American Tax Officer

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Nicola was well aware that, at this stage, the witness testimonies still weren't enough to pin the charge of tax evasion on Julie. She could only turn her gaze toward David again.

"Your Honor, Lawyer Kerry does have a point..."

The crowd was somewhat flustered by David's comment.

After all, wasn't the Western Suburb Branch Planning to charge Julie with tax evasion? And now, to say that the lawyer's point is valid?

Was this a betrayal right in the courtroom?

But before the crowd could grasp what was happening,

David's next statement enlightened them and also took them by surprise...

David said, "However, Your Honor, since Lawyer Kerry has denied Mr. Temple's testimony, that's okay, we can simply have another witness from that time come forward and tell their story!"

"Another witness..."

This statement caused another stir among the spectators.

On this side, Kerry furrowed his brows, casting a questioning and slightly dissatisfied look at Julie beside him.

At this moment, Julie's complexion wasn't much better than Kerry's. It seemed she had fully recalled the incident, but she remained silent.

Under the gaze of everyone in the courtroom, another witness was brought to the stand by an inspector from the Western Suburbs.

"Your Honor, my name is Parker Mitchell, and in 1992, I served as the assistant director and actor for [Shadow Terminator]!" the witness introduced himself after taking the stand.

On the bench, Nicola immediately responded, "Alright, Mr. Parker, do you have something you wish to say?"

"I do."
Your next chapter is on empire

Parker first glanced at David, then turned to look at Julie and asked, "Ms. Julie, I wonder if you remember me?"

Julie's eyes flickered as she responded, "The [Shadow Terminator] was 20 years ago. I'm sorry, I don't quite recognize you."

No one found her response problematic—after all, it was something from 20 years prior, and this so-called witness was merely an assistant director and actor. How could Julie, a big star, be expected to remember him?

"Not remembering is fine, but I still remember you, Ms. Julie."

Parker withdrew his gaze and turned back to Nicola, saying, "Your Honor, what I want to say is that in reality, the 1992 film [Shadow Terminator] was entirely used for money laundering!"

Parker's revelation was astounding, causing several spectators to get goosebumps.

If the movie was indeed used for money laundering as Parker claimed, it wouldn't just involve the tax evasion case, but also judicial ones.

As the leading actress involved in the film, it didn't matter whether Julie was implicated or not. The fact that her international debut turned into a laundering operation was going to be a scandal no matter what.

"Your Honor, I strongly protest the witness's testimony! The witness is merely an assistant director; how could he know about the film involving money laundering? Such baseless slander is preposterous!" Kerry couldn't let things continue to escalate and stood up indignantly to defend.

Parker was undeterred, raising his voice and declaring, "Slander? Don't talk to me about slander. Many members of the crew knew about it back then. After all, which producer carries bags of cash to the set every day as if afraid there's no opportunity to spend it..."

"Wait a minute..."

Before Parker could finish, Kerry interrupted, asking, "If the movie was involved in money laundering, then why, as Mr. Temple also said, did your taxes underreport by half? Wouldn't it make sense to report more to launder even more money?"

"Let me answer that for you, Lawyer Kerry."

This time, it was David who spoke up. He continued, saying, "Because compared to the price levels of 1992, the salary they gave out was already twice the market rate. Therefore, they had to underreport their taxes by half to avoid raising suspicion. These expenses could then be declared as part of the total film costs after shooting ended.

That's why many criminals like to use movie productions for money laundering!"

After David's explanation, Kerry fell silent for a moment.

The audience, now enlightened, also fell into a thoughtful state.

"Alright, even if the film was involved in money laundering, my client was just a newcomer to acting at the time and didn't know any of this—it's quite normal, isn't it?"

Kerry decided to not dwell on the laundering issue and clung to the point that Julie was unaware. If ignorance is indeed considered innocence, then the IRS would not be able to convict her.

"No, Ms. Julie was not only aware, I even have reason to believe she was involved!"

"I protest, Your Honor! The witness is slandering!"

"Whether it's slander or not, isn't Ms. Julie the most aware? After all, that producer was quite willing to spend money on her..."

"Cough cough!"

David interrupted Parker's increasingly agitated testimony with a cough. His intention was to get Julie and her associates to court, perhaps slap on a fine, and use it to draw out Hollywood's eight major film companies—not to start a feud with these big names.

But now Parker was getting too heated, which was causing a conflict with what David wanted.

Parker, realizing he had misspoken under pressure from the opposing lawyer, quickly shot an apologetic glance at David.

However, Parker's words had already taken aback many in the gallery.

A producer willing to spend extravagantly on Julie?

The implications of that statement were immense.

Did that mean Julie was involved in some unspoken transactions when she first started out?

Even though such things are pretty normal in the film industry.

But Julie is now an A-list international star. Moreover, this is happening in a courtroom watched by countless people. How could she possibly get off the stage?

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