Mike nodded.
“My name is Manuel Blanco. I am Mr. Schnieder’s assistant. He is waiting for you. Please come.” He led Mike and Karen to the opened doorway to Schnieder’s office.
Schnieder sprang to his feet and moved around his beautiful, handmade desk to welcome his new clients. He smiled, displaying his glittering array of gold teeth. He shook Mike’s hand vigorously, and then Karen’s. “Welcome, my friends. Please come in and have a drink.” He turned to Blanco and nodded, indicating that his presence was no longer required. Blanco left, closing the door behind him.
Schnieder hurried to the bar in the far corner of his office and poured four brandies. After chugging one, he returned to his desk with the remaining three. He gave one to each of his guests, and then returned to his chair with the third. Mike and Karen seated themselves in the comfortable, tan leather chairs facing Schnieder’s desk. “Now my friends, we have much to talk about,” he said, flashing another golden smile.
“Before we start, Alfred, Karen and I need to clarify an extremely important point,” Mike said.
“Yes?” Schnieder’s golden smile vanished.
“How much secrecy can we attach to this meeting?” Mike asked, focusing on Schnieder’s beady green eyes.
Schnieder stared at his swirling brandy while spinning the stem of his glass between his index finger and thumb. He looked up at Mike. “The utmost. Many years ago, when I came to Venezuela from Germany, I learned very quickly that secrecy is of paramount importance in the banking business. I learned that if one wants to survive in it, one must be discrete with his clients and their holdings.”
Relieved by Schnieder’s answer, Mike took a large gulp of his brandy. “How much do you know about the methods Jim Servito employed to acquire his fortune?”
Schnieder squinted at Mike and shook his head. “It is neither my duty nor my intention to discuss with you or anyone the activities of a former client. That is privileged information.”
“Then you wouldn’t be prepared to act as a witness for us?” Mike asked. Although he was already certain of the answer, he felt deeply disappointed to see his expectation come true.
Again, Schnieder shook his head. “Definitely not. I am, however, compelled to discuss with you and Karen the disposition of his considerable fortune. First, I must ask you—where is young Phillip?”
“He’s at his father’s home. Two of Servito’s former maids are looking after him… His mother and I have told him that it’s our intention to return every dime of his father’s money to its rightful owners.”
Schnieder raised his graying eyebrows, his facial wrinkles broadcasting disappointment and every one of his sixty-four years. “Is that really your intention?”
“No. We intend to keep it, but we don’t want the boy’s youth to be corrupted by the money.”
Schnieder relaxed. “Then how would you like me to deal with the money?”
“Exactly how much is there?” Karen asked.
Schnieder opened a drawer on the right side of his desk and removed a folder. He examined several pages, and then turned to Karen. “It’s quite difficult to give you a precise answer to that question at any specific point. The amount is constantly fluctuating. Conservatively, however, I estimate its current value at three hundred and twenty-five million.”
Mike and Karen shared a glance, and then Karen turned to Schnieder. “Why does it fluctuate?” she asked.
“A small portion of the fortune owns shares of companies. As the fortunes of those companies fluctuate, so too does the value of their shares. The stable and more predictable component of the fortune is its holdings of U.S. government T-Bills and bonds. The constant flow of interest income increases the value of the fortune as we speak…”
“How do we perpetuate secrecy?” Mike asked. “I want the memory of the money to die a natural death.”
“To perpetuate the secrecy, you might want to consider removing yourselves from a direct connection.”
“How could we do that?”
“We could arrange for Phillip to own an anstalt. The anstalt could then be the owner of the trust.”
“What’s an anstalt?” Karen asked.
“When tracking evaded taxes, the American feds usually look for direct ownership or control of the money itself, or assets purchased with it. On a personal income tax form, the taxpayer is asked to disclose such ownership or control. If one owns an anstalt, one could truthfully answer those questions without revealing a connection to the trust.”
“How?”
“According to the laws of Liechtenstein, an anstalt is a person. Its owner, irrespective of nationality, may direct the person to do whatever he or she wishes. Nowhere on the income tax paperwork is there a place where the feds ask the taxpayer if he or she owns a person.
“That’s incredible!” Mike said, shaking his head in amazement.
Schnieder took the opportunity to wax philosophical. “It’s really not incredible to those even slightly familiar with homeless money, largely the fruits of crime. This enormous quantity of renegade money has limited the ability of governments to generate sufficient tax revenues from domestic sources to balance their budgets. Hence, they run deficits and accumulate debts. In order to attract sufficient funds from offshore sources, they have learned to be tolerant of certain games. They know a lot of the money they are borrowing is hot, but they wink at it, realizing they have no palatable alternative. If they refused to borrow hot money, interest rates would shoot into the stratosphere.”
“Setting up an anstalt sounds like a good program,” Mike said, looking at Karen for approval.
Karen nodded.
“Splendid! I’ll have our attorney prepare the necessary forms. Perhaps before you leave Caracas, you could come here and sign them.”
“What forms?” Karen asked with a concerned expression.
“Nothing serious. The forms just give us the authority to proceed. Once signed, they will remain in our confidential files. You will have nothing to worry about, short of a cataclysmic financial disaster.”
