I mean, you've seen the app's uptake figures?
Millions. It's a... It's a phenomenon.
Yas, come on. Whitney wants to leave you holding the bag, okay?
I don't want to see the worst in the world.
I... I want to see what's true. He is a pathological liar.
Why do you always find a way to pick apart at my stability?
My husband's?
I mean, why would you choose to profit off of exploding my foundations?
You know it's not personal, Yas.
Do you think anyone's ever said that and meant it?
I think we owe each other some kind of protection,
so I really need you to hear me when I say he's not some hobbyist sociopath.
He's a fucking criminal.
You shouldn't blame yourself for being ensnared by him.
What are you talking about?
I'm sorry, but the picture is now irrefutable.
Okay, ask Whitney about Tony Day, his man in Africa.
The balance sheet, fabrications.
There's not one fucking piece of it, Yas, that you're talking to that is real.
Okay. And what will your compensation be,
if you manage to convince a few more people?
You don't even know him.
Anyone who doesn't know you could just as easily say
that you're a abstraction of insecurities and compensations.
Doesn't make it true.
Let me put this in terms that your ego might listen to.
You have been duped by a man who saw you and your husband as fools.
And you will always paint an image of the world that gets you paid.
I mean, what is it that you really want?
You want Henry to resign so the stock price falls.
You're a fucking mercenary, Harper. My God!
There's, like, no empathy left in you, is there?
Just an imitation of it to entrap people.
Okay.
We're not closing our Tender short. We have higher conviction than ever.
And now, a very strong case
which I intend to present tomorrow at the ALPHA Conference.
Til the end?
Until the end.
Maybe I should just call security. Get you escorted out the building.
Go on, I fucking dare you.
Hey, it's me. I got your Telegram about SternTao.
I understand you must be feeling very alone.
You needed to hear my voice, so listen to it.
I'm coming to see you after my quarterly with Jacob.
Don't do anything you'll regret.
Keep strong, stay focused.
For he must resist temptation
To join another nation
For he is an Englishman
He is an Englishman
For he is an Englishman
He is an Englishman
Dear Henry. There's a hole in my bucket.
For he is an Englishman
Give me a minute, old boy.
-What the fuck are you doing in here? -I'm so sorry.
-In my bedroom while my husband showers? -I took a wrong turn.
I was just looking for someone to make a phone call.
I brought you some flowers, a small housewarming token.
Yasmin, why don't you calm down
and stop jumping down people's throats at the smallest things?
That's pretty ungenerous.
Being such an exacting cunt is usually a tell
you don't have that much to complain about, darling.
What time's our supper?
-I can't join you guys. -Yeah, but you came to eat.
No, no, I didn't. I wanted to make sure you guys were settled in.
I got to make some calls for the--
The commerce secretary's coming in tomorrow.
My sincere apologies.
Call me.
Was that entirely necessary? He's renting the fucking house for us.
-Did you know he was in here? -Of course I didn't.
Do you enjoy the fact he wants to fuck you?
-Oh, God, what the hell are you on about? -I'm not an idiot, Henry.
You told me that you sucked that guy's dick at Winchester!
Darling, that was school, okay? It's basically prison.
Everyone gets a pass for that. You can be a homo at school.
How reassuring.
We all know that the President is a dealmaker.
There's nothing stopping us being dealmakers,
so long as said deal is good for all parties.
The President's misunderstood by people in Europe.
He wants less regulation and freer movement.
A clean break with post-war terms.
Not sure anyone knows what the strategy is.
Some here think Americans got bored of having the best lives,
so they elected a narcissistic dementiac to detonate it all
so that their kids might earn factory workers' wages
building widgets pathetically stamped, "Made in America."
In any case,
we are grateful for you sitting with us and using Tender as a test case
while we continue to thrash out a trade deal.
I...
I didn't want to say this last night, but--
What?
After Whitney left, I smelt booze on your breath.
