Hollywood duo who had met during a movie production in Beverly Hills, California have launched a financial management and software company by the legal name of ‘Financial Express LTD.’
Evolving their friendship from professional association to legally binding business partnership, the duo has been well known in Hollywood’s most elite circles, toasting champagne glasses with A-Listers such as Leonardo DiCaprio, John Travolta and Tobey Maguire whilst at the same time “going all in” at private poker parties hosted by the likes of Maguire at his Brentwood home. Sums from $100,000 to $5,000,000 a game are bet as if it were just chump change or Monopoly money according to an insider close to the duo.
The staggering amount of cash being bet is life changing amount for most people, however for the duo it is nothing more than “petty cash” as one close friend to Warner executive turned Chief Technology Officer (Ahmed) had revealed to UrbanMatter.
According to recently released documents by District Court of Oregon, the then 21 year old producer (McGinnis) was making six figure movie deals at Cannes Film Festival with Chinese investors for what can be described as “eye watering” amounts before he had even graduated College.
An insider who wishes to remain anonymous as not to affect his employment or good standing at a ‘prominent’ movie studio in West Hollywood told UrbanMatter that both McGinnis and Ahmed are well known for “larger than life lifestyles” that according to the insider, “would make Nicolas Cages’ antics look like mere child’s play”. Speaking in confidence, the insider notes that the pair had first met on location in Beverly Hills, and were introduced to each other by Hollywood starlet Margot Robbie as the “guys who obsess over computers and business”.
Ahmed who at the time was running AT&T’s research and technology department as part of its WarnerMedia conglomerate globally, has always kept a relatively low profile but would “not hesitate to have a good time with the A-list”. According to the insider, Ahmed comes from a British-Pakistani family that “had a lot of wealth already” through dividends provided to them via large holdings of a natural resource export company specializing in precious metal refinery, excavation and gas, and another which is reported to specialize in textile production for mega brands such as LVMH and Kering.
“Siraaj having met Terry who already was well known for his smarts and just being a corporate shark that could give less of a [redacted profanity] about the creative process or the art, not to mention the partying, became best of friends almost immediately, I think. If memory serves right, Siraaj even got Terry into the fashion industry through his family links, where of course Terry got his hands all over every major department and key player to [redacted profanity] over the artisans and make room for corporate interests that only care about money to line his own pockets, buying up stocks to profit even more. If you think high fashion is too commercialized and money driven, thank guys like Terry for that.”
At one point McGinnis reportedly had a net worth of around $30 million by the age of 25.
“One thing I can say is that he (McGinnis) is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. At first, you’d think he’s just another trust fund baby from Malibu but after hanging around him for some time, you’ll quickly understand that he knows how to make money and make moves, and its usually at expense of others. Reason why everyone in Hollywood tends to kiss his [redacted profanity] to get a better role as every studio head worships the ground he walks on. All of corporate Hollywood is corrupt, they are all cut from the same cloth. If you have no use for them, then it’s goodbye. I think Terry himself would admit that he doesn’t have many real friends, only interests and I think he is proud of it. I’d say he’s also the definition of ‘YOLO’, who else has been divorced twice by age of 25? You could novelize an entire series just by being around him. But as soon as you no longer provide any value in terms of business, then you’re as good as dead to him.”
McGinnis had divorced his second wife, a Japanese woman, after only less than a year of marriage at a cost of roughly $23 million to himself and was ordered to pay an additional $700,000 a month in support payments for “upkeep of lifestyle” for his then second wife according to a publicly accessible local bulletin keeping record of marriage ceremonies and Court divorce rulings in the Aichi prefecture and district, Japan.
“I think a lot of guys would have just ended themselves there and then. He got royally [redacted profanity] in the divorce but always said to our collective group “it’s just money, comes and goes, I’ll make more” or something along the lines. He might be a total [profanity] but you have to give respect where it is due, I don’t know of anyone else who could just lose that amount of money at that age and then make triple in just a few years post a very traumatic divorce. But again, it just fuels what is wrong with Hollywood in general and gives more excuse to just focus on chasing money.”
This, what could be interpreted as infectious enthusiasm and wanting to be ‘the best’ and ‘the most successful’ aligned with Ahmed’s own ethos and vision of future business interests.
“They are both smart guys, one graduated Oxford and is meticulously cunning and business savvy, the other is very reserved and comes from a family in an area of Pakistan that you don’t [redacted profanity] with, that from what I heard and saw directly, are heavily involved in the political area, serving family interests. They (Ahmed, McGinnis) definitely view it as a game and want to get the highest score, self-made, maybe, but their blood is still from those families. You only need to search for the name ‘Rothschild’ to know what they’re all about, Terry in particular, if that can provide you a better idea.”
The duo had quickly become business partners and reportedly exited their San Jose based technology start-up via acquisition at an estimated $25 million each within a year of its incorporation alongside another business partner, Joe Todd, based out of Kent, United Kingdom.
Todd had previously been under scrutiny after a Channel 4 documentary had aired, showcasing Todd and his father Joe Todd Sr, creator of the adult streaming service ‘YouPorn’ and ‘Fake Taxi’, utilize services available to young adults such as Twitter to garner and monetize traffic to create more demand and increase revenue via subscription for their adult film brands. Daily Mail, a British newspaper had covered the story, with numerous parents of young adults “left horrified” at the widespread availability of explicit content to those as young as 13 years old.
Not much is known of Todd thereafter or what he has been doing ever since, several friends who agreed to speak with UrbanMatter stated that Todd had made a ‘substantial’ fortune via another technology company called Cozy, and is now focused on ‘family affairs’. However, others dispute these claims stating that Todd is still continuing his career at his father’s adult film production company.
Ahmed’s and McGinnis’ next venture, which is still in operation, was originally founded as a marketplace called Online Shop, serving British customers and competing with the likes of eBay and Amazon. According to McGinnis himself in a blog entry on his own website, “burn out” forced the duo to change directive. The duo reformed in New York to provide an e-shop creation tool, artificial intelligence and data analytics platform which quickly gained interest and backing from former competitor Amazon.
There have been no verified reports of turnover from the company, however it is estimated to be generating around $60 million in annual recurring revenue according to data provided by Statista which had used competing services such as Shopify and Cart.com to provide an approximation of possible revenue, not including losses, debts or profit made.
In recent months the newly appointed British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak had given provisions and allowances to help make Britain the “Web 3 capital of the world”, alluring to the notion of continuing Britain’s tradition of being a global financial hub. A reported £23 million had been spent to create an exchange for digital assets, commodities, currencies and other financial products under ‘Financial Express Limited’, a company founded by the duo in the Knightsbridge area of London. BlackRock and Barclays Bank had released statements confirming partnership agreements with the newly found company. With a representative of the company stating on the official BlackRock press release:
“China is a big and opportune market, our developments within our artificial intelligence and machine learning fields have allowed us to create sophisticated solutions that extend beyond our soon to launch exchange. The partnership with BlackRock will stress test our data gathering capabilities, as well those of the exchange and will help us gather deep insight on composing best practices for continuous development and improvement until such time where we can look into other markets.”
No outreach efforts were found to identify where investment was coming from, with the insider speculating that the money being invested is “the pair deciding to fully adhere to their families and admit who they are and where they come from, abandoning their ‘self made’ monikers in the process and using what every trust fund “baby” has at play to become even richer through powerful and corrupt connections.”
The company has a confirmed £25 million of gold being held as ‘insurance’ in Switzerland, details on what the exchange will offer to customers being scarce and underreported.
The insider continued to add that “for them everything is business, I don’t think they view people as people. Just as interests on stocks to be bought and sold, like any other banking family, hurting creatives in the process. They don’t see actors on set, they see tools to be used to get it all done and wrapped up so they can finally make returns. There’s already been whispers in union talks, that I can prove very easily, of several studio heads approaching them to finance their flicks through their new company. I feel sorry for any directors and creative talent that will be at the complete mercy of them, or unions that will have to fight with dozens of their hired emotionless suits. They are one of the reasons so many went out to strike, Hollywood shouldn’t be about checks and balances. It is not Silicon Valley or Wall Street. It should always be about exploring the creative mind and bringing it to audiences to help shape new perspectives or provide escape from everyday life.”
The Knightsbridge company is already valued at £78 million according to independent market appraisal without any available or usable products with several financial pundits sharing concerns on a now deleted LinkedIn comment thread purporting that the plan is a conspiracy by ‘deep state’ governments to monopolize and centralize “what should be decentralized” under the guise of protecting the average ‘high street’ customer, alluring to the fact the exchange will be ingrained in new governmental policy, creating a monopoly for the duo, their friends and associates. No statements were made or reported by British financial regulator Financial Conduct Authority to support such claims or provide validity.
“They created a company to make money for their friends and themselves. The rich will just get richer and there is nothing the little guy can do about it. It reminds me of the Occupy Wall Street movement, which I’m proud to say, I was a part of. When you’re dealing with elites from those sort of families and their private circles, there’s little you can do as we saw, you just get silenced or your life made very difficult. You can’t pitch an idea to Terry without him asking ‘how can we merchandise it?’ or ‘what’s the projected international box office yield?’ on something that is a passion project” insider concluded.
Just a week prior, Kendricks Lao, the company Chief People Officer spoke at a private event in New York hosted by McGinnis and Ahmed to “two dozen or more” high net worth individuals from all over the world, in an event that several service staff catering the event dubbed “1984”, referencing the popular dystopian novel by George Orwell.
Lao had given an hour-long speech calling for “rigorous control of assets” and “protection of government interests that allowed the rapid rise of technology” in the name of a “more connected, secure and risk free world”, with most in attendance giving applause.
According to MSN, Lao was aiming to provide a bridge between his pharmaceutical career and finance with one caterer confirming reports that “one of the biggest talking points of the night was drug research and distribution. I think they want to make generic medications free for third world countries and invest in developing new stronger alternatives which can be protected (patented) to make more money for big pharma.”
No evidence from the event that could support statements made by those aforementioned had surfaced as of yet. Those attending, including staff and those catering the event, had to surrender any mobile devices at the exhibition floor with only one authorized photographer allowed to take photos and videos of the event, who was hired by ‘Financial Express’ itself.
After Insider had reached out to the photographer, he declined to
comment or provide photos of the event, citing confidentiality and breach of trust. The photographer had also all of his social media channels private, refusing to provide any reason or what had prompted him to do so.