Han Ye-jin continued to narrate what happened.

"Leo said that Louis was serving in the army at the time and didn't know what was happening at home. Then the war broke out and Louis was fighting the Germans. After the Second World War, Louis returned home and learned about everything that had happened. He was the only one left in their family."

"At that time, the Germans looted antiques and artworks in France. Many of them were not transported away in time. Some were hidden in local caves. Later, the Allied forces seized these collections. The government established the Looted Art Management Committee to return the artworks. As long as evidence can be provided, they can be returned to the family members."

"Fortunately, Louis's gallery was a business, and every painting in the gallery had very complete records. Louis found the account book at the time, and after the government verified that it was correct, they returned the paintings in the gallery to Louis."

"My friend now has a total of 227 paintings, including paintings by famous artists and works by modern artists. This is only a part of all the paintings in the gallery at that time."

The middle-aged man shrugged when he heard this.

"You know, the war had just ended and life in France was very difficult. Although my friend Louis had so many paintings, he had no source of income at all."

"Can he sell it?" Irina asked.

Irina herself is of French descent. She also came to the United States with her parents at that time. She had heard from her French relatives about the Germans looting French art, especially French Jews, almost all of whom had their homes confiscated and their families exterminated.

“Times are tough in France right now. People are not as keen on art as they were before the war, so prices are kept very low. For example, the painting I sold to you is one of all the paintings in Louis’s family.

The painting dealers in France only offered $400 for it. Louis asked me to bring it to the United States to try, so I brought it to the United States. I asked several auction companies and galleries, and the general offer was between $1,500 and $2,000. You offered the highest price, $2,300, which is four or five times the price in France.

"When Louis came here, he told me that if he could find a good buyer, he would be willing to sell all these artworks to the other party. However, the government now prohibits the export of some famous works of art out of the country, so this business is somewhat illegal."

"After selling his property, he planned to use the money to immigrate to the United States. He had read reports about the United States and knew that life there was very happy. He planned to buy a farm and live in the United States."

Hardy remembered that a few months ago, Han Ye-jin had told him that they had met a big seller who had a batch of high-end artworks, including famous paintings by Monet, Cézanne, and Picasso. He probably was talking about this incident.

He remembered that he had reminded Han Ye-jin at that time that she must be careful when doing business with such people, but he didn't expect that she was still deceived.

"What happens next?" Hardy asked.

Han Yizhen took a breath and continued, "We expressed our willingness to purchase these paintings. As for the transportation, we will figure it out. I thought at the time that if the deal went through, I would ask you to help transport them. I know you have the means."

Hardy felt a little amused.

This girl is quite confident in herself.

"That person told us that he would contact his friends in France and come back to us when he had news. But the middle-aged man was gone for more than a month. When he reappeared, he said that his friends were willing to sell the paintings, but the price needed to be negotiated in person, after all, the value of each painting varied greatly."

"I agreed to send two appraisers. After this meeting, the middle-aged man disappeared again. A few days later, he came back and said that the deal with us was temporarily terminated and they had found a more powerful buyer."

Han Ye-jin pouted when she said this, "I was quite depressed at that time. A good business was gone."

"But more than a month later, the middle-aged Leo came again and told us that the deal between him and the buyer had fallen through. The other party had initially said that they would offer a high price, but when they sent someone to appraise the property, they deliberately lowered the price to more than double what Louis had expected. In the end, the two sides broke down the negotiations."

"I asked him how much the buyer offered. Leo said he offered 1.06 million. Louis asked someone to look at it and said that these artworks should be able to sell for 2 million US dollars in the United States."

"How did you get fooled?" Hardy asked.

Han Yizhen's expression became even darker, and she said in a deep voice, "At first he said he would help us contact his friend Louis again. A few days later, he came back and said he had some bad news. His friend Louis had borrowed a sum of money from the bank for immigration. The total amount was 100,000 yuan, and he used the paintings as collateral."

"The paintings are now being held by the bank and must be unfrozen if they are to be taken back. He asked us if we were willing to temporarily advance the funds for unfreezing the paintings, and when the paintings are taken back, the money would be included in the purchase price."

Hadi thought,

have to.

I actually guessed it right, it’s the asset decompression routine.

"I was cautious at the time and wrote a cash check for $100,000. I asked Musk to bring one of his subordinates and this man named Leo to France to contact Louis. If this thing can be done, I will help him pay off the bank's money first and unfreeze the mortgaged paintings."

"But something went wrong when they were about to set off. Musk said that Leo stole their check and disappeared."

After Han Ye-jin finished speaking, she looked at Musk who was standing in the crowd.

Musk is in his thirties and previously worked at another auction company. He has strong experience in purchasing artworks and antiques and was invited by Han Ye-jin to be the purchasing supervisor of the art department.

