Billion Dollar Whale

The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World

By: Bradley Hope, Tom Wright

Narrated by: Will Collyer

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

Now a #1 international bestseller, 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 U.S. 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.

Critic reviews

A Fortune magazine Best Book of 2018

A Financial Times Best Book of 2018

"As Bad Blood is to biotech, Billion Dollar Whale is to international finance... a wonderful read... Thrilling."—Bill Gates

"What a blast to read! A true life thriller that reads like a Hollywood movie, Billion Dollar Whale traces the exploits of the most mercurial, mysterious big player in history. Jho Low is Gatsby with twice the bank account and ten times the ambition, and the stories surrounding his exploits leap right off the page!"—Ben Mezrich, NewYork Times bestselling author of The Accidental Billionaires and BringingDown The House

"If you like global intrigue, financial crime, wealth porn, and absurdity, Billion Dollar Whale, by Tom Wright and Bradley Hope, is for you.... It almost seems made up. Still, anyone who has followed the news out of Malaysia will know that the story is all too real."—The New Yorker

"Wright and Hope deliver a scintillating and prodigiously reported tale of a globe-spanning modern Gatsby and his audacious fraud."—Jesse Eisinger,Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for ProPublica and author of TheChickenshit Club

"This story of a Wharton graduate who carried out the $5 billion swindle known as 1MDB offers a textbook case of financial fraud in the modern age."—New York Times

"An incredible story.... If you need some billionaires to despise--look no further than these charlatans."—Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit

"Just finished reading Billion Dollar Whale and was blown away. I thought I had seen it all with Russian kleptocracy, but the story of the money stolen in Malaysia in 1MDB and all the enthusiastic Western enablers was unbelievable."
—Bill Browder, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Red Notice

"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 YorkTimes bestselling author of Black Edge

"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

"An amazing tale of greed.... juicy and entertaining."—Library Journal (starred review)

"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)

a must read, 90% accurate but...

A must read but for a more accurate depiction of the 1MDB saga, read "The Sarawak Report

Very Interesting story as I now work on his yacht

Very Interesting story as I now work on his arrested yacht while it is trying to be sold

Awesome

One of the best books I have read this year. There’s a special place in hell for Jho Low.

Great Listen!

What a story! From start to finish it's incredibly compelling. This is a must listen. Its hard to believe it's true.

Excellent story building of a historic fraud

I really enjoyed author's narration of the story that seemed like front row seat to a real like Wolf of the wall Street.

Incredible story of a financial trainwreck

Very interesting--intriguing--details in this book. What a crazy world we live in! Crazy money, crazy people. Both hard to believe and yes, believable. Lots of details, and only occasionally difficult to follow who's who, but given the topic that's okay. International finances--international shenanigans is more like it. I'll never forget the ultra high tech warehouses in Switzerland where billionaires store their insanely priced works of art. Doesn't that say it all? You're mega-rich and buy the costliest art, but you have to store it in a warehouse. So the writing is good, detailed. Listening to this book, I said "No way!" out loud a few times. The central character is . . . indescribable. Lots of people got duped by the guy. And everybody is friggin' swimming in money!

UNBELIEVABLE story

It’s a little slow getting going, and difficult to keep track of all the names early on in the book. However if you just hang in there, the story gets better and better. Maybe better it’s not the right word. It’s fascinating and it’s shocking, and if someone had created a novel with the same storyline it would be too much to think it could be true. But it is.

Excellent content, research and narration

keep up the good work. Jho Low is still out there, should we be expecting a second version of the book?

greed and financial misdeeds

excellent overview of the 1MDB scandal created by a large range of high ranking financial institutions powered by personal greed. amazing this kind of theft can occur in the modern era even after previous scandals have occurred.

Would recommend

The book was an in-depth dive into the systemic financial manipulation that was required to pull off a massive heist. It had a mix of Hollywood that sets it apart from most financial thrillers. From a listening standpoint, I found the book difficult to follow in audio format as it bounced around the timeline at times being set in 2016 then dropping back to a story set in 2015 and then to 2012. Overall, I would recommend the book - I’m not sure that audio is the best format for it though.