Chapter 124 Financial Operations

Wang Xiuyuan had only one purpose for coming to Zurich: to open an account, deposit money, and take out a loan.

The massive amount of cash he had harvested in New York and Boston had to be dealt with eventually; he couldn't just let the money pile up in his space ring like scrap paper.

Money is only money when it is spent and converted into assets; if it just sits there immobile, it's nothing but a pile of waste paper.

He had extorted $250.5 million in cash from the members of the Peace Gang in Boston, and $1.13452 billion in cash from the Ghost Shadow Gang, Anliang Hall, and Harmonious Prosperity Hall in New York.

Combined, the cash alone amounted to $1.38502 billion.

In addition, the four gangs had contributed nine bearer accounts, which contained a total of over $810 million.

Now, the funds in Wang Xiuyuan's hands waiting to be laundered had reached a staggering $2.2 billion.

After nearly a month of laborious operations, Wang Xiuyuan opened nearly a hundred bearer accounts in various banks and then distributed this massive amount of capital into these accounts.

But the mission for this trip was not over; opening accounts and depositing money was only one of the less important tasks.

The most important thing on this trip was the loan.

That's right, a loan.

Before long, the global financial markets would face an epic storm, and this storm was irreversible. Wang Xiuyuan intended to take this opportunity to make a huge profit.

However, the $2.2 billion volume of capital was too large. If all this money were clean, it wouldn't matter, but the problem was that this money was dirty.

Coupled with the time pressure, Wang Xiuyuan didn't have enough time to slowly and discreetly transfer this money into America.

Acting too hastily would easily leave behind many clues and hidden dangers, so Wang Xiuyuan had to think of another way.

Fortunately, he had transmigrated from 21st-century China, and he knew of a financial tool that was very common back home: the Certificate of Deposit (CD) Pledge Loan.

This kind of play was absolutely impossible to find in foreign financial circles, but in China, this peculiar financial tool had somehow been born quite naturally.

This financial tool was primarily created to revitalize fixed-term deposits, helping customers obtain financing while avoiding the loss of substantial interest that would occur if they withdrew their fixed deposits early.

The word 'impending' was the key.

This term indicated that the Deposit Pledge Loan was a type of short-term financial loan business.

Chinese people were accustomed to putting money into fixed deposits, often for two, three, or even five-year terms, just to earn that slightly higher interest rate.

So, when an emergency arose and money was needed urgently, the Deposit Pledge Loan, a short-term loan instrument, came into being.

A one-million-yuan fixed deposit certificate could basically secure a loan of 90% to 95% of the certificate's value, and the annualized interest rate of the loan was only slightly higher than that of a three-year fixed deposit. For ordinary people, the Deposit Pledge Loan was a very practical emergency loan route.

Although this kind of business hadn't appeared in European and American banking yet, the Western banking industry had one major advantage: as long as there was money to be made, everything was negotiable.

While they hadn't done CD-backed loans before, they did plenty of stock-backed loans.

Moreover, a CD-backed loan carried zero risk. The bank would make money the moment the loan was issued. Only a fool would turn away such high-quality loan business.

As long as there was an interest rate spread to profit from, no bank in the world would refuse this business.

In just three days, Wang Xiuyuan completed the collateralization of the $2.2 billion in the bearer accounts, eventually borrowing $2.1 billion.

When this $2.1 billion entered America, no matter how American law enforcement agencies investigated, the money would be clean because it was a bank loan.

As for why the Swiss Banks approved this loan, that was not something American law enforcement could uncover.

At this time, Swiss Banks still had a very high sense of professional ethics, and the golden brand of absolute secrecy and absolute security was still shining brightly.

Once Wang Xiuyuan made money in this financial storm, he would have plenty of time to slowly deal with the $2.2 billion in dirty money...

After settling these matters in Zurich, Wang Xiuyuan rushed to Munich, West Germany, without stopping.

He had previously drawn two treasure clues from the system lottery but hadn't had time to check them yet. Since he was already in Europe, Wang Xiuyuan wasn't in a hurry to return to North America; he planned to take this opportunity to verify the value of the treasure clues.

Since the matters in Zurich required high levels of secrecy, Wang Xiuyuan had sent Holt and the others ahead to Munich and Suffolk County, England, to scout the locations.

Although he wasn't sure how much wealth these two treasure clues held, Wang Xiuyuan still gave them great importance.

"Tell me in detail about the information you've gathered during this time!"

Upon arriving at the hotel in Munich, Wang Xiuyuan didn't even stop to rest before impatiently asking Holt for information regarding the treasure.

"Boss, over the past month, we've investigated the information on that house very thoroughly. Although we haven't found detailed clues about the treasure, fortunately, we've had some gains recently."

"Oh! Tell me the specifics!" Wang Xiuyuan's eyes lit up, and he suddenly felt revitalized.

Wang Xiuyuan, who was originally somewhat exhausted from his long journey, felt that fatigue vanish instantly upon hearing there was good news.

"The owner of this house is named Cornelius Gurlitt. He isn't married, has no children, and lives in this house alone.

Recently, we found out that the owner's father, Hildebrand Gurlitt, was a collector of famous paintings.

Hildebrand Gurlitt was an art dealer during World War II. He collaborated with the Nazis for a long time and acquired many famous paintings from occupied countries during the war.

Then, these famous paintings were eventually sold by Hildebrand Gurlitt to the Nazi German Government.

If there is any treasure here, it is most likely the masterpieces acquired by Hildebrand Gurlitt during WWII.

The investigation shows that Hildebrand Gurlitt's son, Cornelius Gurlitt, is just an ordinary person who only moved here in the sixties.

His life is very simple; he is very eccentric, has no job, and doesn't really interact with his neighbors.

Therefore, the fact that he has had money to spend all these years without working is the biggest flaw. We are still investigating his sources of income, but that's roughly it."

Wang Xiuyuan nodded in silence. He already had a rough guess as to what important information this treasure clue was hiding.

In 2013, Wang Xiuyuan had read a news article online about the tax authorities in Munich, Germany, discovering a large cache of famous WWII paintings.

The holder of these paintings had never worked, never married, had no children, and usually kept to himself. His father was also an art dealer.

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