“What on earth does that mean, Alfred?” Karen asked, suddenly even more concerned.
“I’m sorry if I alarmed you. I did not mean to do that. My duty as an officer of this bank and executor of your late husband’s estate is to advise you that, for as long as I retain that position, I am ultimately responsible for the fortunes of the estate, both good and bad. If I continue to pursue conservative and prudent investment strategies, you should never have a reason to worry.”
Karen persisted, a hard gaze in her eye. “I still don’t understand. How could it ever be a problem?”
“Let me illustrate the point by using a hypothetical example. Assume I managed a trust of a million dollars for you, Karen. Suppose I decided to place the funds in a very high-risk investment. If it proved to be a good investment, you would be very happy and so would I—we would get good returns for the investment. If, however, it was a poor investment, we would both be unhappy, for you would lose the money with the investment. Perhaps all of your original investment. My strategy, from the very beginning of my relationship with your husband, has been to employ his money in only the most conservative and low risk investments, however, so the likelihood of losing the money in this way is practically nil.”
“I understand,” Karen said, only slightly relieved.
Schnieder stood and returned to his bar. “More brandy?” he asked as he refilled his own glass.
Instead, Mike stood and extended his hand to Schnieder. “Thank you for everything, Alfred. Your personal attention to our little secret is very much appreciated.”
Schnieder stood and took the man’s hand. “It is not necessary to thank me, Mike. The pleasure is all mine.” He turned to Karen and reached for her hand, as well. “I wish you much happiness, my dear.”
CHAPTER 72
Mike telephoned Dan Turner’s Toronto office from Servito’s mansion, and Turner’s secretary received the call.
“Ma
y I speak to Dan Turner, please?”
“May I tell him who’s calling?”
“Mike King. I’m calling from Caracas.”
“One moment, Mr. King.
“Is this my most itinerant client?” Turner’s deep, authoritative voice asked.
“It is and you won’t believe what’s happened here.”
“Sure I would. After what’s happened here in the last twenty-four hours, I would believe anything.”
“What’s happened there?”
“You talk first. It’s your nickel,” Turner insisted.
“Okay. You want the good news or the bad news?”
“The good news.”
“We have Phillip and Jim Servito is dead.”
“That’s incredible. Tell me how it happened.”
“It’s a long and wild story. I’ll tell you after you tell me what’s happened at your end.”
“First tell me if you found Servito’s money.”
“That’s the bad news. We haven’t found the money or one shred of the evidence we need to clear ourselves. We can’t come home, Dan.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Dan said. He could hear the silence of Mike’s held breath. “Make sure your seat belt’s fastened for this one… all of the charges against you and Karen have been dropped.”
“What!”
“Believe it or not, I received a call from a lawyer acting for the feds shortly after you left the country. He told me Jerry Allison lived long enough to confess. Apparently, he sang like a bird. You’ll be pleased to know that you were right about Servito. He did a wonderful job of setting you and Karen up. I could tell you a lot more, but I’ll do that when you return. You’re both free to do that now.”
“I can’t thank you enough, Dan. See you soon.” Mike hurled the telephone receiver into the air, and then hobbled to hold the only woman he had ever loved. “Now it’s really over, babe,” he said, and told her Turner’s incredible news.
Overwhelmed with joy, she smiled into his deep blue eyes. “No, Tiger. It’s just beginning.”
THE END
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Steve Douglass was born and educated in Canada. After graduating, he spent thirty years in the oil industry. His career began with Exxon and Royal Dutch Shell, the largest and second largest companies in the business. He spent the second half of the three decades building one of the smallest companies in the industry: his own.
Now retired, he spends his summers in Niagara Falls, Canada, and his winters in Florida, USA.
I sincerely hope you enjoyed The Bridge To Caracas. If you did, then you might be interested in learning what happened to Jim Servito’s stolen fortune, and how it devastated the lives of everyone who touched it.
Log on to Amazon and download:
THE TAINTED TRUST
Volume two of The King Trilogy
and
KERRI’S WAR
Volume three of The King Trilogy
Table of Contents
Copyright
THE BRIDGE TO CARACAS
Foreword
Acknowledgements
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
CHAPTER 35
CHAPTER 36
CHAPTER 37
CHAPTER 38
CHAPTER 39
CHAPTER 40
CHAPTER 41
CHAPTER 42
CHAPTER 43
CHAPTER 44
CHAPTER 45
CHAPTER 46
CHAPTER 47
CHAPTER 48
CHAPTER 49
CHAPTER 50
CHAPTER 51
CHAPTER 52
CHAPTER 53
CHAPTER 54
CHAPTER 55
CHAPTER 56
CHAPTER 57
CHAPTER 58
CHAPTER 59
CHAPTER 60
CHAPTER 61
CHAPTER 62
CHAPTER 63
CHAPTER 64
CHAPTER 65
CHAPTER 66
CHAPTER 67
CHAPTER 68
CHAPTER 69
CHAPTER 70
CHAPTER 71
CHAPTER 72
About the author
Stephen Douglass, The Bridge to Caracas
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