Chapter 1 – Doomsday

There were a few things that one learned in this business.

Never trust the people you compete against, and only trust a hand full of people that work for you. There were only a few people in the Board Room that he trusted, three to be precise. Maxwell Stoops was one of them, Zachary Stoops, his son in-law, was the second and the clerk was the last, he didn't trust the others with anything. He respected them and the feeling was mutual, but he didn't trust them. Another thing that he had with this Board of Directors was an understanding, when he wanted something done, they did it. They understood what happened to the previous Board of Directors and the iron fist he wielded, he destroyed those former Board Members and he would destroy them if they knifed him in the back, "Thank you for coming here for the second time today, but as you've been made aware, former CEO Trevor Long has been employed with Marcus and Associates Investments."

"What is this about Jake?" Zachary asked with a bit of a smile, "You forced him out. We know that, what else was he going to do?"

Jake sighed and looked over to him, "Well, I assume that you are all aware of Investment Finance Regulations? And what it means to be a partner in an Investment Firm and invest?"

"Of course, you need a Class-9 Traders License-…" Zachary stopped as it dawned on him.

The older man looked smug, "Now, it typically takes four years for someone to be properly vetted and for the Government to approve it, now any explanations as to why he got a license in one day."

A low murmur began to go through the Board Room and Jake smiled at Maxwell, who shared his smile. Zachary, who was third most powerful executive on the Board, turned to him, "I can't believe that he would do this."

"Neither can I, but I can't interfere, it's not my company and he doesn't like it when I intercede on his behalf," Jake swept his gaze around the table, "As you all know, we have $28 Billion Dollars in Capital in the firm, and with the new Attorney General promising to clean up Corporate Corruption, I have a feeling that he's going to turn his eyes on Marcus, it's inevitable. The SEC takes bribes every single day, and the AG knows this and he's going to start there. It is only a matter of time. Now we have two issues, the first one is that $28 Billion Dollars, and the second is Trevor himself. Now, a former CEO of this company and not to mention my son is going to come under scrutiny and by extension this company. We need to prepare to remove that $28 Billion from Marcus quietly and we need to prepare for this inevitable onslaught by the Justice Department. So, care to run any options by Maxwell and myself?"

Zachary tapped his hands against the table, "Is there anything peculiar that the Justice Department will find here?"

"I don't run my business like that at all," Jake told him and then he turned to the rest of the Board and stared at the center of the table, "And by the way, if there are any peculiarities at any level of this company, I'm going to let the shit run downhill and bury the people who are responsible. Now as far as I know, there are no improprieties here, but by the time that DOJ gets here, I expect any improprieties to be corrected and everything flawless. I've made it a policy to run this company clean, and this is my one and only warning to every single employee and all levels of this company, by this time next week, I expected you to spit shine the records and leave no stone unturned and to make everything proper. Any one remotely involved will be handed over to the Department of Justice on platter, you all relay this to your departments and I'll relay this to the Chief Executive Level later on. Have I made myself very clear?"

By their silence, Jake knew they understood. There had to be some improprieties within the massive structure of the company, but he expected it to be cleaned up by the time the Federal Government arrived. Or else, true to his word, he'd let the Federal crap roll downhill. He turned from Zach and looked across the table at Maxwell, who was looking at a folder with a stunned, almost fearful expression his face. Oh he had a bad feeling about what was about to happen. Scratching his forehead, he narrowed his eyes and leaned in, "Max, you look like you just saw a ghost, there is something you're not telling us, what is it and give us the uncensored version and let the bad news flow."

"This is alarming, this is very, very alarming," Maxwell said, taking his eyes off of the folder in front of him and closing it quickly, "That account that we have at Marcus and Associates, all $28 Billion of it are the source funds for all of our Employee Benefits. Medical Insurances, Retirement Accounts, Pensions, the General 401k Plan. Jake, we have to get that money out of there, and we have to get it out now, if the Government confiscates it, we have no benefits for all our Employees and we'll have a riot on our hands."

Jake sighed, "You forgot about this?"

"I'm sorry, I'm juggling about a hundred other things right now because the former CFO left things in a jumble," Maxwell sighed and slid the folder across the folder and straight to Jake, "I can't tell you the possible risks of this, it is my recommendation, as the only person on this Board with the qualification to make this judgment, that you remove all of our ties with Marcus."

Jake sighed as Zachary looked down at his father, "You're only qualified?"

"I am kid," Maxwell said, "You've spent the last two years kissing your brother in-law's ass, all the while, he was setting this company up to involved with one of the most extensive Government probes in American History."

