Hollywood Hunter

Sophia Fayci finished her work here in New York, and it was already Saturday, March 11.

Originally planning to return to Europe today, Gucci still had a lot of things to deal with. A reception invitation from the Rebolds made her postpone the trip until tomorrow.

At around 6:30 in the evening, Sophia rushed to the Gramercy Park Hotel in Midtown with Angela Ahrendz, who has officially become the president of Gucci America.

The two entered the hotel banquet hall, and many guests had arrived, chatting in groups of their own topics.

The Rebolds greeted them together, exchanged a few words with Sofia and Angela, motioned to the two women to be free, and then turned to meet other guests.

The new New York mayoral election will be held in November at the end of the year. Tonight’s banquet will be a fundraising reception hosted by the Rebolds in private for the Democratic candidate David Dingkins who is running for the mayor.

Of course, everyone knows that the real benefactor behind the reception is Simon himself.

David Dingkins’ competitor happened to be Rudy Giuliani, the attorney for the Southern District of New York who had investigated Simon.

Although there are some gaps with Rudy Giuliani, this cocktail party was not held for him, but for the political contacts of the Westeros Company.

In just a few years, billions of dollars of wealth have been gathered. The company under Simon's name wants to continue to expand and is destined to be unable to escape the need to deal with the federal government.

If you only think of cuddling when you are in trouble, it obviously won't work.

Simon had previously refused to bring local capital into the Japanese financial market. James Leibald reminded him that he had missed an opportunity to establish contact with traditional American capital forces. Although Simon still chose to refuse, he also instructed James to start operating the political connections of Westeros.

Moreover, Simon also directly approved a fund of 10 million US dollars, which is only the budget for this year.

In this era when most of the top rich have only billions of dollars in assets, there are very few rich people who can easily come up with $10 million in cash just to build a political network. However, after a brief surprise, James quickly put into practical action.

Building a political network does not mean betting on a presidential election.

In fact, because the US President’s every move has attracted the attention of many people, and his power is not as great as imagined, the return on investment in doing so is actually very low.

In contrast, only by becoming the backstage funder of the federal Senate and House of Representatives or key members of important institutions can weave a truly unbreakable network of connections.

This is how the Koch family’s deep-rooted political influence in the United States has been established many years later. With their large annual political contributions, no matter which party of the two parties in the United States has won the presidency, the Koch family has dozens of positions in the federal government. Spokespersons occupy various high positions.

With this strong political influence, the Koch family controls a huge energy empire that is very sensitive in any country, but basically has not encountered anti-monopoly troubles.

According to last year's "Forbes" data, the brothers Charles Koch and David Koch, who are in power by the Koch family, have assets of only 1.1 billion U.S. dollars. The combined net worth of the two brothers is not as much as Simon. It has not yet formed that kind of influence later on.

Simon was reminded by James, and immediately came up with the idea of ​​copying the Koch family political network model.

In fact, the Koch family only started to rise in the 1960s and 1970s, perhaps more than a few years in business than Simon. But in the same way, Simon also has his own advantages. Not only is he young enough to have enough time to do this, but his personal wealth is better than that of the Koch family.

After making the decision, Simon did not hesitate to put out 10 million US dollars to let James go to'test the water'.

Moreover, Simon was not so greedy that he wanted to step on two boats, but decisively bet on the Democratic Party.

If James can use the 10 million US dollars this year to achieve the desired effect, Simon plans to continue to substantially increase this budget next year. If James cannot satisfy Simon, he will decisively substitute.

Simon did not tell James Rebold his specific plan, but James did not squander it just because he suddenly got the money.

Although Janet’s financial audit of Daenerys Entertainment at the beginning of the year did not affect Westeros, James also realized that the young man who seemed to give him a lot of management authority was not as careless as he thought. .

Since becoming the president of Westeros, James Rebald has managed the huge assets held by this company in an orderly manner, and Simon has not treated him badly.

It's just that the directorships of the 16 technology companies can bring him millions of dollars in income every year. Although his fixed salary at Westeros is not too high, Simon is quite generous in bonuses.

In the past year, including Simon’s $5 million bonus for him, James’ total annual income reached $8 million. This is already the salary that many CEOs of the world’s top 500 companies can get.

Although the growth of Simon's personal assets is even more alarming, James has not overestimated his own strength. He is very satisfied with his salary. After all, without Simon, the law firm run by him and his wife can only bring him millions of dollars in income every year.

What's more, as long as Westeros has been operating well, James believes that Simon will certainly not be stingy to reward him more in the future. What's more, what he got was not simply a monetary return. The Rebald family's class in federal society has also been greatly improved.

Sophia is French. According to the "Federal Election Act", foreigners cannot make political contributions. In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, James Leibald also specially reminded Sophia of this.

Therefore, Sophia attended this cocktail party purely for socializing.

Although Simon is only a wealthy upstart who has just risen in the last two years, his billion-dollar asset volume, ranking third in the United States, is there. The large number of companies held by Westeros naturally forms a very large Potential network.

James Rebold happens to be another man who is very good at business.

Nearly seven o'clock, in the banquet hall of the Gramercy Hotel, hundreds of Hollywood stars, media big names, technology company executives, Wall Street elites, and Manhattan celebrities were crowded.

David Dingkins is about 60 years old this year and previously served as the mayor of Manhattan, New York.

After James Rebold personally hosted the warm-up, David Dingkins boarded the front desk of the banquet hall and began a routine speech on his campaign philosophy.

A few minutes later, Dingkins finished his speech, and amid the applause of everyone, the reception officially began.

