[Chapter 601: Sweeping Through Southeast Asia, Accurately Targeted]
Morgan Stanley.
Wall Street's largest investment bank.
Managing trillions in assets.
Generating annual revenues exceeding $40 billion.
It stood atop the Big Five on Wall Street, a true financial giant. Even the Quantum Fund was a mere pup in its shadow.
In the conference room, CEO Cruyff held a report, chuckling as he said, "The Thai baht has completely collapsed, down 17%. Our profits have already hit $9 billion. Soros really knows how to play his cards. He crushed Thailand brilliantly. Excellent, absolutely excellent. Leading with his Quantum Fund gave him all the confidence and backing he needed. Meanwhile, we followed behind, cashing in big -- it's just beautiful."
Executives and financial experts involved in the Thai short-selling campaign smiled broadly around the table. Among them, Karl Sas, the operation chief, happily chimed in from the leftmost seat.
"True, we took almost no risks following Soros and still earned unimaginable profits. It feels fantastic. But let's be clear -- we didn't just do nothing. Other ASEAN countries threw around grand aid packages to Thailand, but without the coordinated assault from the Big Five, forcing them to stop lending foreign currency, this battle wouldn't have tipped so quickly.
Seeing Thailand isolated, we decisively entered with massive short positions against the baht. In less than a week, Thailand quit resisting altogether. Over the past two decades, Thailand's economy grew fast, accumulating lots of wealth. Now, they're completely exposed under our watchful eyes. I suggest we inject even more capital to seize maximum profit."
Cruyff snapped the report shut, resolute. "Fine, I'll allocate another $50 billion to strip Thailand's wealth as fast as possible. Since Thailand's fallen, other Southeast Asian countries -- Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore -- look similar, with abundant wealth. Coordinate with Soros and secure those countries next."
"Don't worry," Karl said confidently. "Those countries are like sheep penned for us. They won't escape."
...
Goldman Sachs.
Merrill Lynch.
Lehman Brothers.
Bear Stearns.
Similar scenes played out across the board -- the Big Five all ramped up their financial raids on Thailand while sharpening their knives for the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.
Despite Soros's notorious reputation and enormous gains from shorting Southeast Asia, the biggest profits belonged to Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and the other Wall Street giants.
Among the American elite, whispers abounded: Soros's Quantum Fund and Robertson's Tiger Fund were nothing more than unleashed attack dogs by the Federal Reserve and the Big Five. These "mad dogs" charged ahead while the others quietly amassed fortunes behind the scenes.
From the 1970s oil crisis, through Latin America's 1980s debt crisis, the early '90s Japanese real estate and stock bubble bursts, the 1992 pound short, to the 1997 Asian financial crisis -- at their core, these were brutal wealth grabs by the Fed and Wall Street's titans.
In America's eyes, the world was their sheepfold. The moment a nation's wealth grew heavy, they'd wage financial war without hesitation, plundering riches and devastating economies. Afterward, wielding the World Bank and IMF's poisonous daggers under the guise of aid, they forced harsh economic reforms and market liberalization -- paving the way for future harvests.
...
Over the following days, as Soros predicted, countless international speculators flooded Thailand's currency market, with over $1 trillion pouring in to decimate the government's forex, stock, futures, and real estate sectors.
Thailand howled in despair. Precious mines, ports, railways, cash-starved manufacturers, and bankrupt banks fell into the hands of international raiders. Even public utilities like water, electricity, and gas were seized.
Leading the frenzy were the speculators from America and allied countries -- they made a killing.
However, the Skycrest Fund stayed clear of Thailand's ongoing brutal pillaging. They quietly cashed out their profits and began positioning to short Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Singapore currencies.
...
Meanwhile, Linton started scouring Washington for a team of 15 advisors spread across the White House, Senate, and House offices.
Months earlier, he had posted recruitment notices through his Linton Media Group and Universal conglomerate. By the time he returned from filming, over 100 applicants had signed up.
He held a unified exam for the candidates. From the results, 30 were invited for interviews, eventually narrowing down to 15.
During the final interviews, Linton employed Soul Induction to detect any hidden agendas or external influences. Fortunately, no anomalies surfaced. He selected 15 suited white professionals between 30 and 40 years old -- 10 men and 5 women.
Their profiles were faxed to the White House. Once security clearance came through, Linton planned to launch his three operations based in Washington.
As for the 15 who didn't make the cut yet proved capable, he would keep a close eye and nurture them within his companies for future growth.
---
On July 7, Linton accompanied Kate Winslet to the Los Angeles Universal Theater for the premiere of Armageddon, starring Kate herself.
This $90 million sci-fi disaster spectacle was a joint production of Linton Films and Universal, directed by Michael Bay and starring Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, and Kate Winslet.
The plot was thin: NASA detects a massive meteor hurtling toward Earth with just 18 days before impact, threatening global annihilation. To prevent disaster, NASA sends a team to land on the meteor, drill to its core, and detonate a nuke to shatter it in space.
After emergency astronaut training, the team launches aboard two retrofitted space shuttles, the Liberty and the Independence, successfully landing on the meteor. Battling environmental extremes and technical failures, they complete the drilling.
