CHAPTER 79: MOVING FORWARD

"After going through his records and verifying them through PayPal’s transaction records and other additional checks, there are no problems in his story. We have already completed our preparations for the voluntary declaration," Mehmet reported to Rümeysa just a week after they came and collected the information from his computer.

"That’s very fast. I expected it to last two or more weeks at least," Rümeysa said, having experienced financial audits before.

"It is because we didn’t have to start from scratch, plus there were no complicated and mixed income streams, so everything could be verified since we had access to his PayPal account. Additionally, his so-called subscription spreadsheet was very detailed, providing us with the remaining half of the picture. After a few checks and verifications, everything worked out for us," Mehmet said, looking at Fatih, who was sitting silently beside his mother. His face showed the level of disbelief he was experiencing upon realizing that everything was orchestrated by Fatih at such a young age and how meticulous he had been, but also because the business in which Fatih had earned millions was something unreplicable by anyone else.

"So what are the expected taxes and payments we are going to have to pay following the voluntary disclosure?" Rümeysa asked, relieved that the situation wasn’t as complicated as she had initially worried and was now nearing its final stages.

"Only the three million dollars in his PayPal account will be declared. Due to the amount he earned each year being more than 100,000 Turkish Lira, he will be paying the maximum marginal rate of 35%, which for him falls to about $1,050,000 USD. If we also estimate the maximum penalties and interest, we will have to pay at most another half a million. So, the maximum possible payment will be half the three million.

But considering we are voluntarily disclosing, we will be able to reduce the penalties and interest to below the half-a-million threshold, to about three hundred thousand..." Mehmet continued, going into details about what they were going to do, how they could lower the penalties, and how she, as a legal guardian, would be participating in all of this in Fatih’s stead.

"What about the Bitcoins?" Rümeysa asked.

"There is no need to declare those, as they are not considered financial assets, just digital tokens, and legally, it is an undefined asset."

Rümeysa, who was nodding, having already had a basic understanding of the situation, turned to Fatih and asked, "What do you want to do with the crypto? Cash it out?"

"No, I want to keep them for now," Fatih answered so fast, as if answering any later would result in it being liquidated, causing those in the room to be surprised.

"Are you sure? It is three million dollars, and it might lose value in the future. I spent the last week checking it, and its value was very prone to fluctuations," Rümeysa said, reminding Fatih that its value was very volatile.

"When I bought it, it was worth nothing, so there is nothing to worry about if it loses value. I believe it will continue increasing in value in the future. If we sell now, the value itself will fall," Fatih explained calmly, making sure he made his intention of holding clear.

Though she could force him to sell, she couldn’t do it without his cooperation since the private keys needed to initiate the sale were memorized in his mind for all the wallets, together with the required recovery phrases in case he forgot one of them.

"We will talk more about it later," Rümeysa said, wondering if her son had yet to understand the value of three million dollars. That reasoning made sense to her because Fatih’s life was lived through spending Lira, and all the transactions he made online were not directly tangible to him, like owning a new physical product, making it possible for him to not know its true value.

"Then, if there are no changes, we can start going through the voluntary disclosure process tomorrow. Due to its scale and the verifiable paper trail, we should reach a solution and go ahead with payments within two months at the latest," Mehmet said as he handed over the documents that contained a more detailed breakdown of the financial audit.

"Yes, there are no changes, so please go ahead with the disclosure," Rümeysa, seeing no reason to delay, approved him to go ahead with it.

"Then I will keep you up to date on the development as every new change happens." Mehmet and his secretary stood, shaking hands with both Fatih and Rümeysa, bidding them farewell as he left their home. They were his clients, so he was the one who did the visiting, not the other way around.

Now that they were left alone in the living room, Fatih stretched himself and stood, trying to go back to his room when he felt someone holding his hand. "We still have something to talk about before you leave," she said as she pulled Fatih to take a seat.

"Yes," Fatih said, sitting calmly and waiting for her to continue with what she wanted to say.

"Do you plan to continue running the website and the information site?" she asked.

Fatih released a sigh of relief upon hearing the question and not receiving a scolding for what he did. "Yes, I want to continue doing it as it is very enjoyable, and the money can help me with racing when it becomes too expensive. We won’t have to worry about sponsors if we have money," he answered, giving his reasoning while making it very clear that his experience with Aslan and the academy was one of the reasons he was hoarding money.

