Matthew furiously cursed “You… you are really despicable and shameless!” Emily’s mouth curved into a smile, and she sneered at Matthew. “What? You thought I was just a puppet you could control for all these years? You didn’t think I’d leave something to protect myself? I not only have those disgusting videos of you, but I also have evidence of your collusion with others and embezzlement of company assets. You led the acquisition of an AI mapping company earlier this year, which cost the company half a billion dollars. But that company is just a shell and the AI mapping technology is completely immature and not ready for commercial use. At least half of the money you spent on the acquisition ended up in your pocket through various means. Don’t worry, I’ll bring all this evidence out today. You’ll be stuck in jail for the rest of your life.” Matthew shook with fear when he heard this, and said, “Emily, I can give you as much money as you want. But if you destroy me, you won’t get anything. Please, let’s work something out.” Emily sneered and said, “Fine, give me $100 million and we’ll be done. As long as the money arrives, we’ll go our separate ways and never see each other again. I’ll retire early and leave the design industry for good.” Matthew quickly agreed, saying, “No problem, just $100 million.” Michaela smiled with a subtle expression and said, “Mr. Peterson, I advise you not to give Emily this hundred million dollars. It won’t do any good. It’s not worth it.” Emily blurted out, “He has to give me the money no matter what he says! If he doesn’t give it to me, I’ll hand over all the evidence to the police!” Michaela looked at Emily and laughed lightly. “Don’t daydream here. Even if it’s just one dollar, he can’t give it to you. And it doesn’t matter what he says, he’s not going to give you any money.” Emily asked, “Why not? If he doesn’t give it to me, I’ll put him in jail!” Matthew looked at Michaela in panic and tried to explain, “Please don’t misunderstand, Miss Joules. I didn’t do any of the things Emily said. I promised to give her the money because I just don’t want her to ruin my reputation outside…” “Mr. Peterson,” Michaela said, laughing at his feeble defense. “You must not forget that the Joules family is the largest shareholder in your company. Your use of the position of chairman to enrich yourself is embezzlement and also suspected of money laundering. This violates the interests of all shareholders of your company, including the Joules family. As the head of the Joules family, I have the right to request that the FBI step in and conduct a thorough investigation into that takeover. So, whether Emily has evidence or not is irrelevant to you, because the FBI will surely find the person in charge of the acquired company and uncover what is going on. Furthermore, there is the issue of your behavior with minors. Whether or not Emily has evidence, I have a duty to report this to the FBI so that they can conduct an investigation. Even if you and Emily try to delete the information on your phone now, the FBI has ways to restore it. If it is proven that these allegations are true, you may very well spend the rest of your life in prison.”
Matthew heard these words and his eyes blacked out. Without thinking, he knelt down in front of Michaela and choked out, “Miss Joules, I am the chairman of the company. If I am arrested by the FBI, the company’s stock price will plummet, and the Joules family’s investment will also be damaged. Please, for the sake of our investment, give me a chance. You don’t want to see the Joules family’s two or three billion dollars go to waste…” Michaela said coldly, “The chairman of the Board of Directors being involved in a scandal will indeed affect the share price in the short term, but your company’s business is not built on you alone. As long as the impact of the scandal eventually fades, the company’s share price will surely recover.” After a pause, Michaela continued, “The Joules family has plenty of money and plenty of time and patience. When the time comes, it can take advantage of the dip in share prices during this period by acquiring more shares. When the Joules family gets a majority of the board of directors’ voting rights, it can appoint a new chairman to take over your company. In that case, when the share price rises back, the Joules family will not only gain control of your company but also take the opportunity to make a profit.” Michaela remembered something else and continued, “Oh yes, although you own 10% of the company’s shares, your embezzlement of the company’s assets has resulted in a direct loss of $500 million. Indirect losses may reach a billion dollars or more. In this matter, the company will certainly sue you for compensation and the court will definitely seize your illegal income of $200-300 million, providing all of it to the company as compensation. But even then, you will still owe the company several hundred million dollars, which the court will require you to make up for using your personal assets. So, not only will you have to give up your illegal income, but you will also have to pay several hundred million dollars in additional losses. You have to believe the Joules family’s legal team, they will definitely do their best to maximize this amount.” Matthew already felt the world spinning around him. He never thought that Michaela would want to destroy him like this. Without giving him a chance to catch his breath, she continued, “The court will force you to sell your shares to pay for damages and penalties. If you don’t have enough cash to pay for them, I don’t think it will be long before we reach that point. In this way, the Joules family will auction off your 10% shares at the lowest price, and after paying for the damages and fines, I’m afraid there won’t be much left from the sale of the shares. Oh yes, there is also the matter of your behavior with minors. Once this is confirmed, you will be legally responsible, regardless of whether the other party was willing or not. If the other party’s lawyers seize this opportunity to go after you aggressively, you will have to come up with at least tens of millions of dollars in compensation. In this way, you may end up with nothing left.”