Yeah, well, I've repaired my relationship with alcohol.
Okay. It's textbook rationalization.
Look, okay. I don't want to fucking hear it, okay?
I'm my own man. Isn't that what you always say?
When did you start drinking again?
I had a glass of champagne after WebHorizon.
-Did Whitney give it to you? -Who cares? I wanted some.
I'm just concerned that because you seem so...
on top of the world right now,
that you think you can control it, and, Henry, you can't.
Do you know what I think?
I think you want me out of control. Because that's how you're necessary.
Harper came to see me yesterday.
God, don't let that bitch into our building again.
She can't stand your happiness.
Do you think we've been too kind to Whitney?
She'll distort reality until she ruins us
and somehow the system's set up to pay her for it.
Do you think he gained our confidence too easily?
Yeah, ours and the world's. I mean, some feat.
Perhaps he deserves a little fucking respect?
You know, you want to argue with our share price?
You want to undermine my success again?
-Just when I'm healing? -Healing?
Yas...
I don't know the right way to love you.
What do you mean?
I don't know...
whether loving you properly
is to make you aware of the things you cannot see.
Or is it more loving to perpetuate your delusions?
Do you not see that people can see how transparent you are?
You think I can't see that you can't stand me front and center.
I can't carve you out a place in the world.
I'm literally on the way to dinner with our fucking auditor.
I mean, some confidence scam Whit's running!
I'll see you at home, darling.
Bye.
You do understand that I may need more hands at the pump
when it comes to preparing and filing Tender's audit.
Whitney tells me we're already over-compliant by IFRS standards.
But there are GAAP standards exclusive to America.
Forgive me, I thought your team remit was global?
Technically speaking.
But I'd humbly suggest a hand-off to someone with US-facing expertise.
I value you, Jacob,
not some uncultured drone I won't be as inclined to take to dinner.
There have been instances where the... the UK and US
have recognized their audit frameworks as equivalent.
We'll push for that.
You're quite sure?
When I take you out, we don't sour the experience by talking money.
It's perfect. Thank you.
You know, I... I promised myself a bottle of this for my fortieth,
but the price was just impossible to justify.
-What are we... What are we celebrating? -Long-standing relationships.
-Thank you. -Forgive my ignorance, but...
outline for me how an auditor's recommendation actually works.
Well, there are checklists, fieldwork, vouching.
Then either a clean report,
a qualified opinion, or an adverse opinion.
What recommendation have you filed?
-Qualified opinion. -Meaning?
Issues exist, but the financials are mostly reliable.
Nobody envies you having to parse our convoluted balance sheet.
The law of averages says
that any balance sheet question marks in a company
with a footprint like Tender are down to delays in payments
across banking jurisdictions, or abstruse local customs
around filing practices, as opposed to anything underhand.
Never blame anything on malign intent
that you can equally chalk up to incompetence.
-Whitney's pretty unimpeachable to my eye. -Nobody's perfect.
-Shall we order? -Now, now, Jacob,
you know the one thing we definitely don't believe in at Tender is curfew.
In that case, sláinte!
-Cheers. -Cheers.
-Now, that is good. -Yeah. Worth the wait!
That's very, very good.
Dear Henry. You have to be the person who makes the other feel safe
in the fullest expression of who they really are.
I'm pretty sure my wife doesn't love me.
I feel bad for allowing you to get fucked up on my watch.
The only good thing about sobriety is my productivity.
If I was a Muslim, I'd be a fucking billionaire by now.
I found a diary entry from my father once. It said...
"The world is full of strippers, sherbet, and fluorescent."
"You don't wanna be anywhere else."
He must've forgotten that when he killed himself.
Maybe this is all there is.
Euphoria.
I never believed in suicide.
My mother attempted it. My father wailed on her relentlessly.
Yeah, I'm not sure I believe that.
Why does everything from your life sound like a bad novel?
