Private Equity Fund

Everyone is very enthusiastic about things that can make money.

As for consulting accountants or lawyers, this step can be completely skipped.

Because the Hepburn Family was a large family— Catherine Hepburn's father was a doctor and her mother a women's rights activist—the family's emphasis on education and open-mindedness, coupled with the financial support provided by Catherine Hepburn, ensured that every member of the family received a good education.

Today, the family members, from accountants to lawyers, are not exactly a handful, but they can certainly be picked and chosen from within the family.

Therefore, the news that Henry planned to set up a private equity fund using high-frequency trading methods quickly reached everyone in the Hepburn Family, not just the nephews and grandnephews of the old ladies who had previously pestered Henry for the inside scoop.

With such a commotion, old lady Catherine Hepburn naturally pulled Henry aside again and asked, "Young man, isn't this illegal?"

Henry stated bluntly, "There is no law prohibiting high-frequency trading at present, and exchanges charge all their fees, so how could they possibly prohibit such a thing?"

"Most importantly, after I connected to the exchange's electronic trading system, I discovered that there were at least eight groups doing the same thing as me, and I was the ninth. I just don't know who's behind it all."

Pfft! Henry is lying here. Those eight groups had foresight; Henry had already used Hacker techniques to find out the identities of the people involved in high-frequency trading from their user data.

Even if you don't recognize the people, it doesn't matter, as the legitimate source of the funds is very clear. After all, this isn't illegal money laundering, but a legitimate financial investment that is subject to taxation, so the source is clear.

In no particular order, they include JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, and Bear Stearns —all major United States banks or investment banks.

However, since this matter is not public information, Henry decided not to disclose it to avoid being questioned about the source of the information.

Hearing Henry's explanation, Catherine Hepburn relented, saying, "If you're going to do it, you need to clearly define your responsibilities to avoid future disputes. What If...? Henry wants to keep this a secret, those of you outside the family shouldn't interfere."

"Understood, Kate." Kate was Catherine's nickname. The person who could speak like that was one of the old lady's brothers. It was said that people in this family lived long lives, and several people of Catherine Hepburn's generation were still alive.

Now, the event seemed to have turned into a family activity, and everyone was very interested.

Everyone contributed their expertise and lent a helping hand wherever possible. For example, when it came to standardized private equity fund contracts, they simply referred to other publicly available fund contracts, made minor modifications, and they were ready to use them.

The procedures for setting up a private equity fund, which agency to apply to—even if no one has actually done it before, everyone knows where to operate. A few phone calls, and all the ins and outs are clear.

It's still during the holiday season, otherwise they would have dragged Henry to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) long ago.

Registration and filing completed.

Henry, as the fund manager, also receives remuneration, which is a fee for managing the funds. Correspondingly, others also have the right to inspect the accounts and exercise oversight.

Since things had come to this point, Henry simply used his laptop to show everyone his accounts since he started high-frequency trading.

In addition to detailed transaction records, there are also daily and monthly reports, even though high-frequency trading was only conducted for a little over a year.

When several accountants or people with expertise in finance take a look, their confidence in placing their bets is further strengthened.

Because Henry's assessment of the rate of return on investment was rather conservative.

Now even the young boys and girls are thinking of taking out their dowry and savings to make some money. The return is higher than a fixed deposit in the bank—who wouldn't be tempted?

Even the foundation that Catherine Hepburn originally set up for the family, apart from keeping the necessary reserves, wanted to invest the rest in Henry's high-frequency trading fund.

Henry, of course, had no objection to this and allowed everyone to use their creativity to make their own rules.

After all, his most important role in this matter is that of a technology provider, and he is also one of the investors. This is not like running a company where you are afraid that other shareholders will take away your control.

Moreover, there were people within the Hepburn Family who planned these things, saving Henry a lot of trouble, so why not?

The year was 2000, the last year of the 20th century. The Hepburn Family's private equity fund was quickly settled and on track.

Henry created a private website accessible only to specific verified users. This allowed the Hepburn Family to view the returns of their high-frequency trading funds and to withdraw or add to their investments at any time.

Because money transfers are involved, Henry implemented several additional verification procedures, and transfers could only be made to specific logged-in accounts to prevent theft.

Even those underage kids have to get past their parents before they can touch the money.

After doing all that, Henry returned to his daily routine of caring for Catherine Hepburn.

Because Kitty goes for walks almost every day, we don't take her out to the wilderness regularly like we did in Los Angeles, or like we did in Alaska, where she was practically unrestrained and lawless.

As long as she doesn't hurt anyone, Henry hardly restricts Kitty's actions.

Although it no longer had the opportunity to eat live prey, the Tiger surprisingly accepted its new life and did not show any signs of being untamed, which greatly surprised Henry.

It means that Kitty has become accustomed to living with people, and many of her daily behaviors are becoming more and more like human patterns, unlike those of a typical Tiger.

In the new year, the most relevant thing for Henry is the "Mutant Registration Act" coming to the forefront.

Although he is an alien, he at least wears the disguise of a Mutants, so it cannot be said that he is completely unrelated.

The main driving force behind the bill was Senator Robert Senator Kelly. Previously, the existence of Mutants was a socially accepted but never discussed group.

Robert Kelly has been advocating the Mutants threat theory, believing that mutants infiltrate human society in every aspect. The registration law is intended to identify these Mutants and record their threat.

The argument completely ignores the fact that Mutants actually originate from human groups, so there's no question of infiltration. But this senator is trying to portray Mutants as a completely different group, separating them from humans.

While reading news reports about the bill, Catherine Hepburn suddenly asked, "Henry, What If...? the registration bill passes, will you register?"

Henry replied, "Yes, why wouldn't I register? I'm a law-abiding citizen."

"But why do I feel a sense of familiarity with what that senator said, and why do I not particularly like it?"

"McCarthyism, huh?"

"Yes, that's the taste, no doubt about it," the old lady said, wrinkling her nose in disgust.