The Clayton Account by Bill Vidal Read Free Book Online Page B

Jeff had hardly touched his food. ‘Our only hope is to own up. Maybe we just get fired, maybe the bank doesn’t want scandals,’ he pleaded.
    ‘Don’t be so fucking stupid,’ Tom growled from between clenched teeth, leaning forward. ‘It’s jail, goddamn
jail
for both of us. Don’t you read the papers any more? Wall Street wants to screw rogue dealers! The Old Boys
prove
their honesty and integrity by throwing rotten apples in the can!’
    Their descent into hell had begun the previous Easter when the Claytons joined the Langlands for a week in Gstaad. Cocooned in the splendour of the Palace Hotel, dazzled by the brilliance of powder snow and their own careers , they thought they could do no wrong. Everybody knew that sterling was too high, that the British currency would drop in value as soon as New Labour’s pseudo-socialists found an excuse to let sterling slide sufficiently to kill it off and replace it with the Euro.
    So they played a simple game. Went bull on Swiss francs and bear on sterling. They formed a company in Vaduz – its ownership hidden behind Liechtenstein’s impenetrable secrecy laws. Taurus AG opened a trading account with Clayton’s bank in London. The new client was armed with the best of references, provided by no less than the bank’s own branch in Zurich. They bet on future values and chose the simplest of commodities: not coffee, or gold, or minerals – but cash, specifically the pound sterling. They sold £15 million they did not have, three months forward, at 2.40 Swiss francs. For every cent the pound dropped against the franc, they stood to make over £60,000. As is usual in such trades, Taurus was asked to pay a margin – a deposit – but because of the excellent introduction this was limited to 5 per cent, or £750,000. They sent this money from Vaduz. Split fifty-fifty, it represented most of Langland’s savings and a sizeable portion of Clayton’s.
    But Europe had more financial crises than Britain, and the pound held firm. Not even reducing interest rates could take the shine off sterling. By the time Taurus closed its books they had lost £625,000, virtually all their margin.
    Langland was devastated. He had been born rich, grown up poor, started on the path to wealth once more and suddenly he had less than $50,000 to his name.
    ‘We do it again,’ Tom had told an incredulous Langland.
    ‘Are you out of your mind?’ Langland had protested. But he would cling to any prospect, however nebulous, if there was a way out. ‘What with?’
    ‘
I’ll
stick my neck out,’ Tom replied, ‘
I’ll
send $2.5 million from the bank to Zurich. A mistake,’ he explained. ‘It should have been a debit for the new margin, instead I sent a credit.’ He paused for his friend to digest the enormity of what they were about to do, ‘We double up. £30 million. You move the money from Zurich to London, and I do the deal.’
    When Langland said nothing, Tom went on: ‘Don’t you see? Anyone asks you, you say you sent the money back, realizing it had been paid in error. I get asked, I say I thought it was the proceeds of the debit I had applied against Zurich. Chances are the “error” won’t be picked up for at least three months. By then we’re home and dry.’
    ‘And if the pound doesn’t drop?’ Jeff asked reluctantly.
    ‘Hey, Jeff,’ Clayton replied dismissively, ‘you got cold feet, I go alone on this one. What’s it going to be?’
    So the deal was done.
    But all that seemed like aeons ago now. As they downed their second brandies in an empty Zurich restaurant, the pound stood at 2.64 francs. They were $2.2 million in the hole. If the pound moved up one more cent they would have to increase their deposit. Even worse, the theft might be discovered.
    ‘What are we going to do, Tom?’ Langland begged for reassurance.
    ‘Nothing. Not yet. There’s a month to go. Maybe the pound collapses,’ Tom added with little hope. ‘Meantime, stay cool, do nothing. I’ll think