Well, I'm not the scion of a phosphate dynasty.
I figured.
Well, don't worry, man. I've got plenty of middle-class friends.
You know, a little character fraud is fine as long as your heart is pure.
That's how I felt about Lumi. I--
No matter what people said, my heart was intact.
Non-negotiable.
Dear Henry. What if I don't contain multitudes?
I'm very glad to know you.
-Where are you going? -I'll be back. I've got a flight to catch.
Okay.
Yeah, I might crack on.
As ever at ALPHA,
we are honored to introduce the thinkers of the future...
When I start talking, just stand by that door
and usher anyone in.
Ideally, with journalist accreditation around their neck.
Remember that speech you flubbed when you were a grad?
Yeah, don't do that.
...Harper Stern, SternTao, needs no introduction.
Hello, ladies.
Rather than some mealy-mouthed bullshit about how to get ahead,
I want to use this forum to offer you a front row seat
to a woman doing her job to the best of her abilities.
Tender! I know we are all very familiar with Tender.
Tender continues to be prized as a high-growth fintech,
but its current market valuation is totally divorced
from its fundamental risk profile.
Our proprietary analysis suggests
that a large portion of Tender's earnings may be entirely illusory.
For any illusionist, distraction is paramount
to the continued success of the ruse.
Their remodel as a bank, the seeking of consumer deposits,
is a craven and immoral attempt to bury past financial irregularities
in an even more complex web of accountancy.
This complexity has been central to their seduction
and confusion of investors, regulatory bodies, and even governments.
Though they don't want us to focus on it,
the market should be examining Tender's backdated accounts
and their core legacy biz as a payments processor.
Our sum of the parts DCF analysis
would yield a base case price target of 12 pounds a share
if we assign two to three billion pounds enterprise value
to what we may term their core, legitimate operations.
But this does not account for the nominal value,
let me rephrase, zero value,
we ascribe to their acquisitions across Africa and Asia Pac.
Listen, we did what nobody else bothered to do,
and we went straight to the source. There can no longer be any doubt
about the associated cash flows of these "businesses."
The sum total of these forensic red flags, unexplained cash/debt,
false third-party acquisitions, an untenable valuation,
if earnings are adjusted for reality, and imminent regulatory and audit triggers
creates the highest-conviction downside scenario
we have seen collectively in our time in markets.
So, this morning, I stand in front of you
to tell you our bear case is now our base case.
SternTao assigns a price target of zero pounds, zero pence to Tender.
A hundred percent downside from current levels.
SternTao also calls for an end to lackadaisical forms of oversight.
This must morph to a new aggression, a fresh audit,
and the publication of qualified financials.
Case studies from the past, Enron, Valeant, Luckin, teach us
that shorting insolvency is always lucrative.
The short base is primed for explosion.
Any rally now is a bear-market rally.
The emperor's clothes were shed some time ago.
He's naked, he's afraid, as well he should be.
Listen, sentiment will shift. The fall will be swift.
It is never if, but when.
The "when" is now. Tick tock.
Thank you.
He's expecting me.
-Where is he? -Mr. Day is in London.
London? Why the fuck is he in London?
-Yeah, hello. -Henry, where the fuck are you?
Have you seen what Harper's done to the fucking price?
Just... Just chill. Just fucking chill. I'm...
-just caught between things. -I can't believe you would do this to me.
You swore you would never put me in this position again.
Where... Where are you?
You have let me sit here for hours imagining the worst, again.
How could you do this to someone that you love?
Henry, you are going to tell me where you are, right fucking now!
Dear Henry.
To he who has everything, more will be given.
But whoever does not have, even what they do have,
will be taken away.
We'll begin our descent into City Airport in around 20 minutes' time.
It's a mild day in London, 15 degrees centigrade,
a sharp breeze from the north-east.
Dear Henry, I'm a pathological optimist.
Dear Henry, we're too close now to lose faith.
