The night of September 7, 1998 EST, was destined to be a sleepless night.Because of the time difference, Hong Kong Island, far away on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, was already September 8, just yesterday, the Hong Kong Island government promulgated a series of new financial policies, greatly increasing the restrictions on speculation of international speculators, many international speculators who lost their money on the day of the settlement of August 28, originally thought of making a comeback this week, but after the promulgation of this series of policies, they immediately blocked their way.Therefore, these international speculators, represented by major investment banks, can only watch with tears and hatred as their own money is firmly trapped by the stock market, stock index futures and foreign exchange market on Hong Kong Island.On the west side of West Street in New York, there is a building with the house number 200, so this building is 200 West Street in New York.The building also has a well-known name, the Goldman Sachs Tower.The 228-meter-tall, 44-story tower is the global headquarters of Goldman Sachs.Just across the street from the Goldman Sachs Tower are the two tallest buildings in New York, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York.Among them, the north tower is less than 250 meters away from the Goldman Sachs Tower.At this time, in a huge and luxurious office on the top floor of the Goldman Sachs Building, several old men in suits and leather shoes were sitting together with frowns and looking at each other."
Mr.
Collins, we have lost more than $700 million in this operation on Hong Kong Island to block the Hong Kong dollar, how can you ask me to explain this matter to our partners?
Don't forget, on the 19th of next month, our 189 partners of Goldman Sachs will gather together to hold the biennial Goldman Sachs Partner Honors Ceremony, which is a major event for us at Goldman Sachs. ”The speaker was a white man in his 50s, Henry Paulson, who only became the chief executive and chief operating officer of Goldman Sachs last year, and the person he was talking to was Rod Collins, the chief investment officer of Goldman Sachs, an old man in his sixties.After a pause, Paulson continued: "Don't forget, recently we at Goldman Sachs are preparing for a public offering, but if the losses of our operation are exposed, it will be a fatal blow to the public offering, and our partners will let everyone here get out!"
”Collins, who was sitting across from Paulson, shrugged his shoulders, "What can I do?"
Everything was fine before, even on that day, the situation at the beginning was excellent, although the Hong Kong Island government and the Huaxia government came up with a huge amount of money to support the city, but we also have a lot of funds, if there is no huge amount of long funds that suddenly entered the market in the afternoon, even if we can't win this battle, but we will definitely not lose so much.Seven billion dollars, are you willing to keep that money on the other side of the Pacific?
This was an accident, or a premeditated interdiction, but it was we, not the Hong Kong Island government, who were blocked!
”Paulson's face began to turn red, obviously angry at this shirking of responsibility, "Then why didn't you monitor the entry of this fund?"
What about your surveillance network?
What about your traders?
This amount of money is as high as more than 20 billion Hong Kong dollars, not hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars, such a huge amount of money is like an aircraft carrier in New York Harbor, and you can't even see it.But why don't your people see it?
”"What can I do?
The flow of that money is extremely strange, we spent ten days to inquire, and we can only find out that the money came from Europe that day, not this or our federation, that is Europe, we don't have the ability to monitor the whole of Europe" A chubby old man sitting on the other side knocked on the table with his hand and interrupted Collins's words, this old man is the current CEO of Goldman Sachs, Corsay."
Henry, Rod, you two don't argue anymore, we are here today to discuss how to solve this matter, not to blame each other."
In the absence of the CEO of Goldman Sachs today, Kesai is the highest-level executive on the spot.Henry Paulson, for all his talent, will not become the new president of Goldman Sachs until next year, and then the Treasury secretary in the George W.
Bush administration until 2006.But at this time, Paulson faced Cosai's speech, and he could only endure his dissatisfaction.Ke Sai continued to knock on the table, "First of all, we must find out where the money came from, otherwise we will not be able to explain it to our partners.Rhodes, you said that the money came from Europe, so is there a specific situation?
”Rod Collins shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, so far we have only found out that the funds came from Europe, but who exactly belongs to, and we can't do anything about this for the time being."
Our presence in Europe is still relatively weak, especially since some banks are not very friendly to us. ”Paulson interjected, "Kosai, is that Soros guy doing it?"
I heard that his funds had only turned around in the morning that day, so I hurriedly retreated.I think he clearly got some news, so he couldn't bear to cut his flesh.And, with the character of this guy, it's not impossible for him to turn around and cut us and make up for his losses in the morning. ”Ke Sai shook his head and said, "It shouldn't be Soros.This guy's background is a bit deep, there are several congressmen and high-ranking officials in Washington behind him, and he made a move against Hong Kong Island, which is his initiative, if he dares to turn against the water on that day, those people behind him will not let him go, and I have checked, Soros's quantum fund also lost more than 800 million US dollars on the morning of that day.He just saw the opportunity to cut his meat and flee early, otherwise he would have lost more!