Zachary turned back to Jake, "I thought you authorized the Marcus account?"

"Trevor did," Jake shook his head, "I objected, but I couldn't stop him."

Zachary turned and looked at the table incredulously, "So are you telling me that Trevor just saddled us with $3 Billion in annual payments for this avenue, invested our entire 401k Fund with a crooked yet brilliant investor and now he's put himself in a position to ruin his reputation, and ours, is that right?"

"Yes," Jake nodded, a scowl was on his face, "I can hear the chants of Ponzi Schemes, and how Trevor and I were in on it. We need to distance ourselves from Marcus and Associates immediately, begin pulling that money from Marcus. At the very least, we can't allow our 401k funds to be compromised."

Maxwell nodded, "So we're throwing out secrecy?"

"Yes," Jake nodded, "I don't give a damn about the attention anymore, I won't open ourselves up to the possibility of having those funds disappear, we owe the people who work for this company far better loyalty then that."

Leaning forward, Maxwell grabbed the phone and pressed the speaker function on the phone. He quickly dialed in the number that would take him directly to John Marcus, INGB's official Board of Directors phone line had a direct connection to his office. Maxwell grabbed the piece of paper that was next to him and picked up a pen, "John, you're on the line with the INGB Board."

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"What can I do for you ladies and gentlemen?" John leaned back in his chair with an almost jolly look on his face. He loved his biggest clients, they were special to him and their money tripled his love for INGB and its Board.

Maxwell began to write some notes to himself, "We're canceling our accounts."

The shock that went through John, caused him to shoot up from his chair, "I have to object, we're being preparing to issue some very big investments with that large chunk of money, in fact I put your son on it this morning."

"John, this is Jake Long," Jake leaned forward, "I can't allow any more investments with that money, I am aware that you don't know that the money is our general plan account for our all our Employees and we need to keep it out of danger of being lost, investment banking is not something that I need to risk with the wellbeing of 41,900 people. I do hope you understand."

John clenched his fist, it was amazing how fast relationships could turn around, "Your authority is not needed here Mr. Long, I can only do that with the authorization of your department heads. It's their money and I can assure you that they need to give you their authorization for me to move it."

"No," Jake began to get agitated, "I can assure you that all of my employees wouldn't want their money being risked. And if you are so distraught about losing this money, perhaps you'd be willing to explain to us how my son, who didn't possess a Traders License, got one in one day instead 4 years?"

He should have known better then to have let Jacob Long into his actions, the man was shark, he was the biggest badest prick in the industry and if you crossed him, you usually ended up one of three things, in jail, bankrupt or ruined. Any idiot who knew anything of finance laws, knew that the only way to get a hold of a traders license was to take an exam that would take at the least 4 years to be vetted, and there was one explanation to getting one in less than a day, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Of course you don't," Jake sighed and shook his head, "Let me just say, if I decided to blab to the Justice Department that someone inside your company decided to bribe a SEC License Commissioner so that he'd grant said licenses to your traders, how would you react to that bit of news?"

Sighing, John leaned against the counter with his hand buried in his hands, he had been caught, "I don't have the money, Jake, I don't have it!"

"Dear Lord," Jake sighed and leaned back into his chair, "I swear to god John, if you don't tell me were that money is, I'm going to use everything I have at my disposal, both personal and professional to pick you apart."

That was not an idle threat, when Jake Long threatened to tear you apart, piece by piece, he meant it, "It's gone, I gambled it away on a merger that failed and there isn't a dime left, I've been dreading this moment, and I've been trying to piece together a solution to get you you're money back."

"You have two weeks, to get everything back, all $28 Billion Dollars, I don't care if you have to sell your car," Jake told him, he was now standing up and the emotion that propelled him was pure anger, "$28 Billon Dollars, I want every penny back in the root account in 14 Days, or I will tear that firm apart and take everything that I can get, you won't stop me from that."

"I'd have to sell the firm to do that," John was quiet.

"Better than 41,900 people demanding that you be hanged," Jake gritted his teeth, "Not only will I launch the greatest class-action litigation against your firm in the History of Mankind, but I will tip off the Justice Department and I will make sure that you spend the rest of your life in a Federal Prison."

John scoffed, maybe he was wrong in scoffing, but he had learned to never show your real face in his business, "You're so high and mighty Mr. Long."

"Donald Wilson got sentenced to 113 Years in a Federal Prison for systematically stealing my company away from me," Jake said, he placed his hands on the table and leaned closer to the phone, "Granted, Donald was stupid and he blatantly committed crimes, but you've kept them under wraps for decades, and if I don't have that money in 14 Days, they're going to be made know to the entire world, including the US Justice Department."