Dear Henry, we are hardwired to live.
-Halberstram. -There's been a massive spike in volume.
Share price indicates a large institutional short being built.
Perhaps close to a billion dollars wiped off our market cap
requires a coordinated response.
Someone stupidly gave SternTao a platform for their lies
and the market has taken it hook, line, sinker.
Playbook remains the same. We don't negotiate with terrorists.
-Is Yasmin on the call? -Her and her husband are MIA.
Great, so our head of communications bailed on us? Good fucking day for it.
-Maybe she was overpromoted. -Point taken.
We have a few options.
Renegotiate existing loan terms, some sort of bridge financing--
On top of smaller prudent maneuvers like expense reduction or layoffs,
selling non-core assets
like some acquisitions in Africa or other satellites.
We need a full refresher on the status of our Basel III liquidity coverage
and core Tier 1 and 2 positions.
This isn't a call about our cash situation.
It needs to be. If our price falls any lower,
Pierpoint have a call provision in their billion-dollar bond.
There are other means of raising cash. Payment deferrals, sale of customer data?
Unacceptable suggestion to anyone with any fiber sat around this table.
Why are we talking about this like it's real?
It's another farrago of bullshit.
Ferdinand, any further incoming
from Pierpoint and government, play for time.
The price will correct with the right media appearance.
-I'll coordinate when I'm back from Accra. -Sure.
I'll be there. Okay. Bye.
Burgess called. Tony Day is gonna play ball.
He's already in the air. Flight lands tonight.
Breakfast is set, 7:00 a.m. He'll text me the location the morning of.
-I am going. -You want some more backup?
-Yeah. Sounds good. All yours. -Harp.
CNN said Halberstram's slated to speak
on their pre-European open show tomorrow morning.
He'd probably do anything to keep us from going up against him live
-and muddying his propaganda. -Well, maybe that's what we do?
By the way, I neglected to tell you
that I saw Preston Carnahan at your presentation.
Crotona Park.
-That's Jesse Bloom's new CIO, right? -You think he's building a position?
Bannerman. When did the US come in?
-Three minutes ago. -What's Tender done since?
Well, the States are selling the absolute granny out of it.
-They're down 20% on day. -Can you update the PnL, please?
I mean, Eric, who is this analog shit for, exactly?
It's for us.
Look shit square in the face! A little reflection!
Add the zeros, you coward.
Oh, my God.
Mama!
Okay, we're up three bucks. What an achievement.
-They'll write books about us. -Going from red to black.
You know, my life in markets overlays perfectly
onto my life rooting on the Mets.
You lose all the time in new and often thrillingly inventive ways
praying for the counterbalance.
That one miraculous run that makes you live again!
Harpoon! I can't quite believe it,
but you... you just gave me my favorite ever day in finance!
And we're only small up? You feel good?
-I guess. -Yeah!
I... I may need to issue
a firm-wide memorandum about today's sell-off.
Should be Yasmin's remit, but apparently, real work is a foreign concept to her.
She's been sniffing around.
She made me run her through your diary.
Asked for email correspondence between us.
I think she may go to the press.
Does she know what you do for me?
No. No, I neglected to tell her the difficult positions
I've put myself in explicitly for you.
I felt unsafe since Abu Dhabi.
And what Dolly, my little cousin, did for you with that hedge fund guy.
-I have nothing to say. -You think just 'cause I'm a piece of ass,
I don't have enough gray matter to see through your shit?
Yeah, your old assistant, that "Crohn's disease" chick?
I spent this afternoon calling a few girls at my agency,
and apparently, she was one of ours,
and they haven't heard shit from her since she worked for you.
Haley, you know why you were hired. You knew the benefits.
And like, don't call her your "little cousin"
-'cause we both know what she is. -She's a fucking girl.
And what about your previous assistant?
What, you, like, hushed her up and paid her off?
Or worse, maybe? I mean, where is she then?