In a heroic climax, Bruce Willis's character Harry sacrifices himself by manually triggering the nuclear blast, saving Earth from destruction.
Though the story was far-fetched, Michael Bay masterfully delivered epic scale and explosions. The effects were stunningly realistic, the visuals dazzling, and the cinematography intensely gripping -- truly a standout summer popcorn flick.
Notably, the film's Super Bowl ads featuring Tokyo and Paris destruction sequences and meteor nuclear explosions electrified global audiences early in the year.
Thanks to massive promotion from Linton Media and Universal, Armageddon became the most anticipated summer release in the U.S.
It secured an impressive 3,800 screens in its initial run.
When it hit North American theaters on July 9, audiences flocked. Midnight showings alone grossed $4.18 million.
Friday's opening day pulled in $18.31 million, Saturday $19.73 million, and Sunday $17.14 million.
The opening weekend total of $55.18 million made it the box office champ for a release window without competition -- a close second only to Jurassic Park II for the year.
Critics were split, much like with Independence Day two years prior.
Audience scores averaged an A, signaling broad public approval. IMDb votes rated it 8.0, a solid score.
However, professional critics united in harsh condemnations, slamming the film's quality mercilessly across media outlets.
But unlike the past, critics' influence over summer blockbusters had waned significantly. Their campaigns no longer deterred ticket sales. The box office boom roared on.
By the end of the first full week, Armageddon had grossed $90.17 million in North America alone.
This success firmly elevated Kate Winslet to near A-list stardom in Hollywood, boosting her popularity and star power.
Excited, Kate repeatedly called Linton on the promotional tour, promising a big surprise upon her return.
---
Meanwhile, international capital flooded Southeast Asia's financial markets.
Thailand took the brunt, completely plundered.
A week later, the same money sharks turned to neighboring nations.
Under the weight of massive capital inflows, Southeast Asian currencies began to tumble.
Especially fragile were the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Their forex markets quickly crumbled.
From July 16 onward, Linton received daily good news reports from Richard.
By July 18, the Philippine peso had dropped 6.2%.
On July 21, the Malaysian ringgit lost 6.5%.
By July 22, the Indonesian rupiah fell 7.2%, and the decline continued. The crisis was far from over.
Only Singapore remained resilient, fueled by over $50 billion in foreign reserves. Its currency depreciated less than 1%.
Meanwhile, Skycrest Fund, already positioned in these markets, enjoyed brilliant results.
They invested $500 million across the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore, using 10x leverage to short the currencies.
Just on the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia alone, profits exceeded $1 billion at current rates, if liquidated now.
Willix predicted that by the end of July, these three currencies would follow Thailand's path into outright collapse -- ushering in the real profit-taking period.
Regarding Singapore, despite its abundant reserves, Willix believed it wouldn't hold much longer -- at most until mid-August before succumbing.
The sheer volume of international capital flooding Southeast Asia had surpassed $3 trillion. With the open financial system, Singapore wouldn't withstand the assault.
Elsewhere in Asia, currencies like the South Korean won, Hong Kong dollar, Japanese yen, and Taiwan dollar also felt the ripple effects, depreciating amid the turmoil.
Southeast Asia's forex markets had fallen entirely -- and at a shockingly rapid pace.
The crisis, ignited in Thailand, was sweeping through Southeast Asia and spreading across the entire continent, threatening a full-scale Asian financial meltdown.
Yet, while Linton happily absorbed Richard's daily victory reports, July 22 brought grim news.
...
"Boss, we've been targeted," Richard said. "Just now, the $500 million we deployed shorting Singapore's currency was precisely ambushed."
By the time Linton arrived at Skycrest Fund, Willix and the analysts had completed their post-mortem.
"Boss," Willix began, "our huge gains from this operation without joining Soros-led Wall Street alliance angered them. They set a trap right in Singapore, a fiercely contested battleground, and wiped out our $500 million."
"How do you know it was targeted at us?" Linton questioned.
"Boss, look at this recent pattern of the Singapore dollar versus the US dollar. It's been gradually slipping down. After closing our Thailand position, I opened accounts in the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore, deploying $500 million short in each.
After more than two weeks, three of the four accounts are highly profitable. But Singapore's has been volatile, though trending down, dropping about 2% since entry an hour ago.
We employed only a small 10x leverage for safety, and with international capital flooding into Southeast Asia shorting currencies, our position should've been rock-solid awaiting big profits.
Then, suddenly, massive funds reversed course -- switching from short to long, pushing the Singapore dollar up 12.5% in just two minutes. We couldn't add margin in time; the account was margin called and wiped out completely.
What's worse, right after liquidating our position, those long funds flipped back to short, plunging the currency 13% below previous lows. If this wasn't aimed squarely at us, I wouldn't believe it."
"So to hit us this precisely, they must know our account details inside and out. How did they get that info?"
"Boss, every forex trade must go through the American Forex Trading Center. With the resources Soros and the Wall Street Big Five control there, accessing our info was child's play."
*****
https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.
https://discord.gg/HjHHhUXPn7.