company by carriage, he did not rush back to his room, but instead followed Larry's instructions:
First, he messed up his hair in the factory area, then opened his suit jacket, unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt, took out the end of a cigar that was down to just a cigarette butt from his suit pocket, lit it, and finally held the cigar remnant between his thumb and forefinger. Mr. Wallace dragged his tired steps back to the living room of the villa.

"Bang!" The door was pushed open with a thud...

Mr. Wallace walked in, looking disheveled and dragging one leg, his face full of bitterness and pain.

The four-person bond underwriting team was playing bridge around the table when they saw Mr. Wallace enter in such a disheveled state, and their faces showed extreme surprise.

Mr. Wallace, his face ashen, stumbled to the four men, the door behind him still open. He pulled over a chair, slumped down, and muttered to himself,

"It's over! These sons of bitches have really ruined my life..."

As he spoke, he reluctantly took a puff of his cigarette butt, as if only the smoke from the cigar could bring him some peace of mind.

The four men looked at each other, then quickly gathered around Mr. Wallace and asked anxiously,
"Mr. Wallace, what's wrong?"

"William, William, are you possessed?"

"What happened? Is there a problem with Colt?"

……

Mr. Wallace did not answer. Cold air was pouring in through the open door behind him. One could not bear it any longer and rushed to the door to close it.

Although the door was closed, the temperature inside the room dropped to freezing. It was unclear whether this was due to the cold winter wind that had just blown in, or because Mr. Wallace's erratic behavior had frightened the four of them.

The leader of the four-person bond team stepped forward, gripped Mr. Wallace's shoulders firmly with both hands, and said solemnly,
“William! William Wallace! You have to pull yourself together. You have to tell us what happened, and we can help you figure out a way to get through this. We're friends, remember? The best of friends!”

Mr. Wallace pretended to be disheartened and took another puff of his cigarette butt, but he put on such a performance that the wrapper of the cigar was torn apart under his hard grip.

Just as Mr. Wallace put the cigarette butt in his mouth, the cigar broke, and countless messy bits of tobacco, along with sparks, flew into his mouth.

Mr. Wallace immediately glared, put his hands over his throat, and knelt on the ground coughing incessantly.

However, to the four members of the bond underwriting team, his over-the-top performance made him seem more like a desperate debt project contractor on the verge of total collapse...

The four looked at each other again, a sense of foreboding rising in their hearts.

"What the hell happened! Damn it!" Another grabbed Wallace, his eyes flashing with malice.

Mr. Wallace cleared his throat, waved to them, and said...

"It has nothing to do with you. If this deal falls through, you'll just be wasting some time and going back to headquarters in New York to wait for other business... But what about me? I've staked all my capital on the Colt project. If this project fails, I'll go bankrupt too!"

The leader of the bond group frowned more and more as he listened, and hurriedly asked,
"What exactly happened? Explain yourself! Let's see if there's any way to resolve this..."

Mr. Wallace looked up and glanced at the four of them, a wry smile on his face. He struggled to climb back into his chair and sighed, "..."
“It’s Morgan! Mr. Morgan and his senior partners discovered signs of financial fraud while auditing Colt’s accounts. They suspect that Colt used this financing project to cover their losses.” After Mr. Wallace finished speaking, the four members of the bond team turned pale and remained silent.

The five people in the room fell silent, but one of them suddenly spoke softly.
"...There is a chance for a turnaround. Morgan Bank doesn't do equity financing, but our corporate bonds can still be issued normally..."

But then another person glared at him and let out a cold laugh.

Mr. Wallace glanced at the four men's reactions before continuing.

"My buddy who went out to help me came running back with this shocking news. I told him to go back to New York and wait for more news. But... but... damn it! If Colt really did tamper with the accounts, then soon the whole of Wall Street will know, nobody will buy Colt's bonds, and the bond project will be a bust! Ugh..."

Mr. Wallace's words were like the last nail driven into a coffin, and the room fell into a deathly silence once again.

Mr. Wallace pretended to break down, sobbing uncontrollably on the table. After a while, he pretended to be extremely tired and fell into a deep sleep...

The four members of the bond underwriting team, no longer caring about Mr. Wallace, whom they had been calling "good brothers" for the past few days, all slipped back to their rooms.

Mr. Wallace lay on the table, his eyes half-open, peering at the door, wanting to see who couldn't resist and rushed out the door to inform their accomplices in town or elsewhere...

Previously, Larry had analyzed with Mr. Wallace that if the four-person group collectively betrayed them and leaked the information together, then the four of them would definitely go out together, or at least send a representative.
However, if one or two of the four are traitors who leak information, then that person will secretly slip away on their own...

Furthermore, Larry intends to leverage the power of an insider to facilitate Mr. Wallace's and his own stockpiling.

Mr. Wallace staged this performance in order to secretly find out who the mole was.

Is it one of these four people?
It seems the four of them conspired to collectively betray their professional ethics.

Stay here, and you'll find out the answer!
Mr. Wallace firmly believed that Larry's methods would be enough to expose the mole.

……

Fifteen minutes later, a person tiptoed out of the room, the footsteps gradually quickening outside before disappearing into the night.

Mr. Wallace sat up abruptly, straightened his hair and shirt, picked up the water jug ​​on the table, poured himself a glass of cold water, and drank it down in one gulp.

After finishing his water, Mr. Wallace wiped his mouth with his sleeve and gave a wry smile.

He originally thought he would be able to find a mole, or find evidence that the four of them conspired to betray him...

The results of it?
The four of them secretly slipped out of the house one after another, trying their best to conceal their whereabouts and prevent others from knowing.

"Damn it, all four of them betrayed me and their companions at the same time. Not a single one of them is any good..."

Mr. Wallace glared at the door and said angrily.

　The next chapter will show you what real, legitimate stock trading looked like at the end of the 19th century.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)