You know what? Maybe I should go to the press.
What do you want?
-Five hundred thousand dollars. -Fuck off.
All right, 750.
That's the limit of your ambition? Fuck you.
I've seen the fucking headlines, bitch.
You're gonna have to start answering questions.
Put the whole lot on my pay slip. If there even fucking is any.
I mean, that's just another irregularity for them to find, isn't it?
And if anyone asks, I'll play the ditzy assistant you always wanted.
-"I don't know anything." -You don't know anything.
-And what difference does that make? -I'm not giving you a dime.
Then live with the consequences of your actions,
you fucking try-hard loser.
Harper Stern.
Do you have a favorite piece of classical music?
I got asked that question in a campus profile once.
-And I had no idea what to say. -Nor would I, to be honest.
I wonder if that's why I showed so much of myself to you so quickly.
Must be exhausting...
living every moment,
knowing you could be completely undone by one single question.
What about when you misspeak?
Don't tell me you're not pirouetting through a social minefield.
Their...
sneering nuance of manners,
their insoluble absurdities of class, their bitchy pieties.
The greatest mistake I ever made was moving Tender to this piss-wet,
history-project of a fucking island.
Maybe you should have stayed in a country
where they didn't care where your money came from.
I'm sure you think I have multiple faces, but there's millions of people like me.
And I'm sure you're doing psychological acrobatics
to convince yourself you're a normal case.
-Whitney, you are a construction. -Don't be so reductive.
Of course, I know about Solomon Asch, the Milgram experiment.
People's will to be deceived is practically in their DNA.
Who doesn't exploit it? That's business. Tender 2.0 is a legitimate enterprise.
We have the deposit and user base to prove it.
You know, we're quickly becoming the most popular bank for Gen Z.
Give it a fucking rest, Whitney. I am sure that a new forensic audit
will find nothing but a fucking Frankenstein balance sheet
-of tricks and concealments. -Surely you know as a transplant,
life's an act of becoming, not being, Harper.
You're a conman, boxed in a historic crime.
-You are starving for intimacy. -You called me, Whitney.
You know, I got a chill when I heard you speak about funerals so practically.
Funerals have a function. It's for ritualistic grieving.
It is a human need to deal with that shit.
Maybe you've never experienced grief before.
My parents are still alive.
My mom just died.
-And the funeral helped? -I didn't go.
What kind of person doesn't go to their mother's funeral, Harper?
I don't know, Whitney. Maybe a monster.
I wanna dance with somebody
I wanna feel the heat with somebody
Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody
With somebody who loves me
Dear Henry.
How are we supposed to remain virtuous when the temptation is so great?
Hello?
Hey.
Jonah, it's me.
I... I wasn't sure you were gonna pick up.
Get a lawyer or kill yourself. Whatever's cheaper.
We need proper eyes on Tony Day.
I think it would be very counterproductive for Mr. Day
or any other weak link to be off-message now.
They have their methodologies
for people who are asking the wrong questions.
We can relay, if needs be, that he is no longer on message.
No, I... I don't think we need to escalate.
We can handle the situation without violence.
Good to know you're a man with some red lines.
You know very well we are not dealing with people who care about red lines.
I know I'm not meant to interrogate the cell structure,
but how did you get involved with these guys?
Razoblachenie. Do you know the word?
It's Russian for exposure.
The bargaining power of the threat of exposure.
What did you do for them?
Credential theft.
They wanted a picture of IBN's client base,
names, networks, spending habits.
Further points of leverage.
In my corporation, they cleared a path for me to CFO within a decade.
And it was, in hindsight,
a boringly easy thing to rationalize to myself.
You knew who they were?
Not for many years.
After a certain quality of service rendered,
I was able to make a connection that made it clear
I was found by Cozy Bear, the tech arm of the SVR and the FSB.
The particulars above and beyond
the continued existence of the company are not really our concern.
