American Tax Officer

Chapter 613: Chapter 309: You Tai Media Starts to Make a Move
 

Washington State, Seattle City, 21117 Third Avenue, here lies the global headquarters of Amazon.

At this moment, in a top floor hall filled with green plants, a bald man was leisurely drinking coffee, reading a magazine.

Just then, a woman hurried over to him and exclaimed, “There’s been an incident, Mr. Jeff.”

Indeed, the bald man was none other than the founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos.

Jeff, who had led Amazon to a market value close to two trillion, had weathered many storms. Upon hearing the news, he didn’t panic; as he reached for his coffee, he asked, “What happened?”

“Just now, people from the Los Angeles IRS went to our branch in the city and took all our executives away.”

The coffee that Jeff was about to sip trembled in his wrist uncontrollably upon hearing this, causing it to spill onto his suit collar.

But he couldn’t be bothered to wipe it off, his speech becoming rushed as he asked, “What’s going on? Are there any issues with the taxes at our branch?”

What made the often unflappable Jeff nervous was the presence of Director David at the Los Angeles IRS, someone even he could not afford to ignore!

“The tax affairs of the branch had strictly followed the directives from our headquarters, there shouldn’t be any major issues. However, this investigation by the Los Angeles IRS is clearly under direct orders from Director David, so…”

The assistant implied that Amazon’s tax operations obviously had no issues; otherwise, for the many years they had gone without paying taxes, the IRS would have long caught on to them!

However, Director David’s tactics were well-known; even if there were no issues, he could still conjure them. Now that he had ordered an investigation into Amazon, it was difficult to ensure that no surprises would arise.

At that moment, Jeff’s expression was filled with concern.

He was well aware of Director David’s methods, which was why he lost his composure upon hearing that their branch was under scrutiny by the Los Angeles IRS.

No, this wouldn’t do.

Realizing that he couldn’t just wait to be taken down, Jeff immediately ordered, “Call a board meeting!”

Soon, the notified Amazon executives entered a meeting room on the 36th floor. Everyone’s expression was somewhat somber, showing that they had already received news about the Los Angeles IRS’s action against them.

As soon as everyone had arrived, Jeff said, “I believe everyone has already received the news about Director David’s order to investigate us. How should we view this situation? Let’s share our thoughts.”

“In recent years, we haven’t paid taxes and have even received quite a bit of subsidies from the government. It’s likely that the top brass at the IRS have long harbored animosity towards us. So, I can definitely say it’s not personal from David; it’s a direct action from their higher-ups against us.”

“Yes, because we have been maneuvering tax policies efficiently, and our legal department has been handling matters appropriately, in addition to our shareholders’ influence, the IRS has refrained from taking drastic measures against us. But now they have someone as tough as Director David, and considering he has gone after the Sackler family, the Disney family, and Swiss Bank, it’s only logical that he would target us next…”@@novelbin@@

“Regardless, this man is quite troublesome, and now that he has made a move against me, we must come up with a response…”

“…”

Listening to the executives who couldn’t get to the point, Jeff grew impatient and interjected, “Alright, Director David indeed has some unusual tactics, we cannot just sit back and be devoured step by step. We must devise a strategy.”

“Mr. Jeff, since David only ordered the staff from our Los Angeles branch to be taken, and not from other branches or headquarters, it indicates that he probably hasn’t got much on us. I think we should send the Legal Department over to Los Angeles to check out the situation, and then decide on our next move.”

The speaker was Maglica, Amazon’s Senior Vice President.

“Maglica is right. We shouldn’t rush into anything for now. Let’s first find out more about what’s happening over at the Los Angeles IRS.”

“I agree. Based on David’s character, if he had something on us, he would’ve directly named us in public already. According to reports from there, when their people came to our branch, they only used phrases like ‘please come back to cooperate with the investigation.’ This also suggests they don’t really have much on us.”

“…”

Following Maglica’s suggestion, most of the Amazon executives present expressed their agreement.

Because judging from David’s previous behavior, had he obtained any leverage against Amazon, he would’ve named them publicly like he did Hollywood and the cryptocurrency companies.

Given that he hadn’t chosen to name names directly, it was highly probable he didn’t have much to go on.

Seeing that most people present suggested deploying the Legal Department to get a feel for the situation, Jeff pondered for a while and then agreed. He turned to a man in the room and said, “Lakruwa, you’re the head of the Legal Department, so you’ll personally head there this time.”

“Yes, Mr. Jeff.”

While Amazon was holding their meeting, executives from other major companies like Microsoft, Gugo, and Oracle were also discussing the matter tensely.