Tom Wright (8)

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Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World by Tom Wright and Bradley Hope tells of one of the biggest financial heists in history. Misters Wright and Hope are Pulitzer-finalist Wall Street Journal, reporters.

Jho Low, a Malaysian businessman, and Wharton graduate, who has been accused of stealing $4.5 billion from the Malaysian state development fund. Mr. Low has managed to fool not only public and

Low is now a fugitive sought after by Interpol. He has been charged with offenses relating to money laundering in the US and Malaysia.

This book impeccably researched the scandal instigated by Malaysian businessman Jho Low in connection with the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). The book describes how Low, together with ex-Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak created a sovereign wealth fund that raised $10 billion. Eventually, half of the fund disappeared.

Billion Dollar Whale by Tom Wright and Bradley Hope tells of the scam, the scandal, and the tax oversights which allowed Low to take huge amounts of money and live the life many can only dream of. Ironically, while throwing a huge party celebrating the movie The Wolf of Wall Street, its protagonist Jordan Belfort, told his girlfriend that the only people who spend money so frivolously are those who stole it.
On second thought – maybe not ironic at all.

The most fascinating aspect of the book, for me, was how all the financial safeguards either failed or were ignored due to greed and the large amounts involved. It seems that all were blinded by Low’s audacity, and the celebrities he surrounded himself with (many paid to show up).

However, the book could be repetitive with many details which are retold several times. That is fine but seems to be overdone. The authors also tried to artificially insert a cliffhanger into the end of every chapter. That’s great if you’re doing a weekly series but there’s no need to do so in a book such as this.… (altro)

If anybody ever reads this to our current president (DJT), he is going to be more than a bit furious that there was this much better of a grifter operating at the same time as him, and on a much bigger scale, and with much happier an ending.

The subtext, of course, is that banks operating with a motive to assist in crime will, um, crime, and that maybe we should look at that some day. But the authors seem as skeptical of that ever actually happening as I am.

It's not the best book by Wall Street Journal reporters released in 2018, but if one is looking to understand how somebody could exploit corruption and gullibility in equal measure, than this is crucial. And if one is interested in the lives of certain callow, kind of awful, Oscar-winning actors, this will give insight into some of that also.… (altro)