Invisible Assets
The air was thick with the smells of stale paper, cheap coffee, and the stifling, bureaucratic odor mixed with disinfectant and anxiety. This was the Seattle Regional Office of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), on a floor dedicated to the Criminal Investigation (CI).
Unlike the bustling and noisy tax service area downstairs, this place is dimly lit, and most of the office doors on both sides of the corridor are closed. When people occasionally come in or out, they are always in a hurry, with serious faces and their voices are very low, exuding an invisible sense of pressure that matches the word "tax".
Richard Cohen's office was at the end of the corridor. It wasn't large, but it was filled with filing cabinets and storage boxes labeled with various tags. On the wall hung the federal tax emblem and several photos of him with his colleagues after the "big case" was solved. In the photos, he had a standard smile and sharp eyes. At this moment, he was standing in front of an erasable whiteboard, holding a red marker, his brow furrowed.
The whiteboard was already quite covered with writing and drawing. In the center were the two large characters "Lin Feng," circled in red. Several rays extended outwards, connecting to several names and phrases: "NLG Logistics," "Chen Jianguo (controlling shareholder)," "Cayman Islands Trust (funding source)," "K (bodyguard/assistant)," and "Lü Yi (bodyguard)." Each connection point had a hastily written note and a question mark next to it.
Cohen was nearing fifty, his hair meticulously combed, though his temples were already streaked with gray. He was in good shape, wearing a neatly pressed white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, revealing an expensive yet understated watch. Years of tax investigation work had given him a hound-like intuition and an accountant's patience, and at this moment, these two qualities were clashing fiercely in his mind.
A few days earlier, Daniel Crawford's late-night phone call, laced with suppressed anger, and the accompanying generous "promises," prompted him to initiate a "preliminary investigation" of this suddenly appearing wealthy businessman from the Great East. He assigned his two most capable agents—the experienced Sarah Mendoza and the data-savvy Ben Joyner—to handle the initial intelligence gathering. The requirements were: discreetness, thoroughness, focusing on "compliance checks" and "large-scale cross-border fund supervision" as entry points, and avoiding alerting the suspect.
The preliminary report was already on his desk. It was only a few thin pages, but it filled him with an unusual sense of bewilderment, and... a faint hint of excitement. He was bewildered because the investigation results were seriously inconsistent with his expectations; he was excited because such inconsistencies often meant that something much bigger was lurking beneath the surface.
"Boss," Sarah Mendoza entered, holding a tablet. She was a capable-looking Latina woman in her forties with bright eyes. "Ben has reviewed the bank and immigration records again and confirmed the initial assessment."
Cohen turned around, leaned back on the edge of the table, and gestured for her to continue.
"Lin Feng himself," Sarah tapped on the data page on the tablet, "His public record is spotless... like a freshly opened A4 sheet of paper. He holds a valid ten-year business/tourist visa (B1/B2), first entered the country at the end of last year, and his stay records show that he did indeed spend most of his time in Seattle. However, he has no Social Security Number (SSN) or Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN). In other words, in the tax system, he is practically non-existent."
"Assets under your name?" Cohen asked.
"Zero." Sarah swiped the screen. "At least in Washington State, and in the major databases we quickly checked in California and New York, we found no properties, vehicles, yachts, or airplanes registered in his name. He does have a few bank accounts, scattered across different banks, but they are all basic checking or savings accounts, with the largest single balance not exceeding $50,000. The transaction records show only daily expenses, hotel stays, and dining, the amounts and frequency matching the profile of a 'wealthy tourist,' but definitely not the profile of a 'tycoon' who just spent hundreds of millions of dollars to acquire NLG."
Cohen stroked his chin. "Is the funding route for the acquisition of NLG clear?"
"Clear, yet ambiguous." Sarah pulled up another document. "The funds clearly originated from ' Silent Wind Capital Limited Partnership,' registered in the Cayman Islands. This is a typical offshore investment fund structure. We made an informal request for information assistance to the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA), but as you know, over there... a response takes time, and they will likely refuse to provide substantive information on the grounds of 'client privacy' and 'trade secrets.' According to the records of the receiving bank in the United States, the funds entered the country compliantly, passed the anti-money laundering (AML) screening, and the documentation is complete. The source of the money is 'legal,' but who the 'owner' of the money is is hidden behind the offshore structure."
"In other words, he completed the acquisition using an offshore entity that we can't access for the time being, while his own financial record in the United States is almost abject?" Cohen concluded.
"Yes. And he's not the only one like this." Sarah switched to K and Lü Yi's page.
"K, his registered name is just the letter K, his surname is unknown. His entry records... have issues. The system shows he entered with Great East passport, but the visa type is unclear, and subsequent I-94 (entry/departure record) updates are abnormal. We contacted a friend at Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to check privately, and they said his file has a 'special mark' and access is restricted. Similarly, he has no SSN/ITIN and no assets in his name. He's like Ghost."
"Lü Yi is in slightly better shape. He has a clear tourist visa (B2) record and entered the country recently. He also doesn't have a tax number and his account is empty. His background... is interesting. He has several violent-related records at Great East, but they were all 'resolved.' He looks like a thug, but his finances are also spotless."
Cohen walked to the whiteboard and heavily marked question marks next to K and Lü Yi's names. "The three key figures all have financial records in the United States that are as clean as if they've been laundered. This doesn't make sense. Especially K, with CBP's special markings... Interesting. What about NLG's shareholding structure? Have they investigated that ' Chen Jianguo ' thoroughly?"
"Chen Jianguo, 52 years old, Chinese American, holds a United States. green card, and lives in San Jose." Sarah pulled up a photo: an ordinary-looking, slightly dull-looking middle-aged Asian man. "His occupational record shows that for the past twenty years he has mainly worked as a warehouse or freight yard manager, forklift driver, etc., with low income. His tax records show that he has consistently been in the lower-middle income bracket, has a small amount of savings, and no bad credit history. He has simple social relationships and hardly participates in community activities. A... very ordinary immigrant."
"This 'very ordinary' warehouse manager," Cohen tapped the name "Chen Jianguo" on the whiteboard with the tip of his pen, next to "NLG controlling shareholder," "suddenly became the controlling shareholder of a logistics company worth hundreds of millions of dollars? The acquisition funds came from an offshore fund, he himself had no prior experience in capital operations, and his financial situation couldn't support even one percent of the acquisition price. Do you believe this story?"
Sarah shook her head. "Nobody will believe it. But the legal documents are complete, and the shareholding change registration is finished. Chen Jianguo is a shareholder in the legal sense."
"Nominee." Cohen sneered, writing the word on the whiteboard and connecting "Chen Jianguo" and "Lin Feng" with a line, marking "?" in the middle. "A typical puppet structure. Lin Feng hides behind the scenes, using someone like Chen Jianguo, with a clean background and easy to control, to stand in the spotlight, holding assets and avoiding the risk of direct exposure. I bet Chen Jianguo has no real control over NLG; he's just a signing tool, probably never even been inside the boardroom."
He paced back and forth, his mind racing. "Not just Chen Jianguo. What about the other minority shareholders involved in the acquisition, the counterparty, and... NLG's main properties, including the safe house where Lin Feng seems to be staying? Who owns the property?"