Chasing Stars in Hollywood

Easter Sunday was lively and warm. The Westeros family invited many company executives and their families for a picnic on Santa Cruz Island, west of Los Angeles. They organized various Easter activities for the children, and the gathering lasted until the evening, leaving everyone happy.

Simon brought both Jennys and their three children, publicly acknowledging some of the recent revelations.

The attendees, all core executives of the Westeros system, had heard of Simon's close relationship with his assistant. Thus, their interactions included sincere blessings for the lucky young lady. Many women, observing Simon's care for the assistant and her children, couldn't help but feel that decades of hard work might not compare to having a child.

The brief holiday warmth didn't change the political and public turmoil surrounding the Westeros system.

April 4th, Monday.

Two weeks after launching a ban against Hearst Corporation, the Westeros system launched an even more fierce offensive.

In Edwardsville, Illinois, former auto parts factory owner Paul Lamart alleged that the local newspaper, the Edwardsville Reporter, published six false reports accusing his company of tax evasion and product quality issues between 1986 and 1987 due to a personal grudge with a high-ranking newspaper official. These reports, later proven baseless, led to investigations and the severing of partnerships, ultimately causing his factory's bankruptcy.

Paul Lamart filed a defamation lawsuit against the Edwardsville Reporter, seeking $60 million in damages. Additionally, 263 workers who lost their jobs due to the factory's closure filed a class-action lawsuit against the newspaper, seeking over $50 million in compensation.

In San Antonio, Texas, a horrific case in 1991 involved a pastor abusing boys, with 21 recorded victims. The pastor was eventually sentenced to life imprisonment.

Justice, though delayed, finally arrived.

However, during the investigation, the San Antonio Impression, a local newspaper, sought to attract attention by exposing the identities of 15 victims, despite protests from their families and warnings from the district attorney. This led to the suicide of a 12-year-old boy and severely affected the lives of the other exposed victims.

Now, the families of the 15 victims collectively sued the San Antonio Impression for invasion of privacy, demanding an apology and $80 million in damages.

In Stamford, Connecticut, near Greenwich, during the height of the US real estate bubble in the 1980s, a group of homeowners purchased 61 apartments in a newly developed complex in the northern part of the city. These apartments were later found to contain asbestos, a carcinogen, used in construction.

The developer went bankrupt due to lawsuits and the 1987 stock market crash, leaving many homeowners uncompensated.

After communicating, the victims realized most of them were influenced by extensive advertising in the Stamford Advocate, which used misleading terms like "energy-saving and environmentally friendly."

On this Monday after Easter, the 61 homeowners filed a collective lawsuit against the Stamford Advocate for false advertising, demanding public apologies and over $60 million in compensation for property and potential health damages.

The exposure of these three lawsuits, totaling $250 million, shocked American society and sent chills through major traditional media groups in North America.

Undoubtedly, the three newspapers facing lawsuits were all part of Hearst Corporation.

And the $250 million in claims from just these three lawsuits amounted to one-tenth of Hearst family's total assets.

The Westeros system made no effort to hide its involvement behind these lawsuits. Detailed reports of the three cases prominently appeared on Egret's portal homepage.

In comparison, a former Westeros maid facing a $12 million breach-of-contract lawsuit for betraying the Westeros family seemed much less significant.

Amid strong public attention, more information emerged through online and traditional media throughout the day.

The plaintiffs in the three lawsuits had hired top lawyers in the US, with assistance from the "Media Victims Legal Aid Foundation." Industry insiders predicted that unless settlements were reached soon, the legal costs for each case would exceed $10 million, potentially escalating if the lawsuits dragged on.

Even without knowing the specific agreements between the foundation and the aided victims, it was clear that the Westeros system wouldn't easily accept a settlement from Hearst Corporation.

On the other hand, as the defendant, any compensation in these cases would be enough to bankrupt the newspapers involved. Hearst Corporation's 1993 net profit was only $169 million, and even if these newspapers went bankrupt due to the lawsuits, federal law would require the parent company, Hearst Corporation, to cover legal costs and final compensations.

Simon Westeros's move was far more ruthless than Hearst Corporation's previous scandalous exposures of others' private lives. Moreover, only Simon Westeros could afford such a strategy in the US or globally.

Now, whatever Hearst Corporation did would lead to severe consequences.

If they passively responded, they risked losing $250 million in compensation.

If they actively defended, the Westeros system's costs for each lawsuit wouldn't be less than $10 million, and Hearst Corporation's expenses wouldn't be lower.

