The Tyrant Billionaire

Henry was slightly taken aback.

"Boss, do you mean the ones in prison or out in society?" Henry asked.

"Either one, but they need to be the best."

"I can access prison records, and the FBI has a list of wanted financial fraudsters. As for those the FBI doesn't have, we know a few. In fact, many criminal organizations are involved in financial fraud, and so is the financial system, including Wall Street," Henry replied.

Hardy spoke seriously, "Henry, I'm giving you an important mission!"

"Go ahead, Boss," Henry responded.

"Create a department. This department must remain extremely secretive. No one can know that it's connected to the Hardy Group, HD Security, or even your intelligence company."

"The people in this department will be tasked with controlling those financial fraudsters. You'll need to thoroughly understand their backgrounds and keep them under tight control. These people are highly intelligent; they understand finance, human nature, the law, and operations. So you need to be very careful in managing them. Make sure you have complete control over them.

"If you can't control them, it's better to leave them alone."

Henry nodded.

"Also, these people must not know about each other's existence. Each individual or team will operate independently."

"Once you've gained full control of them, give them new identities—maybe even several. Train them, but don't let them get involved in small-time scams. We're aiming for big ones, like Ponzi schemes, bank fraud, pyramid schemes, and large-scale investment fraud."

"Send them to Japan to start laying the groundwork. Make the operation large, but don't rush to cash out. Wait for the right time, and when the moment comes, they'll be instructed to trigger the scheme."

"Tell them that if they succeed, they'll get a share of the profits and we'll help them disappear. It could be a one time job that sets them up for life."

"I understand, Boss," Henry said, then left.

After Henry departed, Hardy stood and looked out the window.

Financial fraud is a high intelligence crime.

Even in the 21st century, with highly developed information and communication technologies, financial fraud still occurs frequently. So imagine how effective it would be in the 1950s.

Hardy planned to send a group of fraudsters to Japan. With careful planning and execution, there would surely be a great harvest, leaving Japan's already struggling economy even worse off.

When the time was right, Hardy would go to Japan himself, harvesting and acquiring businesses, achieving twice the results with half the effort.

In his previous life, Hardy had been in business, and he had studied some of these fraudulent methods—not to commit fraud, but to prevent it. The business world is full of deception, and if you're not careful, you can easily fail. So caution is essential.

Hardy sat back at his desk and picked up a pen.

He began drafting a "Fraud Prevention Handbook," which he planned to have those fraud experts of the 1950s read, to expand their horizons.

...

Hardy's Hollywood branch of the chain supermarket had opened with great success. In fact, two other branches in Los Angeles, along with two in San Francisco, were under construction at the same time, and it was estimated that they would open in one or two months as well.

The opening of these five stores was merely the beginning. Hardy's plan was to use these stores to train the management and logistics teams for the chain supermarkets.

Once the teams had enough experience, Hardy Group would leverage its strong capital to quickly expand the chain supermarket business across the United States.

In the future, Walmart alone would have more than 3,000 stores across the United States, not to mention Costco, Trader Joe's, Kroger, Kmart, Albertsons, and many others, totaling around five to six thousand stores altogether.

This shows that the domestic U.S. market is vast.

Hardy had another idea: these chain supermarkets would not rent premises but would instead purchase land and build their stores, eliminating rent. This would also serve as a real estate investment.

Once the supermarkets reached a certain scale, they could also develop other ancillary services, such as introducing fast food chains like KFC, McDonald's, Starbucks.

These services could initially rely on the supermarkets to establish themselves, but later on, they could be spun off into their own brands and promoted throughout the U.S. and even globally.

It's worth noting that these four companies would later become part of the Fortune 500, and none of them existed yet at this point.

In the following days: Explore new worlds at empire

Hardy inspected all his businesses in Los Angeles, much like a lion patrolling its territory, regularly making rounds to ensure that no one forgot about his presence as the boss and to prevent any slackness.

Lack of ambition is a deadly mistake in business.

HD Security

Hardy listened to Lancer's report. In the span of four months, HD Security had resumed its expansion. After solidifying its base in California, the security business began to extend into other cities.

This was particularly true for cities where Hardy Group had partnerships with local mafia families. With the help of these local "big shots," the security company could quickly establish a foothold.

Their primary clients remained banks.

In truth, traditional mafia activities mostly relied on gray-market businesses for profits. Few mafias made their fortunes solely through robbery, and such operations were unsustainable in the long run.

These mafia families were increasingly aware that running legitimate businesses was far more profitable—and less troublesome—than robbery or extortion.

In these cities, HD Security worked with the mafia families discreetly. If anyone dared to attempt a robbery, the mafia would provide intelligence, and HD Security would collaborate with local police to launch a massive crackdown on the robbers.

After a few such incidents, all the banks saw HD Security's determination and capabilities and were eager to work with them. Business was progressing smoothly.

Another key focus was the Defense Company.

"The base is still under construction. It will likely take another six months to fully complete. For now, the ships can only use civilian ports in those regions, and fuel and supplies are purchased at high prices," Lancer reported.