American tax officials

Chapter 282 Did UBS Group back down?

"Soros is right. The Speaker of the House has indeed been working on this bill recently and even spoke to me about it privately. Although the bill has received support from many members of Congress, there is a major obstacle: where will the funding come from? It seems that it will most likely be allocated to the funds that David has recently collected."

"Similarly, I was also approached by the Speaker of the House to discuss this bill. The United States is indeed facing financial difficulties at present. Apart from the few funds that David has recently raised, there is really no other place where money can be raised."

"..."

Among the Freemasons present were many current members of Congress, who had clearly heard rumors of the bill and were thus stepping forward to express their views.

Upon hearing these people's words, the faces of people like Bogwana and Bennett immediately darkened.

The situation is now very clear: the "W aid bill" is obviously the main policy of the White House and Congress.

For this bill to pass, the source of funding must first be addressed.

Currently, every fiscal expenditure in the United States is clearly budgeted, and taking money from any source would provoke dissatisfaction among those with vested interests. The only exception is the large sum of money that David has been working on recently, which was not budgeted and is the only budget that can be used for the "W Aid Act".

Now, let's get back to the main topic.

If they were to take action against David now, the White House would likely be the first to express its dissatisfaction, followed by Congress, but that wouldn't be the most serious outcome.

Most seriously, the funds from the "Aid to W Act" were not directly transferred to W, but were used to purchase weapons and equipment and then send them to W.

Where will these weapons and equipment be procured?

Naturally, these are the military-industrial complexes of the United States.

Whose sphere of influence is the military-industrial complex?

The answer is Onsa Group!

In other words, if they dare to mess with David now, it would be tantamount to cutting off the Onsa Group's source of income.

This is a budget of hundreds of billions.

Faced with such a large sum of money, not to mention the Angsa Group, even the Yutai Group would be furious. If the Angsa Group held them accountable for this, they wouldn't be happy either.

Despite the Freemasons' immense power in America and their control over the country's economic lifeline, the Unsa Group is no pushover either; this group controls the guns.

Many of them now resent David for overstepping his bounds, but they don't want to cause a conflict with the Onsa Group because of it.

"Hmm... In that case, I think it's best not to touch David for now, to avoid causing dissatisfaction from all sides."

"That's right. We don't need to take action against David now. We can wait until the 'W Aid Act' is passed before making a decision."

"No, if we don't act now, he might take advantage of the fact that the 'Aid to W' bill hasn't been passed and use the protection of various forces to attack us. What should we do then?"

"Borgwana is right. I don't know if David knows about the 'W Aid Act' yet. If he finds out and reacts, I think, given his personality, he'll definitely escalate his actions against us..."

"..."

With the introduction of the "W Aid Act," significant divisions have arisen within the Freemasonry community due to the involvement of various factions.

After an afternoon of discussion, neither side could convince the other, and Henrietta did not give a direct answer. In the end, everyone decided to wait for UBS's statement tomorrow before discussing the matter further.

Time passed and the next morning arrived.

Looking somewhat haggard, Yamarin and his colleagues arrived at the Los Angeles branch once again, and entered under the watchful eyes of all the media.

In the director's office.

David, who was reading the morning paper, saw these people being brought in. He immediately put down the newspaper, leaned back, and stared at them, saying, "Mr. Yamalin, tell me UBS's reply!"

"Our group's senior management believes that Director David, what you said yesterday was a bit of an exaggeration. They don't believe you have that many bargaining chips."

This was also the conclusion he reached yesterday with Jetz and others in the group: before today, they had to find out how many other documents David had besides the detailed transaction information of yesterday's client.

They were also worried that David was bluffing and trying to fool them.

David remained expressionless, simply pulling open the drawer below and taking out a thick stack of documents, which he then tossed onto the table.

Upon seeing this, Yamarin and the others immediately became serious. They dared not be negligent and immediately picked up a copy and began to examine it.

Seven or eight minutes later, their faces all darkened.

David then spoke up, "So, do you want to see my offer? I can have someone fetch a few more stacks of these documents."

Hearing that there were still several stacks left, Yamalin and the others broke out in a cold sweat. Let alone adding the others, just these dozen or so copies would be enough to give them a hard time if they went to court.

It seems that David wasn't bluffing or trying to fool them; he genuinely had somehow gathered so much dirt on the CUUI and CUUO products, which gave him his confidence.

Thinking of this, Amarin could only say, "No need. We can discuss the Sackler family's assets, but there are some conditions attached!"