There was silence and he expected that, Jake Long had just delivered a knockout punch to his resolve, "It will take time to get all of that money."

"Then I suggest you get moving," Jake said, "You have 14 Days to do it."

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"What are we going to do? What am I going to do? He'll kill me," Trevor sighed deeply and began to pace the width of John Marcus's Office. He had listened in on the whole phone call and if there was one thing that his father was good at, it was at making grand threats and delivering them.

John sighed and looked at his desk, "I want you to start liquidating all of our non-essential assets, accounts, hell file for loans from the bank. There is no way out of this, short of having my career and might I remind you, your career ripped apart by the Securities and Exchange Commission."

"I read over the non-essential components, but they equal out to about $13 Billion Dollars if we managed to get rid of it all," Trevor set down in the chair and rubbed his chin, "We still have $15 Billion Dollars to get a hold of."

"I'll put up $10 Billion with my own money," John told himself.

It really hurt to give up $10 Billion Dollars, but he couldn't risk the consequences of not being able to get the funds, "What about you?"

"I have trust fund," Trevor said, "But it's only $800 Million Dollars."

John looked back over to his computer and stared into the blank screen and then something clicked, "I have an idea, and it's just crazy enough to work."

"What is it?" Trevor asked.

"Get me the official readout of all our clients' accounts, not including INGB and you might want to bring a calculator and a lot of notebook paper," John said, he had done this before and he hoped to god that he was lucky enough to pull it off again.

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"You rang?" Maxwell said from his open door.

Jake turned up from his computer and gave Maxwell an amused look before turning away from the letter that he was writing up and giving him his full attention, "I want you to call a meeting a joint meeting with all of the department and services heads, I need to tell them all about this."

"You think that's wise?" Maxwell told him as he stepped into the office.

"If John Marcus can't get his hands on $28 Billion Dollars by the end of these two weeks, I need to warn them," Jake said, turning his attention back to the computer, "I want them to know that we're on their side."

Maxwell set down in front of the desk, "What if they talk?"

"Have legal draw up a confidentiality agreement, iron clad and include lots of references to big fat lawsuits if they do blab," Jake said, turning his computer monitor towards Maxwell, "What do you think of my letter?"

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To the Commissioners the Securities and Exchange Commission,

It has come to my attention that John Marcus, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of 'Marcus and Associates Investments and Securities' has been engaging in illegal activities to support his business. It has also come to my attention that he has completely done away with 'International and National General Broadcasting Company's General Employee Benefit Account Fund', totaling $28 Billion Dollars.

I do not know in truth what has happened to these funds, he tells me that they were lost in an investment. However, I suspect the worse. Mr. Marcus's public face and his private face are two very different things.

I gave Mr. Marcus 14 Days to recover the funds and return them to my company, but he has failed to do so. You should also be aware that my team and I suspect that he has been paying off SEC License Commissioners, my son recently was employed there, and the standard waiting period for a trading license is four years, he received it in one day. As you can see, I suspect that this is the tip of the iceberg.

I am writing you in hopes that you can force Mr. Marcus to do whatever he needs to do to return the $28 Billion Dollars to my 41,900 loyal, hardworking, employees.

Due to my need to recover these funds, I have also sent a similar letter to the United States Justice Department, the United States House of Representatives and Senate Finance Committees, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation and to the President of the United States.

Jacob L. Long,

Chairman of the Corporate Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of International and National General Broadcasting Company

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"You're really going to do this?" Maxwell said, he was completely stupefied, Jake was very through. If there was one thing that the United State Government was good at, it was at kicking the ass of Corporations who violated the law and defrauded thousands of people of their money.

Jake nodded, "I'll send it when he fails to meet his deadline."

"You think he will?" Maxwell asked.

Jake laughed and leaned back in his chair, "I know his financials, don't ask how, but I do and he can't cover it by giving us his own money. And I know how much Trevor has, he could give everything he has and it wouldn't be enough. There's only one thing left and that's the skim off of his other's clients and in that case, he'll be caught soon enough."

"You're son will go down to you know," Maxwell pointed out to him.

Jake sighed and leaned forward to hold his head in his hands, "Don't remind me, I have an army of the highest paid attorney's on retainer for him, I secured astronomically high bail funds, but I haven't told Rose."

"God help you," Maxwell said.

"Well, it's for his own good, he made a very wrong decision and she's going to have to understand that," Jake tapped his hand against the table.

"She's still going to murder you," Maxwell grinned.

Jake sighed, "Tell me about it, by the way? Care to speak at my funeral?"