Chapter 227: The Asian Gatsby (3)
#227. The Asian Gatsby (3)
He’d probably been handling matters related to the Mexican mine.
Lau swallowed the shout rising in his throat and continued calmly.
“Didn’t we already pass the test you mentioned before? I think it’s time we discuss the investment specifics.”
But Gonzalez smirked.
“Isn’t the situation quite a bit different now?”
Inside the FBI situation room.
Ten large monitors were simultaneously displaying the images of Gonzalez and Lau.
The moment of reaping the fruits of months of preparation for a sting operation was approaching.
Our plan was simple. “The key is to get Lau to willingly participate in the crime.”
An FBI agent next to me spoke with a tense expression.
“But what's more important than the result is the process itself. If we make even a small mistake along the way, everything could fall apart.”
“What kind of mistake?”
“The most important factor here is ‘intent.’ Lau will immediately claim it was a setup once arrested. But if it appears that we lured someone into committing a crime who had no intention of doing so, he'll have grounds to escape prosecution.”
The core idea was simple.
Gonzalez must not coerce Lau into committing a crime.
Instead, we had to make Lau express criminal intent and act on his own initiative.
So, the success of the operation hinged entirely on Gonzalez’s acting.
Oddly enough, I felt at ease.
‘Well, he’ll do fine.’
Was this what unshakable trust in a protégé felt like?
I hadn’t trained many people, but none could act with Gonzalez’s level of persuasiveness.
Even now—look at him.
His acting skills were shining through.
Lau’s expression was gradually changing on the monitor.
—“Things have changed now...”
“You’ve become too famous.”
Gonzalez tapped the pile of tabloid magazines stacked on the desk.
Headlines plastered with suspicions surrounding the ‘Asian Gatsby’ filled the front pages.
“If you were in my shoes, could you accept a partner like that?”
In any normal company, rejecting investment from a ‘suspicious Gatsby’ would be the obvious choice.
But Lau hesitated briefly, then sharply retorted.
“Weren’t you looking for a partner like me from the start?”
“Me?”
“The reason you turned down so many investors wasn’t because you were looking for someone to just loan you money. You needed a partner to solve specific problems. And I’m exactly that kind of person.”
Just now, Lau admitted he was a “fixer.”
But those words alone wouldn’t be enough as solid evidence.
So it was entirely up to Gonzalez to draw out more.
He simply shrugged and replied.
“I am looking for a fixer, yes, but that doesn’t mean just any fixer will do.”
Gonzalez’s lips twisted.
He continued with a sly grin.
“I wanted someone more skilled. Someone who operates discreetly. Not a fixer who flashes his presence around the world like this...”
“That’s your fault!”
Lau’s outburst was understandable.
‘If it weren’t for that damn MET Gala test, none of this would have happened! I’ve never been in the spotlight like this before, not even once!’
“Well, maybe I did give you the opportunity…But in the end, isn’t this your own doing? You should’ve lived more quietly.”
“So now you’re saying all of this is my fault? I ended up in this mess because of your little test!”
Lau’s eyes said it all.
‘Take responsibility,’ they demanded.
Gonzalez shrugged and answered.
“Well, I’ll admit it’s partially my responsibility. So how about this? Next time you need a fixer, I’ll be your guy.”
“Next time...? You know this isn’t the time for you to be acting recklessly. You can barely move around right now—”
“Unless, of course... you need me right now?”
Lau couldn’t answer immediately.
In truth, Gonzalez was suggesting that he needed a fixer right now.
But Lau was supposed to be keeping a low profile.
“You see? That’s why I said I’d call you next time.”
“Well... we’ll see. First, tell me what you need, and I’ll decide from there.”
“Hmm... fine then.”
Gonzalez continued casually.
“Actually, it’s about the Sonora mine. We’ve talked everything through, and convincing the key players went well. But the final ‘settlement’ is proving to be a hurdle. Of course, we have the funds...But this kind of money needs to be prepared separately, doesn’t it?”
In other words, it was a bribe.
One that had to be completely untraceable.
This was the trap we had prepared.
Our goal was to make Lau say, “I’ll personally launder and supply the money.”
If he were wise, this would be the point to pull out and disappear.
But I was sure he wouldn’t.
“Because his sunk cost fallacy is kicking in.”
Humans are often obsessed with recovering their investments.
It’s hard to walk away before recovering the principal.
Lau had already made significant investments just to pass Gonzalez’s tests, and now he was deeper in the red than ever.
Realistically, cutting losses and walking away would be the smart move, but...
Not many people can actually do that.
More often, they try to recoup their investment and end up taking bigger risks.
“Anyway, I need a fixer who can solve this issue...Isn’t that difficult for you right now? See? That’s what I’m saying. At least give me your number so I can reach out next time.”
Would Lau take the bait?
As we held our breath and waited—
The response we were waiting for came.