The United States is, after all, UBS's largest source of funds and revenue. So, after careful consideration, UBS's senior management unanimously decided that if the IRS really had enough evidence to prosecute them, they would have no choice but to compromise.

Otherwise, if the IRS were to completely freeze all their operations, their losses would be incalculable.

As for whether the compromise will cause panic among the world's richest people, they have already developed a follow-up plan, but that's another story.

Tell me about it!

"It's very simple. We won't transfer the Sackler family's assets directly to you; instead, we'll transfer them back to their accounts in America!"

This was a plan developed by the team at Yamalin and senior executives at headquarters after an overnight discussion.

Although doing so is indeed somewhat like burying one's head in the sand.

Strictly speaking, however, it wasn't really their Swiss bank that voluntarily handed over client assets.

After all, I didn't cooperate with the IRS. We just transferred the money back to your personal accounts. As for the IRS freezing and confiscating it, that's none of our business.

"Mr. Yamalin, I must say, you guys are really clever!"

David also found the other party's ostrich-like approach amusing.

But it doesn't matter. As long as the other party is willing to hand over the money, he doesn't care about whether it's self-deception or not. As long as the money is in his pocket, that's the real key!

Yamarin continued, "That's only one of the conditions. The second is that your IRS immediately drop the investigation against us, allow our business to resume, and we won't have to pay any penalties!"

David shook his head and retorted, "Cancelling the investigation is fine, and your business can resume operations without any problem, but the fine is non-negotiable!"

Upon hearing this, Yamarin and the others were immediately displeased. Humphrey then spoke up, saying, "Director David, we risked damaging our reputation by indirectly handing over Sackler's assets to you, and that's one thing, but do you know what other pressures we've been under?"

"To be honest, after our conversation yesterday, the Freemasons sent representatives to us. They threatened us that if we dared to hand over the Sackler family's assets, we would be in big trouble. We are under tremendous pressure right now, so is it too much for you to waive a fine for us?"

David was somewhat surprised to hear that the Freemasons had come looking for them, but he quickly recovered.

Swiss banks are among the safest and most well-known banks in the world, so it's quite normal for Freemasons to deposit their funds there.

The group is worried that the Sackler family incident will set a precedent and leave its own funds unsecured, so it's understandable that it's threatening UBS.

"Mr. Yamalin, this is a matter between you and the Freemasons, it has nothing to do with us. Besides, how much money have you made in America using these two products? Is it too much to ask you to pay back taxes as a penalty?"

"Furthermore, if you don't pay this penalty, wouldn't that leave the IRS without a legitimate reason? Wouldn't it be seen as retaliation for your refusal to hand over the Sackler family's assets?"

David said without any emotion.

"you……"

Amaryllis Humphrey and others were furious.

If it weren't for Director David forcing us to hand over Sackler's assets, would the Freemasons have come to threaten us?

And we have already made such a big concession, but you, Director David, are not willing to give an inch?

This is just too much!

If they hadn't known that David had leverage over their two products, they would have stormed out right now!

Ignoring their anger, David raised his right hand, glanced at his watch, and said meaningfully, "It's getting late..."

"Okay, Chief David, but I'd like to ask you a question first: how much of a fine do you want to impose on us?"

"I asked through gritted teeth," Yamarin asked.

David pulled a document from a nearby folder and threw it in front of Yamalin, saying, "This is the data we obtained through our investigation. You raised a total of $568.3 billion through these two products, and subsequently generated $412 billion in returns from that investment."

"Your two products were launched on November 3, 2016. According to the new policy at that time, the corporate income tax rate increased from 21% to 28%, and the minimum tax rate increased from 15% to 21%. In addition, companies with a value of more than US$1 billion must pay at least 21% tax, and for multinational companies, the overseas income tax rate will increase from 10.5% to 21%..."

"Several years later, the tax rates in the United States have changed several times, but given your cooperation regarding the matter of Sackler's assets, I have calculated a more favorable tax rate for you, which is 20%. In other words, you only need to pay the IRS $8.24 billion in taxes."

Upon hearing the figure of $82 billion, Yamarin and other members of UBS's legal department turned pale.

This is ridiculous! Is 82 billion yuan considered a tax rate with preferential treatment?

These are all astronomical fines!

Suppressing his anger, Yamarin retorted, "Director David, you've gone a bit too far. 82 billion is no small sum, especially considering how much tax our UBS Group pays to your IRS every year."

"You have paid taxes, but you haven't paid taxes on these two products yet. Besides, you've made tens of billions in the United States over the years with these two products. Now you're only being asked to pay 82 billion. That's not too much, is it?"