Hardy also turned to look at Musk. When Musk saw Hardy looking at him, he said with some regret on his face: "Boss, it's not that I was careless. I suspected that the man was a professional liar. I just let him look at the check, and he switched it and gave me a fake check."

As he said this, he picked up the fake check on the table and handed it to Hardy. Hardy took the fake check and looked at it. If you don't look at it carefully, it will be difficult to find out that the check is fake.

"Tell me what happened in detail," said Hardy.

Musk quickly spoke up.

"This morning I received a check from Miss Irina and took little John and the guy named Leo to the Los Angeles airport to take a plane to New York and then take a cruise to France."

"When we were waiting for the flight at the airport, we were chatting about what we might encounter on the way to France. Suddenly, Leo said, 'Look at your check. Is it an international check that can be used in Europe? If not, then our trip would be in vain.'"

"I took out the check and looked at it. I found that it was fine. Leo stretched out his hand and said he would take a look too. I thought that he would not be able to do anything with us being right next to him, so I handed him the check. Leo took the check in his hand, turned it over and over, and then smiled and gave it back to me."

"Little John and I were watching him and didn't notice anything wrong, so we put the check back into our wallet. Then Leo said he was going to the bathroom and left without even taking his gift."

"We kept waiting, but Leo didn't come back until we were almost boarding. Little John and I thought something was wrong, so we looked everywhere for him, but we couldn't find him. Then we realized something was wrong, so we opened Leo's suitcase and found nothing else but newspapers inside."

"We both knew something was wrong, but we had the check in our hands. I thought, what can the other party do? But when I opened the purse to check the check, I found that it was not regular. It turned out that Leo had exchanged the real check for a fake one when he saw it."

Hardy did not doubt Musk's words. It was not difficult to change things instantly under other people's noses.

Musk lowered his head. "It was then that we realized we had been deceived, and then we hurried back to report it to our boss. I'm sorry, boss, this was my mistake."

After saying that, he looked at Han Ye-jin embarrassedly.

Hardy nodded, glanced at the company executives and appraisers around him, and smiled faintly, "Okay, I understand. From now on, leave this matter to me. The company still has a lot of things to deal with. You can go back to your posts."

Executives and appraisers quickly left the general manager's office.

Only Hardy, Han Ye-jin and Irina were left in the room.

There were no outsiders in the room. Han Ye-jin looked at Hardy, her eyes suddenly reddened, "I'm sorry, Hardy, you warned me before, but I still fell for it."

"I admit that I was a little greedy. Leo's repeated actions confused me. I arranged for Musk and little John to go to France in person. I thought it was foolproof, but I was still deceived by the other party."

As he spoke, two tears rolled down his cheeks.

Han Ye-jin felt very guilty and upset about losing $100,000.

Hardy walked up, wiped the tears from Han Ye-jin's face, held her in his arms, and let the woman rest her head on his shoulder.

"Don't cry, it's just a small matter. Don't worry, I will handle it. I will ask my friends to help look for it. Maybe we can get it back." Hadi comforted.

There is no hidden meaning in hugging Han Ye-jin.

I just wanted to comfort the girl.

Being held in Hardy's arms, Han Ye-jin didn't notice anything unusual, she just felt like she had someone to rely on.

"If this money cannot be recovered, I will use my own money to make up for the loss." Han Yezhen said with a choked voice.

Han Ye-jin had a cooperation agreement with Hardy before, with a 5% share of the artworks. The loss of $100,000 is estimated to be enough for her to work for two years.

"I told you, I will handle this matter. Even if there is any loss, you will not be the only one to pay for it," said Hardy.

Irina stood nearby.

Seeing Hardy holding Han Ye-jin in his arms to comfort her, I felt a little resentful in my heart.

The boss is good at seizing opportunities.

Taking advantage of Yi-jin's sadness, he took action and hugged her in his arms.

She blinked her big eyes.

He immediately put on a sad expression.

He walked up to Hardy and said in a sad voice: "Boss, I feel sad too. I didn't realize that the Frenchman was a liar. Wuwuwu."

As he said this, he hugged Hardy.

As soon as Hardy saw the girl, he knew that she was pretending. He stretched out his hand and hit Irina on the forehead. Irina was immediately blocked and couldn't be hugged.

Oh~~!

Irina stopped crying immediately and stared at Hardy blankly, with a little regret flashing across her face. She was discovered by her boss.

Han Ye-jin seemed to realize something, came out of Hardy's arms, and wiped the tears from her cheeks.

Hardy walked to the phone and called HD security. "Lanster, there's a problem at the auction company. They've been defrauded of a sum of money. Bring the people from the Strategic Research Office and the Intelligence Department here and try to find the scammer."

"I understand. Let's just get over it."

Hardy then called Bill again and asked him to investigate the activities of the liar Leo in Los Angeles.

At Hardy's command, the whole of Los Angeles moved.