“No. I can do it.”
He had finally made up his mind.
He had agreed to participate in the crime.
“Success!”
Inside the situation room.
The FBI agents all looked pleased—this was more than enough.
Their eyes met in celebration.
However—
The star of today’s operation, Gonzalez, didn’t seem satisfied.
Instead of accepting Lau’s offer, he decided to push back.
“With all eyes on you right now? Come on, let’s not push it. I’d rather not get caught up in your mess and end up arrested myself.”
“I’m not operating under my real name anyway. There’s no way this would come back to me.”
“Still, you have to understand my position. I prefer to handle things quietly, and this situation...Besides, there’s someone else who's already offered to step up.”
He went beyond simple push-and-pull tactics, even bringing up a rival fixer that didn’t actually exist.
I wondered if such an obvious bait would really work—
“How long would that take on their end?”
Surprisingly, it worked.
“They said one month would be enough.”
“I can do it in a week.”
“A week? I’m not a fan of exaggeration.”
“It’s not an exaggeration. For these kinds of jobs, you need a properly professional system in place. In my case, I’ve built a four-layer structure...”
Lau then began boasting about his paper company network.
He explained in detail just how quickly and precisely he could launder money and what his strengths were.
And at that very moment, every word was being recorded in real time inside the FBI situation room.
“Wow... this guy is seriously good.”
FBI agents stared at the screen with surprised expressions.
Well, I hadn’t expected Gonzalez to pull it off this well either, so I just shrugged.
The reason Lau became so proactive was due to several factors.
With the net tightening around him because of his notoriety as the “Gatsby,” Gonzalez likely seemed like his last escape route.
Plus, the bait we dangled—potential profit from the Sonora mine—must have looked very appealing to him.
Add to that the sense of debt from the responsibility Gonzalez supposedly owed him and the sunk cost of his previous investments.
Still, even with all that, we had to admit—
The reason why Lau, normally so cautious, lost his composure and followed the script we laid out was thanks to Gonzalez’s natural talent for manipulating people’s emotions.
At any rate—
“With a system like that... alright, I’ll trust you and hand it over.”
Gonzalez entrusted the bribery delivery to Lau, and Lau, as promised, laundered the money and delivered the bribe within a week.
In other words, he had now directly committed the crime.
And that very night—
Lau was arrested by the FBI.
After Lau’s arrest—
***
<MDB Scandal: Shocking Black Money Trail from Goldman Saxon to Saudi Royals Uncovered>
<Malaysia in Political Turmoil: Mounting Pressure for Prime Minister to Resign>
<Exile Rumors Shock: Is Malaysian Prime Minister Preparing to Flee?>
Malaysia erupted in chaos.
In the original timeline without Ha Si-heon’s intervention, the prime minister had held on to power until 2018.
But this time, things were different.
The decisive variable was Lau.
To reduce his sentence, he began bringing the hidden truths of the MDB scandal to the surface one by one.
“I took around a billion dollars...Think of it as a commission The rest was all political funds for the Prime Minister...”
His testimony was explosive.
In the past, the missing $4.5 billion from the national wealth fund had been seen solely as Lau’s scam.
But the truth he revealed was different.
All the financial flows led to one place: the Prime Minister’s Office.
The impact of the revelations was immediate.
Public outrage quickly turned into calls for impeachment, and the prime minister who once held Malaysia in the palm of his hand was now on the path to ruin.
Normally, this might have been dismissed as just another Southeast Asian political scandal.
But not this time.
The figure of Lau, known as the “Asian Gatsby,” drew the eyes of the entire world.
As with most places, financial crimes are often seen as boring.
People just imagine complicated accounting books and endless rows of dull numbers.
But not this time.
Lau’s money laundering tactics shocked the world with their audacity and absurdity.
<Lau’s Shocking Money Laundering Tactic: $3.5 Billion Vanishes with a One-Letter Change>
His first trick was astonishingly simple.
He established a paper company named “PJST Limited,” almost identical to Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund PJST.
Then, he sent the money there under the guise of wiring it to the real fund.
And yet—
The world’s top financial institutions fell for this amateur ruse.
Without even basic due diligence, a staggering $3.5 billion flowed into a fake company.
But that was only the beginning.
<Fooled by Filial Piety: Global Banks Duped by Bizarre Excuse—“This Is Asian Culture”>
His second tactic was even more outrageous.
When questioned by banks about suspicious money movement, he played an unexpected card—
Filial piety.
He told them, “In Asia, it’s customary for a successful son to donate wealth to his parents, and in return, the parents express their gratitude.”
And somehow—
That explanation worked too.
In an ironic twist, Wall Street’s sophisticated anti-money-laundering systems were defeated by one young man’s “respect for his parents.”
The whole world was stunned by this unbelievable reality.
But this was just the beginning of the story.