Legendary FBI Detective-Chapter 819 - 821: Shorting Oneself

11 AM, an office in a building on Wall Street.

"Goldman Sachs system failure, Morgan Stanley server crash, Federal Bank power outage..."

Upon hearing the reasons Michael Brey described that the investment banks gave for temporarily not being able to pay the CDS, Luo An couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth.

You can only say it's true to Wall Street's spirit of contractual integrity; the high-level business battles are indeed plain and unpretentious.

"Mother fu-ker..."

Michael Brey downed his coffee in one gulp, looking displeased. He cursed softly, then raised his head to find Luo An looking calm. His eyes lit up instantly as he hurriedly asked:

"Luo An, do you have any good ideas?"

"Don't panic, first stabilize yourself, and don't let negative emotions control your brain."

Luo An took a sip of coffee and waited for Michael Brey to take a few deep breaths, his expression slowly calming down before saying:

"With New Century Financial Company going bankrupt and federal housing prices plummeting, the ones most anxious are not us but those investment companies and banks like Goldman Sachs, because they hold a large amount of junk financial products.

Put yourself in their shoes. If you were Goldman management, what would you do now?"

Michael Brey's eyes flashed, and he instinctively answered:

"Deceive downstream parties, offload all the junk bonds still in hand, and prevent further losses..."

As Michael said this, he perked up and suddenly raised his head to look at Luo An, and both of them exclaimed in unison:

"Goldman will short its own position!"

For investment banks like Goldman, the fundamental goal is just one: to make money.

As for social stability and whether the Federation Government can remain steady, those are completely beyond their consideration.

With federal housing prices falling now, and them holding a large number of federal housing system bonds, they are bound to be severely affected, and the company's stock price will inevitably fall.

If it's certain that their company's stock price will fall 100%, then shorting themselves isn't a hard-to-understand move, given the ultimate goal is making money.

As a fund manager who has worked on Wall Street for years, Michael Brey, upon hearing Luo An's casual reminder, quickly pieced together the situation in his mind, and his expression turned electrified. He slapped the table excitedly and said:

"What a rare opportunity! We can also short the stocks of investment companies like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to make another profit."

"Exactly."

Luo An nodded in satisfaction and then asked:

"Of the $80 million transferred over a few days ago, how much is left? Is the capital in your hands sufficient?"

"No need to use that money."

Having been reminded by Luo An and sorting out his thoughts, Michael Brey returned to being a professional manager. A confident smile crept onto his face as he said:

"Since New Century Financial Company is bankrupt and federal housing prices have started to drop, then CDS as a financial product is the hardest currency on Wall Street in the upcoming period!

In the past two years, apart from you, Luo An, the other investors in the company didn't believe in my judgment and repeatedly demanded to withdraw their investment..."

Luo An chuckled and nodded, continuing from where Michael Brey left off:

"Now it's time to cash in the CDS and reap the benefits; it's their turn to do the heavy lifting."

The investors in Michael Brey's company are big tycoons, and the connections and power they possess together are not to be underestimated.

During the times of losing money, these people were scolding Michael Brey. Now that it's time to make money, it's time for them to pave the way and demand that Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and other investment banks pay up the "stakes" of the CDS.

"Hahaha..."

Michael Brey burst out laughing, his pent-up frustration vanishing, and grasped Luo An's hand firmly, saying seriously:

"Luo An, believe me, I will make sure every penny you invested in me is worthwhile."

"Of course."

Luo An looked deeply at Michael Brey and said with a smile:

"I've always believed that Michael Brey is the best fund manager on Wall Street."

The two shared a knowing smile and exchanged a few simple pleasantries before Luo An left first. Michael Brey also picked up his phone to contact those big tycoons.

With New Century Financial Company's bankruptcy not long ago and federal housing prices just starting to decline, companies like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley can't possibly cash in on CDS immediately, at least not until they've handled their internal affairs.

This will take some time, and Luo An can't focus all his attention on Wall Street, leaving it to the experienced property manager Michael Brey is just perfect.

However, Luo An has other stock investments on Wall Street, such as in Internet companies like Apple, Amazon, and Google.

The 2008 financial crisis had a considerable impact on the stock prices of internet companies, with Google's stock price once dropping as much as 56%.

There's still time now, and the stock prices of Internet companies haven't fallen yet, so Luo An decisively sold off stocks like Apple and Google at high prices, converting them to cash kept in the bank, while calling Mona and Reesi to explain the situation.

Upon hearing Luo An's suggestion to sell all these company stocks within the next few days, Michelle, Winslow, and Chenier were taken aback.

Considering Luo An's past performance, Michelle, Winslow, and Chenier exchanged a glance, and without hesitating for long, sold it all.

As for Mona and Reesi, they acted swiftly; without asking why, they immediately contacted stock traders on Wall Street after hanging up to sell off all the stocks they held.

That afternoon, Luo An left New York Wall Street, drove back to the Washington D.C. investigation group's building, and walked into the office area where a bunch of agents were discussing stock returns.

Winslow and Chenier, having joined the special investigation group the shortest time, with not much investment and a short investment period, made around $700,000 by selling those stocks.

Michelle, having invested slightly longer, reaped over $900,000.

Mona didn't elaborate, and the others didn't intend to inquire further, while Reesi, after receiving a message from the bank, just kept laughing to herself as if her IQ had vanished.

"How about a bet?"

Seeing Reesi's silly grin, Winslow shook his head and patted Chenier's shoulder, whispering:

"I bet ten dollars that when Luo An comes back, she'll definitely be the first to pounce."

"I'll bet ten dollars too."

Chenier rolled his eyes and whispered:

"I bet when Reesi pounces, Luo An will slap her aside."

"Deal."

Soon after, Luo An pushed the door open and casually said:

"Hey guys, I'm back."

"Luo An!"

As soon as he spoke, Reesi leapt up from her chair, jumping towards Luo An with excitement, exclaiming:

"You are the most handsome man in the world!"

"Thanks for the compliment, but there's no need to state the obvious."

Luo An casually replied, stepping to the right to avoid Reesi's attack, then grabbing her clothes and tossing her onto a chair nearby.

In the office area, Winslow and Chenier nodded knowingly at each other and silently exchanged ten dollars each.

"..." x2

Seeing Winslow and Chenier's actions, Mona and Michelle exchanged glances, seeing the speechlessness in each other's eyes, feeling like the people in the investigation group were getting more and more offbeat.

After a brief pause, Mona raised her hand and said:

"Luo An, there's something I need to ask."