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Billion Dollar Whale cover art

Billion Dollar Whale

Written by: Bradley Hope, Tom Wright
Narrated by: Will Collyer
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Publisher's Summary

Named a Best Book of 2018 by the Financial Times and Fortune, this "thrilling" (Bill Gates) New York Times best seller exposes how a "modern Gatsby" swindled over $5 billion with the aid of Goldman Sachs in "the heist of the century" (Axios).

Now a number-one international best seller, Billion Dollar Whale is "an epic tale of white-collar crime on a global scale" (Publishers Weekly), revealing how a young social climber from Malaysia pulled off one of the biggest heists in history.

In 2009, a chubby, mild-mannered graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business named Jho Low set in motion a fraud of unprecedented gall and magnitude—one that would come to symbolize the next great threat to the global financial system. Over a decade, Low, with the aid of Goldman Sachs and others, siphoned billions of dollars from an investment fund—right under the nose of global financial industry watchdogs. Low used the money to finance elections, purchase luxury real estate, throw champagne-drenched parties, and even to finance Hollywood films like The Wolf of Wall Street.

By early 2019, with his yacht and private jet reportedly seized by authorities and facing criminal charges in Malaysia and in the United States, Low had become an international fugitive, even as the US Department of Justice continued its investigation. Billion Dollar Whale has joined the ranks of Liar's Poker, Den of Thieves, and Bad Blood as a classic harrowing parable of hubris and greed in the financial world.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2018 Bradley Hope and Tom Wright (P)2018 Hachette Audio

What the critics say

"The story of a massive international financial scandal.... As the authors amply prove, the scandal reaches far beyond Low. To succeed, he relied on the naivete, greed, and generally immoral conduct of huge banks as well as corrupt governments." (Kirkus)

"Even the most skilled fiction writer would have trouble conjuring the corrupt and colorful protagonist of Billion Dollar Whale. Bradley Hope and Tom Wright's gripping portrait of Jho Low and his enablers throughout the global financial system will both fascinate and enrage you." (Sheelah Kolhatkar, staff writer at The New Yorker and New York Times best-selling author of Black Edge)

"Wright and Hope transform their investigation of a mind-boggling financial fraud into a nonfiction thriller.... This is an epic tale of white-collar crime on a global scale." (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

What listeners say about Billion Dollar Whale

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Fascinating story but can be boring and often extremely difficult to follow.

I’m really disappointed with this book. I was vaguely familiar with the story and was excited to get the full account in detail. While the story itself is fascinating, the book overall was really difficult to get through. I listened to the audio book, which probably made it even more difficult but the cast of characters was incredibly large and it was hard to keep track of who was who. The writers went into long boring detail about the details of the scam which I normally would appreciate but, in this case, I felt I needed a finance degree to understand all of the ins and outs. I wish the writers had done a better job explaining the details in layman’s terms so the average reader could follow along easier. I found myself zoning out a lot and having to rewind. Overall, great story, but save yourself some time and read the Cole’s Notes instead :-)

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

I really enjoyed the way this story was written and preformed

I was shocked and impressed with this novel. As someone that has little to no knowledge about this world (banking, investments, money laundering) I was surprised at how captivated I was by this story.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing Story

It is an amazing story that kept me hooked. One thing stood out to me is that countless number of A list celebrities fraternized with Jho Low, despite his shady origin. I hope one day Jho Low is bought to justice for the sake of Malaysian people & I hope we as general public hold celebrities accountable so they stop mixing with such shady characters.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

what a great story

edge of your seat listening so interesting good.

look forward to a follow up on the future out come of JoLo

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

awesome;

loved it! Couldn't stop listening, ended up finishing in just a couple of sittings

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

In the end, very interesting

I had a hard time getting into this book, possibly because I couldn’t relate to the man at the centre of the scams or all that interested him (fame, parties, obscene spending). But the money he embezzled was stunning and how they finally broke his gig was interesting.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

Fascinating and well researched, this is an excellent and scary book about uber kleptocracy. Highly recommend.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Wow!

A jaw-dropping recounting of a bold, brazen financial crime of epic proportions. How the Malaysian Prime Minister schemed his way to riches and ruined his country's financial stability by using the misplaced talents of a young , ambitious entrepreneur with a penchant for the Hollywood lifestyle x1000. Incredibly well researched. Fast-paced, exciting and full of colourful (real!) characters. A glimpse inside a lifestyle few could imagine, designed and created by a calculating criminal mind. The narration was perfect.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

great storytelling

This is a crazy story, well told. They capture the magnitude of the theft and just how inept system controls tend to be. really enjoyed the story.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Amazingly wide ride and thorough

From start to finish, pay attention to the cast of characters as they keep growing and surprising you with their brazen acts and mind numbing arrogance. Well researched and excellently told. Highly recommend.

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