David retorted with a hint of disdain.

"you……"

"..."

As Yamalin said, 82 billion is indeed not a small amount.

Moreover, for capitalists, expecting them to vomit up what they've already taken in is tantamount to cutting their flesh with a knife.

So in the following time, Yamarin and the others took turns negotiating with David.

However, none of them had any effect.

No matter what they said, David always acted like, "Take it or leave it, or I'll deal with you right away."

Ultimately, Yamarin had no choice but to slam the door and go out to speak with the group's senior management.

He didn't return until a full 20 cents had been paid, gritting his teeth as he said, "Fine, we'll pay this fine. As for the Sackler family's assets, we'll transfer them to their account before noon today."

"But similarly, I expect your IRS to get all our branches in the United States back to operation as quickly as possible!"

Since it is impossible to reduce the penalty.

The executives at Amazonin and UBS had no choice but to settle for second best and get the branches back to operations as quickly as possible in order to minimize the losses.

"Once your funds are in place, restoring your branch's operations will only take a few words from me."

Since the other party was so accommodating, David naturally agreed to this small request without hesitation.

The entrance to the Los Angeles IRS office.

When Yamarin and his team, who had been talking for over an hour, came out, the media reporters, as usual, surrounded them.

"Mr. Yamalin, what was the outcome of your negotiations with Director David?"

"Cough cough..."

Yamarin cleared his throat and replied, "Yes, after our conversations with Director David over the past two days, we have reached a conclusion."

"Mr. Amarin, what was the result?"

"Mr. Yamalin, will you be transferring the Sackler family's assets?"

"Mr. Yamarin, as a leader in the global banking industry, may I ask...?"

The media reporters at the scene went wild.

If Swiss banks were to actually transfer their assets, it would mean that the world's safest and most reputable banks would lose their protection for the wealthy, and the subsequent chain reaction could bring about earth-shattering changes to the entire banking industry.

If the Swiss bank refuses to transfer the assets, David and the tax authorities will formally sue the Swiss bank.

Regardless of the outcome, it will be a feast for the global media!

Besides the scene at the scene, the internet exploded instantly after hearing Yamarin's words.

Prior to this, major social media platforms, just like they had done with Disney before, launched a guessing game for this incident.

1. Swiss banks chose to compromise and transfer the Sackler family's assets.

2. In accordance with its mission to be the world's most reputable and secure bank, UBS will fight to the death against David and the tax authorities!

The odds of winning these two predictions are now almost evenly split.

The reason is simple: Swiss banks have a reputation for integrity, are industry leaders, and are not American companies, so the chances of them going head-to-head with the IRS are naturally high.

Given David's skill and the sheer size of UBS's operations in the United States, the decision to compromise is understandable.

Therefore, the support rates for the two predictions are 50/50.

Under the tense gaze of everyone, Yamalin's next words instantly shocked everyone.

"Our Swiss bank has been established for over 150 years and has become one of the most reputable and secure banks in the world. This concerns our clients' assets, and we certainly will not succumb to coercion from any individual or institution. Therefore, we will not transfer the Sackler family's assets to the tax authorities!"

quiet!

The scene was deathly quiet.

Everyone was so shocked by Yamarin's words that they were speechless.

It wasn't until 30 seconds later that everyone realized what was happening.

"Wardfa, as expected of a Swiss bank, they're really something!"

"You know, Chief David is sitting in his office right there, and this is right at the entrance to their IRS headquarters. And this head of the legal department actually said in front of the whole world that he wouldn't yield to the IRS—isn't that a blatant slap in the face?!"

"Swiss banks truly live up to their reputation as the most secure banks. I'm not saying anything more; from now on, I'll deposit all my assets in Swiss banks. They're the kind of banks that even the tax authorities dare to reject!"

On various social media platforms, people who had come to their senses were all impressed by the courage of the Swiss bank.

Meanwhile, on the east coast of New York, on Senna Island.

"Very well, it seems this Swiss bank still can't ignore our presence!"

"As long as they don't hand over the Sackler family's assets, we don't need to rush to deal with David now, which can be considered as solving one of our headaches."

"Well-Good and UBS are still excellent and very trustworthy. Perhaps we should consider transferring more assets there!"

The Freemasons smiled with relief after hearing Amarin's reply on television.

It seems their threats were effective!

As long as Swiss banks don't mess things up by handing over Sackler's assets, the tax authorities naturally won't be able to touch their assets there!

Most importantly, there's no need to rush to deal with David anymore.

(End of this chapter)