”"Is that Robertson?
His Tiger Fund is mired in the depreciation of the ruble, in this case, will he recoup some of his profits in the Hong Kong Island market?
”Paulson asked.Collins, who had a red face with Paulson's quarrel just now, shook his head and said: "It's not Robertson, his Tiger Fund and Jaguar Fund didn't make any big moves that day, and most of his funds are run through federal banks, if he has a big move, it is impossible to hide it from us." ”Ke Sai nodded and said: "That's right, Robertson has invested all his funds in Russia and the capital, and he has no extra funds to attack Hong Kong Island, so he doesn't have the ability to come up with 20 billion Hong Kong dollars." ”"Who else could it be?
Our old friend Morgan Stanley or Merrill Lynch?
”The two investment banks asked by Paulson are both extremely famous large multinational investment banks in the United States, and Morgan Stanley is needless to say, backed by the Morgan family and banks, its strength is now well-deserved as the world's No. 1 investment bank, and Goldman Sachs at this time cannot be compared with Morgan Stanley.Although Merrill Lynch is a large investment bank on the rise, this investment bank is backed by a California consortium, and Bank of America is its largest backer, so its strength should not be underestimated.The Salomon brothers, who were previously bullstaking in investment banks, are no longer good and are about to be finished, so Paulson did not mention the former world's No. 1 investment bank.Ke Sai shook his head and said, "Henry, it's not Morgan Stanley, it's not Merrill Lynch, and it's not the investment banks that have been damaged with us.I've called Morgan Stanley's Ronald Morgan and Merrill Lynch's Mr.
Douglas Pullman before, and they both denied being long that day, and they are also looking for the source of the mysterious money that day. ”Hearing Corsay say this, even Paulson said nothing else.The two men mentioned by Corsay are well-known figures, one is a core member of the Morgan family and the other is a core member of the California consortium, and with their status and status, they disdain to lie about the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars."
Who else could it be?
Could it be those old families in Europe?
Or is it the Mitsui or Mitsubishi of the book?
”Paulson muttered to himself."
Henry, judging from the current clues, those old families in Europe are the most likely, and I don't have the courage to go long on that day.However, let's not forget that we have a colleague in our federation who is capable of doing this. ”Hearing Corsai say this, Paulson, Collins, and several others all looked at Corsay.These people present are all core personnel of Goldman Sachs, but in addition to Cosey, even Henry Paulson, who is in second place, only entered the top management of Goldman Sachs after the 90s, and they do not know much about some of the previous situations.Therefore, after hearing Kesai's words, they all wanted to know who this peer Kesai was talking about.The U.S. is big, but it's also small, and there aren't many banks like this that can mobilize $3 billion in cash across continents anytime, anywhere, but after denying some of their peers who have the ability to do this, they really can't think of another peer who can do it.While it is easy for super banks like Citigroup, Chase Manhattan, and BNY Mellon to do this, they will not easily participate in speculative actions such as financial crises, but who else can do this?
Kesai took a deep breath, as if he was scrupling about something, but finally sighed and said: "I don't know if you still remember that in the stock market crash ten years ago, there was an investment fund that suddenly shined all over the United States" Kesai said this, and the faces of several people changed, Paulson asked: "But, didn't that fund disappear later?"
Occasionally, the fund is mentioned, but they all say that the fund has long since collapsed. ”"Going out of business?"
Ke Sai snorted disdainfully, "How can it go out of business?"
That fund still exists, but it's just that it's very low-key.At least as far as I know, the shares of the 27 companies that this fund held back then, oh, and then there were 25 companies left, and they still hold them, but in a different name.And even in Goldman Sachs, there are at least seven or more partners, who are probably inextricably linked to this fund, and even do not rule out being agents of that fund!
”Hearing this, everyone gasped, and their faces changed several times in a very short period of time, but in the end, no one dared to speak again.Eventually, Paulson couldn't help but ask, "Kesai, if it's really that fund, what are we going to do?"
Do you want to continue the investigation?
”Kirsey glared at Paulson, and after a long quick tap of his finger on the table, he said slowly, "First of all, we don't have any definitive evidence that the fund did it.Secondly, and most importantly, even if we have definite evidence that the fund did it, then we should not continue the investigation, let alone publish the evidence!
Because that would kill us.If I'm not miscalculated, in front of that fund, our Goldman Sachs is as fragile as a baby" Everyone gasped again