Networking resources in the film and television and media industries can provide great help for Gucci’s operations. Sophia and Angela each shuttled among the crowds, and soon exchanged business cards with many guests. Angela also played a hit with Daenerys Entertainment. A heroine of the drama "Ultimate Police Net" has made an appointment to entertain each other at the Gucci store on Fifth Avenue tomorrow.

Stars are actually the best exposure and communication vehicles for luxury goods.

The reception unknowingly lasted for more than an hour. Sophia was talking with Robert Iger, and the Rebolds came over together, and the couple also brought a teenager about eighteen years old.

Iger saw the boy standing beside Rebold and smiled: "Jim, you are finally willing to let Philip come out to see the world."

"Yeah, he is going to college soon, and these things can also be touched by him," James Leibald replied, and then introduced to Sofia: "Sophie, this is my son Philip. Philip, this It’s Ms. Sophia Facie."

"Hello, Philip," Sophia stretched out her hand and shook the boy, noticing that the other's face was reddish, and smiled: "I know your sister very well, Jim said you are going to college, and I want to apply for it. Is there a school?"

Philip glanced at his father and responded politely: "Yale, Ms. Faisy."

Sophia nodded and said, "Yale, that's a great university."

After a brief chat, everyone met, and the Rebolds took their son to the other guests.

Iger watched the Rebolds leave, shook their heads and said to Sophia slightly: “Jim and Carly’s discipline to their children is actually a bit too strict. In recent years, Jim has kept Philip in the boarding school, but he was in Manhattan. Children are not allowed to go to school. Philip is as smart as Jenny, but his personality is as shy as Jenny. This is the result of his parents being too strong."

Sophia had a good impression of the polite boy just now, and said: "It's nothing, I'm also very strict with my children."

On the other side, the Rebalds were taking their son to socialize in the crowd. James’ assistant came over and said something in his ear. Hearing that David Dinkins was about to leave, James confessed his wife to the entrance of the banquet hall. Go.

Seeing James coming, David Dingkins shook his hand again and said: "Jim, thank you very much for your arrangements tonight, but I will fly to Washington tomorrow morning."

"Of course it doesn't matter," James said, waiting for Dingkins to greet some other guests who were seeing off, and then said: "I will send you out."

Leaving the banquet hall, James and Dingkins's entourage consciously fell behind.

"Actually, it is like this, David, I heard a very interesting thing, the recent Michael Milken case, did you follow it?"

When the two passed the elevator, David Dingkins naturally continued to walk towards the stairs and said, "Of course I know that Giuliani had been clutching this case before he left, but unfortunately, he left the job without closing the case. ."

The insider trading case of Michael Milken, the king of junk bonds, can be said to be the most sensational financial case on Wall Street recently.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York have secretly investigated Michael Milken since the "Wall Street" actor prototype Ivan Bosky case three years ago. Filed multiple felony charges.

Rudy Giuliani wanted to close the case before leaving his post as prosecutor in the Southern District Court, because putting a securities tycoon like Michael Milken in prison would add a lot of political capital to him.

James helped David Dingkins to open the door of the stairs and the two walked down the steps together. He continued: "Everyone knows that although the SEC and the Southern District Attorney's Office have cooperation, there are often competing relationships. The SEC has always been ahead of Giuliani in the investigation of the Milken case. As far as I know, as early as the end of last year, Gary Lynch, who was in charge of the case in the SEC’s Enforcement Department, wanted to file a lawsuit against Milken, but was killed by Julian. Ni stopped."

David Dingkins shook his head slightly and said, "Jim, this kind of thing is normal between the SEC and the prosecutor's office."

"But, I heard," James turned his head and looked behind him, no one was close, and then continued: "It's just a rumor, David, I heard that Giuliani threatened on the phone to prevent the SEC from suing Milken in advance. Gary Lynch, if Lynch dares to do this in advance, the Southern District Attorney’s Office will be on Milken’s side."

When David Dingkins heard this, he stopped and looked at James: "Are you sure?"

During the campaign, Rudy Giuliani has been blatantly claiming his various achievements in combating gangs and financial crimes in the position of prosecutor in the Southern District. This is also his biggest political bargaining chip in this campaign. However, if Giuliani really said that he was on the side of criminals when the SEC initiated a lawsuit in advance, it would definitely have a serious impact on his image as a justice enforcer.

James also stopped and said, "David, I can only say that the credibility of this matter is very high. Also, you should get confirmation from Lynch, not from me."

David Dingkins nodded, his expression already showing a little eagerness, he stretched out his hand and shook James again, and said, "Also, please say hello to Simon. I am looking forward to the opportunity to gather."

James smiled: "There will definitely be a chance."

Now that what should have been said, James did not continue to accompany Dingkins downstairs, watching the other party and the assistant who followed him leave, and James returned to the banquet hall.

The remarks I just told Dingkins are naturally not fabricated, but the source of the information is not enough for outsiders. As a former financial lawyer, James still has accumulated a lot of contacts in this area, and now he has strong capital support, wanting to do certain things is completely at his fingertips.

Because of the strict restrictions on the amount of individual donations in the election bill, the donations that David Dingkins can get in such a fundraising reception may not be as expensive as the reception itself.

Everyone invests in personal connections.

To establish this network, Westeros naturally also needs to come up with some more gold-rich chips. Otherwise, even if he is elected, David Dingkins will only regard Westeros as a general funder, and will not become a closer political ally.

For Rudy Giuliani, James actually looks down on this man very much.

Purely speculative politicians, who easily changed parties in order to be able to serve in the Reagan administration, did not have a firm stand for their own political achievements. Ambitious but unable to let go of lust, **** is very dirty. Running for mayor of New York is already Giuliani's political ceiling, and it is basically impossible to go further.