"Haaaaa," Rümeysa pinched the bridge of her nose as she sighed before saying, "Why are you worried about money at such a young age?" Not feeling the least bit happy that her son was now trying to handle the money situation himself, making her wonder if he thought she didn’t have money.

No mother wanted their son to worry or stress about money, but it looked like Fatih worried about it and was now already finding a solution.

"..." Fatih remained silent, knowing that it was not a question meant to be answered, but her just worrying about him.

"Fine, you can continue with it, but this time you will be doing it the right way," she said as she removed a folder with documents on the inside.

She removed one of the documents, giving it to Fatih as she started her explanation of what it was.

"This is the document that shows that I have created a trust named FY Trust with you as the beneficiary. It is a revocable living trust that you will gain more and more control over as you get older, before having total control by the age of eighteen. I will still remain as the trustee even then, with equal authority to advise you on your spending once you gain full control at eighteen. The trust will own and control Yıldırım Holding Ltd., which acts as the main holding entity and will be the legal owner of the shares of the three subsidiaries. This structure provides the primary layer of asset protection and operational control."

She paused for a moment, seeing if Fatih understood what she was saying, knowing it was a bit complicated despite using simple words instead of business jargon, before she continued while handing Fatih three other documents from the folder.

"These are the documents regarding the three companies under the full ownership of Yıldırım Holding.

First, there is Conqueror Media LLC, which will take over ownership of everything under TheConqueror brand, from the website, YouTube channel, and all social media accounts, to the associated trademarks.

Then there is TC Analytics LLC, registered in the BVI (British Virgin Islands), which will run the betting information-selling forum and manage its entire clientele. All subscription income will be paid to and held by this company.

And lastly, there is Yıldırım Racing Ltd, registered in Turkey. This company will manage your public racing brand and handle all contracts related to your racing career and endorsements. However, instead of owning your image and trademarks directly, it will license those rights from Yıldırım Holding under a royalty agreement. This keeps your personal identity separate from commercial use and allows for more flexibility in how your brand is deployed." (Image here)

"The first two companies are already generating income," she added, "and Yıldırım Racing’s funding will come from sponsorship agreements with them, supplemented by the YouTube channel and any endorsements you may receive. Do you have any questions?"

She asked once she was done, knowing it was a lot to take in, especially for Fatih, who had no prior exposure to business structures.

"What about Bitcoin?" Fatih asked.

"Since you said you want to hold it, I won’t do anything with them. But when you are trying to sell them, don’t do it before telling me, since I need to come up with an action plan for it," Rümeysa answered, figuring that dealing with the money from the two companies was enough and allowing Fatih to be the decision-maker on the Bitcoin assets, though she was still going to veto his decision if he decided to sell at a loss or without good reason.

"Will you hire employees?"

"Do you want to hire them?"

"Yes, if possible."

"Fine, what positions do you want to hire people for?" she asked, taking a moment to think about it and realizing that Fatih really needed permanent help instead of the part-timers he was depending on to run the services, but also to reduce his active participation in the first place.

"Cybersecurity, moderation, proofreading, video editors, article writers..." Fatih went on, mentioning at least twenty positions that he needed to run the now two companies.

Rümeysa, who, while Fatih was on his fifth position, took out a pen and noted them down, asked, "Anything else?" when she was finished writing.

"Better camera equipment, editors, animators, musicians..." he went ahead, listing at least two dozen things, including ten positions for his Fatih Yıldırım YouTube channel to allow for the quality to remain high or go even higher than it was now once he hired professionals, but also to allow for a faster speed of release since he had more than two seasons of racing already in his hand while he had a final race for his current season remaining.

It was no problem having nearly thirty employees if his mother hired all of them for him, as Turkey’s average salary was below a thousand dollars, making his planned thousand-dollar salary in his mind above the average.

By the end of their conversation, Fatih sighed internally that this was now on its way to fully passing, and he would now be able to earn and spend the money without having to worry or hold back, since everything would soon be legal.

Now he could fully focus on his upcoming Junior finals, a category that he was allowed to join following a special exemption from TOSFED, allowing him to compete at nine in a competition with a minimum entry age of 12 due to his dominance in his second season, where he led and dominated every single session he participated in.