Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World Tom Wright and Bradley Hope

 

 

Kind of a business tell all book, but in the end more a book about hubris, greed, and insane spending sprees. This is a book about Jho Low, an overweight soft-spoken Malaysian who would, with the help of various Goldman Sachs bankers and shady government officials steal billions of dollars from Malaysia and live a life of excessive spending that was obscene even by the standards of the new rich.

I generally enjoy business tell all books that involve a lot of complicated accounting, insider trading, or calculated business risks, but this one, like Bad Blood is just about fraud and theft. Indeed, what Low did is even more simplistic, really, than what Theranos was trying to pull off as chronicled in Bad Blood.

He very simply stole the money. How he stole it is moderately interesting, but not all that complex. What he did with it was unbelievable. Incredibly lavish parties, casino free for alls, super yachts, fine art, models, and, incredibly, the financing of the Wolf of Wall street.

This is a quick read and entertaining enough if you want a glimpse of how the very very richest live. But all in all a surprising vapid story for such a big heist.

Recommended for the Enthusiast.