Narrative is all that matters now.
Nobody can be off story.
Not me, not you, not Day.
Dear Henry.
Is it really any surprise we seek control
when we are always at the mercy of forces much larger than ourselves?
You wanna stay over?
I think Mom thought it was weird you left the restaurant with me, not her.
-I'll stay. -I'm glad.
You're gonna kill your old man, you know?
I'd never.
I love him too much.
I...
I love you too, honey.
Can we order some dessert up to the room?
Dad, all good?
Dad?
I saw TopJaw's review of the new restaurant here.
And apparently, they do a great shabu-shabu.
Whatever you want, honey.
You always have a room here?
On standby.
-Make me feel big. -Yes, Daddy.
-Yeah. -We've dealt with our square mile issue.
I'm told Day's meeting SternTao and FinDigest for breakfast.
Claridge's, 7:00 a.m.
Dear Henry.
Wealth is the greatest disguise from our truest, most probable states.
Fuck.
Sit down.
Sit down. Don't say a thing.
In less than five minutes, two people are gonna walk through that door,
and they don't know you, and they've done nothing for you.
No matter how sweetly they've spun it,
they're not invested in what happens to you from here.
They view you as an accessory.
They'll use you to burnish their finances and status in their spheres.
I saw actual value in you.
I plucked you from obscurity, and I gave you the world.
Yeah, I'm grateful.
I'm really grateful for that, but how does that help me now?
Everything has led to this exact point.
We're under siege, yes. We just need one more united front.
I feel like I'm living day to day with a knife to my throat.
You are.
We all are. It's the weight of our potential.
Don't let them call us criminals. It's too easy. We're brothers.
You remember how I found you? Bankrupt. I made you a success.
You think our competitors are morally unblemished?
Wake the fuck up.
Whatever we've done to get here will be swallowed up by our scale and rep.
You can't backfill a lie and make it true.
Look at yourself.
-You are wavering at the gaze of Valhalla. -I'm scared, Whit.
Hi. Burgess, 7:00 a.m.
-Shit a brick. Is that Whitney? -Clever bastard.
Don't look at them. Look at me. You will impoverish yourself.
You will immiserate yourself. And whatever protection or relief,
or if you're stupid enough to believe it, immunity, you've been promised
will not spare you from the single moment when you wake up in a year or so
in a three-star shithole on a quiet Tuesday morning
when the phone has stopped ringing,
and you realize just how far you fell from grace.
So, I'm glad you're scared.
You're on the verge of making the biggest mistake of your life.
Hey. Whitney Halberstram. Pleasure.
-We know. -Enjoy your breakfast.
I hear the blueberry pancakes are excellent.
Don't let him intimidate you.
-Can we get you a coffee or-- -No.
-No? Okay. -I've had one, thanks.
We do realize how much it takes for you to meet us like this.
-You are making the right decision. -Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
I hope so.
-Looks like it's just you in-studio. -Good for me.
Coming to three, ready, camera three.
Do not press a desperate foe too hard.
-Excuse me? -Thank you.
When you surround an army, leave an outlet free.
What if the outlet I use is through?
Through you.
And we're going live, thank you,
-in five, four, three... -Five, four, three, two, one.
And we're live pre the European Opening Bell,
the FTSE having its worst day for a month yesterday,
led lower by UK financials and tech. And Tender, down 28%.
With me to discuss an explosive trading day for the company,
Whitney Halberstram, the CFO...
-Why did Eric go and not you? -He insisted. Wouldn't hear a no.
Sad day for a show like this when you give executive management
of a listed company equal billing with some fund manager.
His side, him, his trade book. My side, analysts,
independent auditors, regulators.
You want me to give you a list of times regulators have been wrong?
How long is your show?
You look very shiny under these lights for someone so in control.
Like I said, this is not a serious person you're having on.
