FT Business Book of the Year

Best business books

All the books longlisted for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award

Billion Dollar Whale by Tom Wright, Bradley Hope

Billion Dollar Whale

The richly woven story, as told by Tom Wright and Bradley Hope, who reported on 1MDB for the Wall Street Journal, includes an impressive cast of characters, spanning Saudi royalty and rappers, actors and Goldman Sachs bankers… Like all good business stories, Billion Dollar Whale is bigger than the immediate one it tells and… If ever Hollywood gets round to telling the story on screen, here is perfect material for the script. — Read the complete FT review

Synopsis

In 2009, with the dust yet to settle on the financial crisis, a baby-faced, seemingly mild-mannered Wharton grad began 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. His name is Jho Low, a man whose behavior was so preposterous he might seem made up.

An epic true-tale of hubris and greed, Billion Dollar Whale reveals how this young social climber pulled off one of the biggest heists in history – right under the nose of the global financial industry. Federal agents who helped unravel Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme say the 1MDB affair will become the textbook case of financial fraud in the modern age – and its fallout is already being credited for taking down the prime minister of Malaysia.

For readers of Liar’s Poker, Den of Thieves, and Bad Blood, Billion Dollar Whale will become a classic, harrowing parable about finance run amok.