Chapter 329: The Hardy Financial Empire is beckoning

"Mr. Hardy, if you want to obtain the right to manage the Cayman Islands, you must become a British citizen. Our idea is that you join the United Kingdom, obtain British nationality, and then His Majesty the King will grant you a title, and then grant you the Cayman Islands. At the same time, you will become the Governor of the Cayman Islands. This is completely legal in legal terms."

When he heard that he had to change his nationality to British, Hadi hesitated.

It's not that he has any attachment to American citizenship. It's mainly because he has to make money in the United States, and it would be very troublesome without an American identity.

"Is dual citizenship okay?" Hardy asked.

"Of course you can. The main reason is that foreigners cannot be officially granted titles, only honorary titles. Honorary titles are not suitable for granting fiefdoms, so we need you to join the United Kingdom." Minister Lamb said.

Hadi thought about it and wondered if dual citizenship would have any impact on him, especially in terms of economy. If it involved too many things, he would not agree.

"Regarding the issue of nationality, I need to go back and discuss it with the group team. You know that the Hardy Group is not owned by me alone. It involves interests from all aspects. Also, how much are you prepared to offer for the Cayman Islands?" Hardy asked for the price.

Minister Lambe smiled and said, "As I said just now, it was given by the king, not sold."

This sentence reminded Hardy of inviting Buddha statues and god statues.

You can't buy it.

Call.

This was not bought, it was given by the king.

Hardy knew.

Sometimes this kind of talk is more expensive than spending the money directly.

"Then please tell us the conditions, Minister Lambeth," said Hardy.

"The government wants Wells Fargo to provide a $100 million loan to the UK and purchase $100 million in five-year Treasury bonds," said Minister Lambeth.

Hadi thought.

It would be better to buy it. If you only buy the island, the normal price would be only 10 or 20 million US dollars.

Moreover, Hadi is aware of a hidden danger, that is, the king's grant is not as solid as a trading relationship and is more accepted by world law. What if someone stands up and says that this grant is unreasonable and must be revoked?

It’s different with buying and selling. Once there is a contract, the whole world must recognize it.

Even if he is not the governor and has no management rights, the land is still his own.

Hardy said:

"Nominally, it can be granted by the king, but I require a formal sales contract to be signed with the British government."

Minister Lambeth thought for a moment and said, "This should work."

"Also, the price you offered is too high. One hundred million in national debt, one hundred million in loans, and two hundred million dollars for investment. It can bring me double the profit in five years. The Cayman Islands are definitely not worth two hundred million dollars."

Both parties decided to discuss the price at another day.

Today was just a preliminary contact, and there were issues that needed to be resolved when we got back. After Hardy said goodbye to Minister Lambeth, he went to the telegraph office to send a telegram to the United States, informing Andy to bring the financial and legal teams over.

This is a big deal.

It was two days later that Andy rushed to England with his men. In the hotel room, Hardy told Andy and the lawyer what had happened in detail.

"If I get dual citizenship, will it be any bad for me?" Hardy asked.

The lawyer said: "Your acquisition of British citizenship will not be affected politically. After all, both countries recognize dual citizenship. It is just related to taxation."

"Of course, the vast majority of taxes are based on the principle of territorial taxation. Companies pay taxes wherever they are located. There are only some special taxes that may involve double taxation issues, but these problems can be avoided through operations."

"So it's all right?"

"Yes, of course."

After letting the lawyer go out, only Hardy and Andy were left in the room. Andy looked at his boss and asked, "Boss, why did you suddenly think of buying an island in the Caribbean? What are your plans?"

Hardy poured Andy a glass of wine and said with a smile, "Opening a casino, a tourist area, and an autonomous territory, wouldn't that be great?"

Andy looked at Hardy. "I sense you have something deeper in mind."

Hardy chuckled and took a sip of his drink.

"If the island completely belongs to us and has autonomy, opening a casino is only one aspect. Our HD security can also use it as a base to build a stronger armed force, right? Because we have the right to build an army."

"That island is located overseas, so what is the most convenient place for it? Money laundering. We can develop it into a money laundering center. Of course, we need to launder money legally, and that's something that financial experts like you will have to figure out."

Hardy naturally wants to turn the Cayman Islands into an offshore paradise in the future.

In later generations, there were more than 50 banks opening banking offices on the Cayman Islands, more than 100,000 registered companies, and funds exceeding US$3 trillion.

This is still on the surface.

In secret,

There are more things that can be done.

For example, drug trafficking, where money is transferred from one company to another, is not regulated in the Cayman Islands. Drug transactions do not require direct money transfers, but instead go through overseas accounts. All that is needed is to ship the goods over, which is extremely convenient.

The same can be said for the smuggling of commodities overseas.

In the future, the amount of money laundering in the world every year will reach trillions, and it may even reach 3 trillion. This is such a terrifying number.

If Wells Fargo is built on the island, all the money will circulate in Wells Fargo, which means that the money will always be inside the bank. Hardy has the right to mobilize the money. Just imagine how much power this money can have.

When it comes to financial investment, the whole country is afraid.

“In fact, it doesn’t matter how big the land is, as long as it is completely under our control, this is the greatest function of the Cayman Islands,” said Hardy.

Andy looked at his boss in shock.

He really didn't expect that the boss had such a big plan.

Leaving company.

Tax avoidance.

money laundering.

Independent control of financial channels.

Andy was excited just thinking about it. If that were the case, then the Hardy Group would definitely become the most powerful company in the world.

Even families like Rockefeller and Morgan are jealous.

Hardy patted Andy, who was a little excited, and said, "This is just a long-term plan. If we want to achieve that goal, there is still a long way to go. It may take more than ten or twenty years. The problem we need to solve now is that we have to take over the Cayman Islands at the cheapest price."

"After all, I have to invest in Japan, which requires a lot of money. I can't spend all the money in the UK at once," said Hardy.

The Finance Minister reported the exchange to the British Prime Minister. The two sides did not have much disagreement, it was just a matter of price, and both sides decided to hold formal negotiations on another day.

Now that Andy is here, the negotiations will naturally be handed over to him as a professional.

During these two days, Andy led the financial team and the legal team to draw up a series of negotiation outlines, including the ownership of the Cayman Islands, the land ownership of other residents on the island, various legal rights of the autonomous territory, etc.

Anyway, they will not let go of any opportunity that they can get.

A few days later, the two sides began formal negotiations. Although they were negotiating with the other party's national finance ministry, the people from the Hadi Group were not afraid at all and continued to fight.

There are several problems with this.

There are currently about 3,000 residents on the island, of which 30% are white, 30% are black, and 40% are mixed-race.

These 3,000 people live in Georgetown on Grand Cayman, the largest of the three islands. They occupy a lot of land. How should this be calculated, since the Cayman Islands are not very big?

Hardy didn't care what they said.

On this day, at the invitation of Princess Margaret, I brought Taylor to the Royal Meadows Estate on the outskirts of London, which covers an area of ​​more than 4,000 hectares. Today's activity is horseback hunting.

When Taylor and Hardy came, they both wore outdoor clothes. There were various pistols and hunting rifles in the equipment room. Hardy, according to his habit, carried a denim belt with a revolver inserted on it, which was used for close combat self-defense.

The hunting rifle in his hand is a James Purdey & Sons, which is the hunting rifle used by the British royal family and is definitely a luxury item.

The three of them rode their horses along the dirt road in the forest.

Margaret wanted to show off her riding skills, so she took the lead. Hardy could have caught up with her, but he had to take care of Taylor, so he kept the same speed as Taylor.

“Ah~ Bang!”

Suddenly there was a scream from the front.

Hardy was startled and immediately shouted to Taylor, "Wait here." Then he urged the horse to run in the direction where Margaret was shouting.

In fact, the distance between them was not far, only about two hundred meters. After running around a bend, they saw Margaret sitting on the ground. Her horse had already run away. There was also a dark figure on the other side of the dirt road, panting and running away.

