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

Written by Tom Wright, Bradley Hope
Read by Will Collyer
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Release date: September 18, 2018
Duration: 12:26:37

An epic true-tale of hubris and greed from two Pulitzer-finalist Wall Street Journal reporters, BILLION DOLLAR WHALE reveals how a young social climber pulled off one of the biggest financial heists in history—right under the nose of the global financial industry—exposing the shocking secret nexus of elite wealth, banking, Hollywood, and politics.

The dust had yet to settle on the global financial crisis in 2009 when an unlikely Wharton grad was setting in motion a fraud of unprecedented gall and magnitude—one that would come to symbolize the next great threat to the global financial system. BILLION DOLLAR WHALE will become a classic, harrowing parable about the financial world in the twenty-first century.

In 2003, Low convinced an adviser to the rulers of the United Arab Emirates that he could broker deals between Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian governments. He then parlayed that connection into a relationship with a Goldman Sachs banker, who helped set up a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund in 2009, which was overseen by Najib Razak, the prime minister of Malaysia and Low’s family friend. The authors contend that Razak turned a blind eye while Low siphoned billions of dollars from the state fund into a “byzantine labyrinth of bank accounts, offshore companies, and other complex financial structures.” Low, still a fugitive, used the stolen loot to “build a Hollywood production company, commission one of the world’s grandest yachts, and throw wildly decadent parties around the globe.” The authors explain how lax oversight enabled Low to carry out such a scheme. Complete with an epigraph from Jordan Belfort of Wolf of Wall Street fame, this is an epic tale of white-collar crime on a global scale.

Narrator Will Collyer has an expressive, spirited voice that propels this unlikely story forward and animates the author’s words. Collyer reads confidently, pauses for effect, and verbally winks when necessary. He doesn’t create characters but makes it clear when there’s a quote and changes his pitch to punctuate emotions. The result is a cracking story told well and narrated with professional assurance. R.I.G. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine