Harvey Metcalfe, over a forty year career, has mastered the art of the shady deal in advancing from messenger boy to mogul. But this time, by selling inflated oil stock, he has cheated the wrong men--Stephen Bradley, an American professor teaching at Oxford, Dr. Robin Oakley, a Harley Street physician, Jean-Pierre Lamanns, a French art dealer with a gallery in London, and James Brigsley, heir to an earldom. Each has bought the oil stock, and suffered financially when the stock failed. Bradley learns of Metcalfe's responsibility, and organizes the other three to seek to get their money back from Metcalfe. They each come up with a plan to thwart Metcalfe and get their money back.
Harvey Metcalfe was born on May 17 1909 as the son of a Polish baker who had emigrated from Warsaw to New York. After the death of his parents, he lives on the street and masters survival. Metcalfe proves opportunistic and combines fine business skills with little loyalty and much ruthlessness. By the 1960s, he is a multi-millionaire.
Taking advantage of a British Government decision to allow companies to claim North Sea drilling rights with little money down, Metcalfe creates "Prospecta Oil", more or less a paper company designed to look good and bring in investors to be left holding the bag when the bottom drops out. To that end, Metcalfe's agents who run the company hire David Kessler, a recent Harvard MBA who talks up the company to the four protagonists, and they buy the company's stock. But Harvey (indirectly) soon sells out at the top of the market, the stock crashes, and the four are left with major losses.
When the dust settles, Stephen looks to see what happened. He discovers the fraud, that there is no legal recourse against Harvey, and organizes the four to steal the money back, using Harvey's interests and weaknesses. All four are to come up with plans, and three quickly do. James, however, is unable to come up with a plan. He is more successful at wooing Anne Summerton, an American model.
Jean-Pierre is successful at getting Harvey to buy a fake Van Gogh--a passionate art collector, he has always wanted one. When the happy Harvey heads to Monte Carlo on vacation, a pill in his drink at the Casino simulates appendicitis, and Robin operates, though barely breaking the skin, and collects a large bill. Stephen impersonates an Oxford official, as do the others, and gets the honors-hungry Harvey to think he is getting an honorary degree in exchange for a major contribution. James, though unable to come up with a plan of his own, has been crucial to the success of the others' plans--and when he meets Anne's father, learns that he is none other than Harvey.
James instructs the others to be ready to execute what appears to be a complex financial fraud, and flies them to Boston for the wedding as ushers, though not giving them any formal invitations. They are staggered at the church to learn who the bride's father is. The wedding check from Harvey, plus ransacking Harvey's greenhouses for wedding flowers, reduces the original million dollar debt to $1.29, though Stephen sulks on the plane ride home about the missing money.
They land in London to learn that oil has been discovered next to Prospecta Oil's tract, sending the shares to record highs. They now have the stolen million back, and the shares are worth well over a million. Stephen proposes they figure out how to give the stolen million back.
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