Look, when this guy's not garbling
pseudo-MBA word salad about organic increase of volume,
state of the art merchant compliance, or whatever the hell that means,
most of the smokescreen he deploys are blanket aspersions.
Cast enough doubt on everyone else, none falls on you.
That's defamatory. You gotta keep an eye on him.
Pause, please, gentlemen, because joining us now,
we have the CFO of the site of most controversy yesterday,
Tender's CFO for EMEA, Tony Day. Tony, welcome to the show.
Hi, Angela. Thanks for having me on.
-I think it's very important... -What the fuck's going on?
I... I have no idea what he could have said to him in that time.
That's not possible.
-Who? -Whitney.
Whi-- Sorry. Whit-- Whitney was there?
I thought you said Burgess softened Day up and flipped him.
No, he was there when we arrived,
but when we left, Day was on board with us.
You didn't think to fucking tell me?
It's been a busy 48 hours.
Now, as somebody who's lived and worked in West Africa
for a number of years, I can tell you
that some of the structure of the financials
of the... of the companies we own down here,
they are unfamiliar to some auditors.
But, you know, the more pernicious thing
that today has revealed is a typical way of seeing,
imposed by Western institutions, driven by longstanding prejudices,
without any objective evidence.
I'm gonna call it the "dark heart of Africa" trope.
I see it all the time on Western media,
the pro-African apologia, disguising the anti-Africa polemic.
-Come on, guys. -Fuck! What a piece of shit.
I didn't think it was worth mentioning
because he agreed to an on-the-record interview.
His testimony was going to speed the collapse.
Where's the pressure for a new audit come from without it?
When we open, I hope investors are very clear,
we have done everything in our power to be as transparent as possible.
I will say I find it objectionable
that you would even platform me on the same program
as a man who stands to benefit from the lies you broadcast for him.
Save your breath.
Okay, there's absolutely nothing this gentleman could say about me
I won't willingly say to your viewers about myself.
He says my fund packages itself as some sort of crusader
for market efficiency and societal good.
I make no claims to that effect. I'm a money manager.
My only operating software is the profit motive.
That and my id. They're probably indivisible now,
bleeding into every aspect of my life, for good and bad,
often very bad.
However bad you want to tell the audience I am, let me tell them.
I'm worse.
So, make your judgment call.
But once made, don't let this guy sat across the table from me
off the hook from exactly the same judgment.
Let's give this guy the benefit of the doubt.
Let's even say he's on the money.
Would that outright negate that his enterprise is a fraud?
Wow.
I'm falling into... into his trap. More and more words.
Let me finish with two.
New audit.
-Would Tender submit to a new audit? -You know, we're audited every year.
Get me... Get me Jacob on the phone. Jacob-- What the fuck is his name?
Our auditor! Jacob, Jacob, Jacob... Jacob Oleander!
Get me... Get me Jacob Oleander on the phone now!
Again, for those in the back. New audit.
-Hurry up! -Line one.
Thank you very much, gentlemen, for coming on and discussing...
Jacob. Jacob, hi.
Yeah, I enjoyed your company the other night.
Yeah, I'm afraid this isn't going to be an easy conversation.
I thought you might need-- Well, I don't know what I thought.
I can only imagine how you must be feeling.
I don't think you can, actually.
How much did you know about what Whitney's been doing at Tender?
Nothing.
-You know, only the way he operates. -What does that mean?
He hired me from an escort agency.
I'm pretty sure all of his assistants came from the same agency.
He put us in front of guys he wanted to get close to.
Financial guys, investors.
We all had similar profiles. Young, innocent, willing.
To do what?
Well, he... he told us that we'd be on camera sometimes.
This one time, I flew to Abu Dhabi,
this Emirati guy on the board of some bank, Al-Ma--
-Al-Majeera-- -Al-Mi'raj.
Al-Mi'raj. And all I knew was that there was a room
I needed to get him into in order for it to happen.
Well, what does he do with the videos? He... He's extorting people?
