章節 107: Chapter 107: Con Artists
The Four Seasons Hotel, located on Madison Avenue and 57th Street in Midtown Manhattan, also offered a stunning view of Central Park.
Charles was preparing to leave the banquet hall to get some fresh air on the balcony when the beautifully dressed Anne Hathaway, in a sexy low-cut evening gown, approached him.
"I'm Anne Hathaway. May I have this dance, Mr. Carpe?" she asked.
There were many beautiful women in the venue, and quite a few important people too. After all, Charles was now a Hollywood billionaire!
"Sure, Anne, but how about enjoying the New York skyline with me outside instead?" Charles said as he took her hand. After all, at that time, Anne Hathaway was still a Disney princess - young and beautiful.
The two walked to the edge of the balcony, and Manhattan's night skyline was spectacular as always.
"Brokeback Mountain is an absolutely fantastic movie. It's so well shot!" Anne Hathaway praised, standing beside him.
"Yes, it's a great film. Ang Lee is a very talented director!" Charles agreed.
"Working with such a director must be something every actor would love to do," Anne Hathaway said, feeling tired of always playing princess roles.
"Mr. Carpe, can I ask why I didn't get the role of Jack's wife in Brokeback Mountain? Was there something I lacked or did wrong?" Anne Hathaway couldn't resist asking Charles.
After all, they did approach her for the role last year while shooting Brokeback Mountain. Although she was filming The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement and Ella Enchanted at the time, the role in Brokeback Mountain wasn't extensive, and she could have managed to fit it in. Furthermore, she even turned down a role in The Phantom of the Opera.
"Call me Charles!" He turned to look at Anne Hathaway. "Did you read the script?" Charles asked.
Anne Hathaway nodded. "I know there's a scene where I need to take my shirt off in a car. I'm totally fine with that!"
"Your agent said your princess image from The Princess Diaries was very ingrained and hoped we could reduce the topless scenes," Charles responded casually.
"I don't have time to waste, changing the actor was the quickest solution!" he added.
Charles had guessed it. The Princess Diaries was Anne Hathaway's breakthrough series. This year, both the sequel The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement and the romantic comedy Ella Enchanted hadn't done well in terms of reviews or box office sales.
Anne Hathaway was always playing the naive princess roles, which had started typecasting her. A career change was urgently needed.
"Is that so? I honestly don't want to always play these kinds of roles, but I can't get any other roles!" Anne Hathaway confessed.
She was still relying on the popularity from The Princess Diaries to get roles and recognized she had quite a bit of room for improvement in her acting skills.
"You're quite bold, coming here just to ask me why?" Charles said with a smile.
"No, I came with my agent. I was just introduced to an Italian entrepreneur," Anne Hathaway replied, not realizing how Charles might interpret her words.
"An Italian entrepreneur? Young, about 26 or 27 years old? Works in some kind of Catholic asset management or investment?" Charles suddenly recalled Anne Hathaway's future swindler boyfriend. Could it be?
Anne Hathaway was stunned and then surprisedly exclaimed, "Do you know him? His name is Raffaello Follieri!"
Charles shook his head and laughed. "I don't know his name. I just know there've been quite a few con artists pretending to be big-shot investors in Hollywood recently. You better look into it, because getting embroiled in a fraud case is not something you want!" Charles warned.
Anne Hathaway, though not extremely smart, wasn't dumb either. From what Charles said, she realized that this Raffaello Follieri might be problematic.
Suddenly feeling awkward, she maintained her composure as an actress and with a calm expression, smiled and said, "Thank you very much for the warning. I'll be careful!"
"Come on, let's go inside and dance!" Charles said, leading Anne Hathaway back into the banquet hall.
Female celebrities in the entertainment industry were indeed the most easily deceived. But when it came to competing for roles or engaging in other interest-related maneuvers, they could seem overly shrewd.
"Charles, how did you know that Raffaello Follieri isn't a legitimate businessman?" Anne Hathaway, having only met Raffaello Follieri tonight, couldn't help but feel some unease.
"Ever heard of a Ponzi scheme?" Charles asked while holding her as they danced. "Con artists get funds from different investors or institutions, offering higher-than-market returns to make them follow blindly. This attracts more people or institutions to invest. The scammers just use the investments of new victims to pay off the returns of earlier ones."
"Then, the scammers have tons of money to live it up!" Charles said.
Raffaello Follieri was just a small-time crook. Charles had seen his name in the news, noting that he was arrested during the financial crisis.
The true mastermind, however, was Bernard Madoff, a Wall Street tycoon who swindled billions of dollars.
Bernard Madoff's investment fund was still a premium investment channel among the wealthy circles. It goes to show how cunning some people can be!
Former chairman of NASDAQ, Madoff's investment fund still had the requirement that no investments under one million dollars were allowed.
*****
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