The only solution was to quickly reach a settlement.

However, given the years of conflict and Hearst Corporation's relentless exposure of Simon Westeros's private life over the past week, a swift settlement was unlikely.

Moreover, the three lawsuits might just be the beginning.

Having devised this strategy, Simon Westeros wouldn't stop at three.

On Monday afternoon, multiple Hearst evening newspapers fiercely criticized the lawsuits as manipulations by Simon Westeros, accusing him of using his immense wealth to humiliate America's two-century-old tradition of press freedom, violating the First Amendment of the Federal Constitution.

Egret Portal promptly responded to Hearst Corporation's accusations.

Freedom of the press was never absolute freedom.

Hearst Corporation used its so-called press freedom to slander and defame others, causing taxpayers huge financial losses and hundreds of workers to lose their jobs. They used their so-called press freedom to further harm victims of sexual abuse and to falsely advertise for real estate developers, causing citizens both property and health damages. This wasn't freedom.

This was a crime!

Besides direct rebuttals, Egret Portal also published extensive articles exposing Hearst Corporation's past abuses of press power.

In the late 19th century, to boost newspaper sales, the Hearst family used despicable means to provoke the Spanish-American War, causing tens of thousands of deaths.

In 1901, after Hearst's supported candidate lost the presidential election, their newspapers crazily incited the public to assassinate the president, leading to the assassination of the 25th President of the United States, William McKinley. The assassin even carried a newspaper with Hearst's inciting article.

In 1909, lacking sufficient World War I news, Hearst organized a group to fabricate news, causing the sensational "International News Service Fraud."

The list extended from the 1890s to the 1990s.

Such examples abounded.

Not to mention the "yellow journalism" standard created by Hearst, still severely affecting the fairness and seriousness of global media.

The heated verbal exchange continued until Tuesday, when Egret Portal announced that Daenerys Entertainment, in collaboration with Time Warner, would re-release the classic film "Citizen Kane" in North American theaters on April 22.

It was well-known that the protagonist of "Citizen Kane" was based on William Hearst, the first-generation leader of the Hearst family.

The announcement highlighted a chilling scene from "Citizen Kane," where Kane asked a reporter in Cuba to write poems about the local war's misery. The reporter replied there was no war, and Kane responded, "You provide the prose poems; I'll provide the war."

Despite Hearst's frantic rage, the subpoenas for the three lawsuits were delivered to the responsible newspapers under Hearst Corporation within three days with unusual efficiency from the US government.

Finally, the Hearst family, arrogant for a century, realized the colossal force they were facing and the futility of their feared media weapons against overwhelming strength.

Out of sympathy, other American media groups mildly objected to Simon's actions but were cautious.

In politics, many Congressional candidates busy with mid-term elections, including Hearst-supported David Melrose, remained silent. Still, some stood out.

Wisconsin Democratic Senator Craig Ames, persistently critical of the Westeros system, cleverly expressed sympathy and support for the plaintiffs before criticizing Simon, stating that despite doing the right thing temporarily, his immense wealth needed strict regulation to prevent potential harm to American society.

Egret Portal ignored Craig Ames's comments, knowing a response would only boost his profile. The team targeting the far-left candidate had quietly moved into Wisconsin, ready to strike.

As part of the "litigation bombing" plan, the three lawsuits were just the beginning.

As some media speculated, the evidence for these three cases was relatively solid, and the plaintiffs were mostly underprivileged, ensuring media wouldn't dare criticize them harshly.

George Norman's team was collecting and organizing materials for 27 other potential lawsuits. While most claims wouldn't be as eye-catching, they would still keep Hearst Corporation busy.

Without a formal recruitment announcement, more victims of Hearst's media reached out to the Westeros system for legal aid after these lawsuits.

In the coming years, even if no lawsuits were won, the enormous legal fees would erode Hearst's profits and further undermine the Hearst family's foundation.

Moreover, not winning a single lawsuit was impossible.

Simon told top law firms that winning the cases would ensure continuous collaboration, while losing meant no future deals.

Thus, most cases had high chances of winning.

Even if the final compensation didn't match the lawsuit amount, any victory with substantial damages could bankrupt Hearst's newspapers.

While Hearst struggled with the sudden lawsuits, the massive Westeros system continued to operate smoothly.

On April 6th, Wednesday, amid media and public focus on the Westeros-Hearst lawsuit battle, Daenerys Entertainment Group, a core company of the Westeros system, officially filed for an IPO with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

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