Hardy saw it was a black bear.

Hardy quickly came to Margaret and jumped off the horse. Margaret covered her ankle in annoyance and said, "I didn't notice at all. There was a black bear lying on the side of the road. It suddenly stood up and the horse was startled and fell off the horse."

"I saw the black bear and fired a shot in panic, and the guy ran away."

After listening to Margaret's description, Hardy felt funny. It was such a coincidence. The horses they rode were trained not to be afraid of bears. No one expected that the bear was not in the woods but on the side of the road.

The horse suddenly saw that they were very close and was not mentally prepared, so it was frightened and threw Margaret off.

"Where are you injured?" Hardy asked, squatting down.

"I sprained my ankle."

Well, he died before he could accomplish his mission.

The hunt was over before it even began. Hardy picked up Princess Margaret and placed her on his horse. He then mounted the horse, holding the princess in one hand and the reins in the other, and turned the horse around and walked back.

As for Margaret's horse, it was frightened and ran a long way away, then turned back to be dealt with by the people in the hunting ground.

Being held in Hardy's arms, Margaret suddenly felt a strange emotion in her heart, as if the feeling of love had reappeared.

It feels so comfortable to lean on his arms.

Soon he came to Taylor's side. Taylor saw Hardy holding Margaret, and the two of them rode back on a horse. He quickly asked, "What happened to Margaret?"

"We just encountered a bear and the horse got frightened and fell off. Her foot was injured. Let's hurry back," said Hardy.

Taylor saw Margaret leaning on Hardy's arms and suddenly felt a little jealous. "Margaret, how about riding my horse?"

"No, it's very comfortable to ride on Hardy's horse." Margaret said, and secretly winked at Taylor.

Taylor snorted.

Give her a blank look.

We walked very slowly on the way back, for fear of hurting Margaret's feet. We didn't know how serious the injury was. Margaret leaned in Hardy's arms.

"Hardy, I heard from my sister that you are going to buy an island, and the Prime Minister will allow you to join the British citizenship, and then make you a nobleman, and then grant you the position of governor. Is that right? Are you going to become a British?" Margaret asked.

"Dual nationality," said Hardy.

"How about I make you my knight?" Margaret said with a smile.

Your rider?

Let me ride you.

"If you want to be granted a territory, you must be a baron or above, so this time it is very likely that you will be a baron, and your father will need to bestow the title on you," said Hardy.

After returning to the dormitory, the doctor checked and found that it was just a sprain. The problem was not serious, but I would need to rest for about half a month and could not do strenuous exercise during this period.

alright,

Now the unruly princess became obedient.

......

Two days later.

The negotiations produced preliminary results. Hardy became a British citizen, was awarded the title of baron, and the Cayman Islands were named Hardy's fiefdom, and Hardy became the permanent governor of the Cayman Islands.

The Cayman Islands are a fully self-governing country within the British Commonwealth.

Legally, all the land on the island belongs to Hardy. Those that are already in private hands, Hardy has the right to take them back, of course, he must pay an appropriate price soon.

This means that Hadi has the legal right to demolish and can take back the land from other people at any time. As for the appropriate price, it is up to him as the governor to decide.

The price of all this was to purchase the island land for $10 million.

It also purchased 60 million UK government bonds and loaned 50 million to the Bank of Scotland, both for a period of 5 years and at normal interest rates.

For the UK, a small island in the Caribbean Sea, with a total area of ​​only 260 square kilometers, can be exchanged for 120 million US dollars. They feel that they have made a fortune.

And Hardy also felt that he had made a profit.

In fact, the title of nobility in the UK is not worth much. In later generations, thousands of people can obtain the title of nobility every year. As long as you have money, you are a nobility. Hardy was just an ordinary person before, and no one dared to look down on him in the United States, Britain, and Japan.

What he cares about is the Cayman Islands' autonomy.

With autonomy, Hardy can now do things that he couldn't do before. He is excited and feels that the "Hardy Financial Empire" is beckoning to him.