I guess. I mean, that's... that's not a word he ever used with me.
Sorry, so you... you, me, and Henry. Was that on camera?
-What did Whitney want you to do with us? -He said, "Be in their lives."
He exploits fragile people.
I'm sorry.
-What do you want from me? -Yas, listen, this is what I know.
I've used every inch of my body, clawing my way to every fucking cent.
Only God can judge me. And he doesn't exist.
I'm done fucking clawing. Access. Access is what really makes you rich.
And what does that mean to you, exactly?
Some good tables, tickets to Wimbledon?
-Chiltern burnt down. -I want to meet people.
I want to have what you have.
-I don't trust you. -No, but I think you understand me.
Do you understand me?
In any way you ask.
Hello?
Hello.
Hey, you really pinned that motherfucker today. Can I be honest?
All the things that I thought I knew about you,
I just didn't think you had it in you. But you did it. It was great.
I was wrong. Where is everyone?
I told them to go get drinks.
-You want to come in here a sec? -Yeah.
Who's this?
You might be standing on the verge of something great. It's yours.
Not mine. Marvin represents me. I'm going to let him talk for ease.
It'll be undiluted and clean. By all means, call me a coward, it'll--
A lot easier on me.
Ms. Stern, my client,
Mr. Tao has instructed me to draw up a Deed of Assignment.
In so doing, he transfers the entirety
of his partnership interest in SternTao to you.
You're dissolving our partnership?
A notice of transfer will be filed with the appropriate registry bodies.
Mr. Tao has also engaged a tax professional at his own cost
to ensure you won't bear any tax liabilities
from the transfer yourself.
Eric, what are you doing?
What the fuck is this about?
My client has informed me that there are reputational risks
that may render him a "faithless servant"
should he continue to be employed at SternTao.
In the case of the fund's profitability, by year end,
he asks that his initial investment
be returned and placed into a trust for his daughters.
Given there was no official contract
outlining provisions related to the transfer of interest,
Mr. Tao has waived all entitlements,
bonuses, deferred payments, and equity interests on departure.
Yeah, and no... no funeral.
Can you please tell me what this is about?
Watching you present...
I thought...
I was incapable of feeling pride
for anyone but myself.
I'm really...
I'm really glad you proved me wrong.
What are you protecting us from?
You need to tell me.
Whatever it is.
I... I... I don't want you to remember me that way.
I will always remember you like this.
That was a worthwhile appearance. We rallied a little this morning,
away from Pierpoint's convertible trigger price.
Well played, chief.
Hey, Ferdinand, please leave us.
Sure.
We cut the oxygen off that wafer-thin story.
Yeah, I called Jacob.
Relieved him of his position 'cause...
Tender no longer requires his services.
You need board approval to do that.
Yeah, I don't, actually.
You made me CEO.
-So, I've informed Companies House. -That was a grave mistake.
-Why? -It's just a grave mistake.
-Why? -Trust me.
See, you can't even bring yourself...
to tell me why.
Yeah, we'll hear pitches from other auditors imminently.
-I don't advise doing that. -You-- Do you know what? Fuck your advice.
As if anything you've pushed on me
has anything but your own interests in mind.
I guess, ultimately, you're gonna do what you're gonna do.
Yeah.
So, in that case...
I guess it's best said like this.
Dear Henry.
I drafted and redrafted an opening to this statement.
I think maybe the time for poetry and ornament has passed.
Practically, it's very important that you understand everything.
Now that you're implicated.
I write to say we're stronger together,
and we must violently pursue an endgame which delays our detractors,
making their lives harder to close in on our goal.
It's Alfa, Xray, 6-1-2, Lima, Lima, 2-3-4.
People are going to accuse us of criminality.
And parsing the details of our story in this way is prejudicial.
But it won't stop people making the case against me. Against us.
And by that very definition, against you.
You see, dear Henry, there's a hole in my bucket.