American Tax Officer

Prinhol's worries were not unfounded.

Although the Speaker of the House couldn't directly dismiss them, he could establish a special committee to investigate them. If the committee invited David to join, it was believed David would be very happy to go after them.

David was currently reluctant to go all out against them mainly because he was concerned about the overall influence of Congress, but if the Speaker authorized it, David would have no such concerns and would go after them full throttle.

By then, the shipyard scandal involving Phipps would likely no longer be "allegedly" but actual evidence laid out on the table.

"Damn, if only we had our allies in the Senate!"

Phipps cursed resentfully. If there were senators in the Senate who supported them, the Speaker wouldn't dare put so much pressure on them now.

"Yes, it's a pity Stevenson hasn't been elected yet. If he had been elected, with him endorsing us in the Senate, things would have been much easier."

After Timothy also expressed his sentiment, the atmosphere on the scene became silent.

After a while, Prinhol seemed to have made a decision. He said to the two of them, "Forget it, the current situation isn't looking good. I might as well withdraw for now and see if I can get elected senator in the midterm elections, or wait to see if Stevenson gets elected."

"Since that's the case, I'll withdraw first."

Although the votes of the criminals were tempting, the pressure from the House of Congressman was too great, and if the two continued, they'd probably be removed before these people could vote for them. So, after careful consideration, the two ultimately had to choose withdrawal.

If it were other times, seeing his two allies withdraw like this, Phipps would definitely start cursing. But he also understood what kind of situation he was currently in, so, although reluctant, he could only tacitly agree.

...

In the following days, led by Phipps, the three congressmen suddenly lay low. Not to mention accepting media interviews or criticizing the shady tax reform at events, they even stopped tweeting, which puzzled many people.

"What's going on? Why haven't we heard anything from Senator Phipps for several days?"

"This isn't right. At the beginning, Senator Phipps was vocally against the shady tax reform, even after messing up during the television debate, he still maintained his criticism of the bill. Why has he suddenly disappeared now?"

"It's one thing for Phipps to go silent, but for Timothy and Prinhol to be out of the news too, something must have happened. Perhaps, were they threatened by the IRS?"

You were the ones who said the shady tax reform had serious flaws, right?

You were the ones who said you wanted to push for its repeal or reform, right?

It's only been a few days, and now you start playing dead?

The netizens who didn't understand the situation began to discuss it, but the criminals who had originally shown their support for the three were furious.

Although they didn't fully understand the details behind the sudden retreat of Phipps and his cohorts, they could infer that they were definitely under some pressure, even threats from the IRS!

These criminals began to set the tone on major social media, continuously attacking the three with terms such as cowards and chickens.

At the Western Suburb Branch, having received the message from headquarters that Phipps and the others had ceased their activities, David didn't stay idle either. After chairing the assessment period meeting on April 1, he had his subordinates thoroughly investigate the remaining big film companies.

At one o'clock in the afternoon, after reviewing the data and documents collected in recent days, David immediately called over Lewis and instructed, "We've dragged this on for too many days, it's time to deal with the matter. Send out the notice, require the six major film companies to come to our Western Suburb Branch by three o'clock tomorrow afternoon to accept their punishment for their tax issues!"

"Understood."

Lewis immediately turned to leave to make arrangements.

Not long after receiving the news, representatives of the major film companies arrived at the Disney Film Company building, their expressions grave as they entered the meeting room,

Disney's Vice President Okonji didn't look any better as he waited inside.

Once everyone was present, the door to the meeting room closed.

Representatives from Warner Movie Company immediately demanded an answer, "Mr. Okonji, now you tell me, what should we do?"

"Evan, don't panic..."

"How can I not panic!"

The man known as Evan from Warner cut him off, continuing, "You've seen it too, lobbying the Congress is not working, and those three Senator Phipps have also backed down, do we have any other options?"

On hearing this, representatives from the major film companies also looked at Okonji with dissatisfaction.

If it weren't for Disney messing things up.

Seeing that Allied America and Migaomei Film Company had complied, they might have followed suit and softened their stance as well.

Now, with this mess of the Black Tax Bill, it'd be a wonder if the Western Suburb Branch weren't going to hold them accountable.

Even if they were to soften their stance now, the cost would definitely be much heavier than if they had done so from the beginning.

"Everyone, please stay calm, my bosses are working on it, there will be a way to solve this..."

Okonji was still trying to comfort them.

But Evan wasn't buying it anymore, countering, "Weren't you saying the same thing before, that your bosses were working on it? What came of it?"

"Those few congressmen who criticized the Black Tax Bill, under the pressure of the IRS, have already fallen silent, so what if they are 'working on it'? What else can they do?"

This statement was again ratified by the representatives of several major film companies present.

The backers behind Disney might have complicated backgrounds, but if David could handle Congressmen, what couldn't he handle?

Disney, with its vast empire, can still withstand the turmoil, but these other major film companies cannot.

As the saying goes, when gods clash, mortals suffer. It's unknown if Disney will perish in this battle, but they are most certainly going to be cannon fodder.

It's like the bitter feud between Jia Duobao and Wang Laoji, where He Qizheng was the one who ended up dead.

"Gentlemen, please trust me one more time, my bosses will find a solution, don't compromise so easily..."

Knowing he was at fault, Okonji couldn't retort much and could only continue to reassure everyone.

"Okonji, you know, the Western Suburb Branch has just spread the word, they have investigated our situation, and they want us to attend a review before 3 PM tomorrow. We've reached this point, and I, as well as Warner Movie Company, can't continue to fight this. Our stock price has suffered a great loss during these days, and I hope you can understand our situation..."

Because Warner Movie Company could face sanctions from the Western Suburb Branch at any time, the market had lacked confidence in them, and their stock price had suffered greatly, so indeed they could not withstand the pressure.

Backing down now might result in bleeding heavily, but it wouldn't mean the end.

However, if they dared to continue to resist and once the Western Suburb Branch issued severe punishment, then the whole company could collapse.

"Mr. Okonji, we from Universal Pictures feel the same, hope you can understand."

"We, Columbia Pictures, are also in agreement."

"And us at Paramount..."

The other major film companies had clearly thought it through as well, so seeing Warner opting to preserve their own wellbeing, they too began to follow the tide.

"Evan... you guys... fuck, do whatever you want!"

With the conversation at this point, all Okonji could do aside from cursing was nothing.