Black Edge

Inside Information, Dirty Money, and the Quest to Bring Down the Most Wanted Man on Wall Street

De: Sheelah Kolhatkar

Narrado por: Kaleo Griffith

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A riveting, true-life legal thriller about the government’s pursuit of billionaire hedge fund manager Steven Cohen and his employees at SAC Capital—a revelatory look at the power and wealth of Wall Street

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR—The New York Times and The Economist • “An essential exposé of our times—a work that reveals the deep rot in our financial system . . . Everyone should read this book.”—David Grann, author of Killers of the Flower Moon

Steven A. Cohen changed Wall Street. He and his fellow pioneers of the hedge fund industry didn’t lay railroads, build factories, or invent new technologies. Rather, they made their billions through financial speculation, by placing bets in the market that turned out to be right more often than not.

Cohen was revered as one of the greatest traders who ever lived. But that image was shattered when his fund, SAC Capital, became the target of a seven-year government investigation. Prosecutors labeled SAC a “magnet for market cheaters” whose culture encouraged the relentless pursuit of “edge”—and even “black edge,” which is inside information—and the firm was ultimately indicted and pleaded guilty to charges related to a vast insider trading scheme. Cohen, himself, however, was never charged.

Black Edge raises urgent and troubling questions about those who sit at the pinnacle of high finance and how they have reshaped the economy.

Finalist for the New York Public Library’s Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism • Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction and the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award

Reseñas de la Crítica

“A modern version of Moby-Dick, with wiretaps rather than harpoons.”—Jennifer Senior, The New York Times

“Excellent.”—The Economist

“If you liked James B. Stewart’s Den of Thieves, Sheelah Kolhatkar’s thrilling Black Edge should be next on your reading list.”—The Wall Street Journal

“A lot of people do not trust Wall Street. They regard it as a moneymaking machine for those who work there, which has little interest in practice in its stated aim of channeling capital into businesses and helping them to grow for the broader benefit of society. For such skeptics, Steven Cohen is Exhibit A.”—John Gapper, Financial Times

“A richly reported, entertaining tale about the cat-and-mouse game between the government and Cohen.”—Andrew Ross Sorkin, The New York Times Book Review

“Masterfully deconstructing a massive web of Wall Street operating, New Yorker staff writer Sheelah Kolhatkar retraces the seven-year government investigation that took down the firm—though not the man—in a true-life thriller with Shakespearian stakes. . . . Her chilling account of a blighted industry is as mesmerizing as a human story as it is as a financial one.”—Fortune

“There are few financial-industry struggles as titanic as the one portrayed in these pages.”—Reuters BreakingViews

“One of the best books about the 2008 financial meltdown.”—The Globe and Mail

“Well-written, with pointed characterizations of the ambitious players and their motives, this book is highly recommended for readers interested in finance, crime, and politics.”—Library Journal (starred review)

“Black Edge is not just a work of major importance, it is also addictively readable—and horrifyingly compelling. Sheelah Kolhatkar pulls back the curtain on the cheating, corruption, and skulduggery that underlie large swaths of the hedge fund industry and some of Wall Street’s most fabled fortunes. This book is as hard to put down as it is to stomach.”—Jane Mayer, New York Times bestselling author of Dark Money

“Black Edge is a real-life thriller about the government’s attempt to get the legendary trader Steve Cohen on insider trading charges—and the lengths to which he goes to elude them. Using deep reporting and top-notch storytelling, Sheelah Kolhatkar is able to shed new light on one of the least known and most fascinating characters on Wall Street.”—Bethany McLean, co-author of The Smartest Guys in the Room

Interesting and detailed!

If you Follow non fiction financial crimes, this book will be a great edition to your collection. I'm always fascinated by these Wall Street types. Not that I admire them, but the back story of their lives that drives them to greed and cunning.

Great book

Narrator is good. Story is excellent.

Super interesting story. Hits my top genres of finance, true crime, and law. Very well done. Have listened to it about five times.

Loved it

What did you love best about Black Edge?

This was Billions in real life. It was stranger than fiction. I couldn't stop listening. So many crazy characters.

Interesting, depressing, and raises questions

A depressing book on what a giant flaming asshole Stevie Cohen is, and what a cesspool his eponymous firm was. Also depressing in that Stevie skated on all the charges, while at least some of his minions were given serious time (Cohen did not even have to go through the indignity of a trial). This is pretty much par for the course, and echoes in some ways "the Spider Network" (a better book) - comparing the two books shows that while the US system is screwed up, it is a model of efficiency and good sense compared to the cluster **** that is the UK political and legal "system".

On the other hand, one might ask: are insider trading laws really a good idea? Many people believe they are not - all they do is muck around with the free propagation of information (which is very difficult - really impossible, since for a company like Google, literally hundreds of people know the numbers before they are out, and you can't really blame them for trying to make a buck). This does not exonerate the lawbreakers, and yet...

Can’t. Believe it is nonfiction

This is a very scary view of the kind of things that go on in hedge funds. The common citizen does not have a chance against these giant cheaters in the market.

Phenomenally written

Could not put this book down. Very well written. Crazy story. Highly recommend this book to anybody that understands finance

Insightful Book

The narrator was great and the content equally good ! Learnt a lot about the hedge fund industry and SAC ! Would highly recommend

Great listen

This was a great listen, well put together from a lot of sources. Informative story. Great narration.

The attention to detail

Amazing book, the reader had great voice for type of book he was reading. Would recommend for anyone who is into investing.

much depth in the insider trading scandals

I like the book. I thought the author did well done research into the other trading scandals and walked us through a timeline of how the events occur and the pressures the stock Traders felt. It's unfortunate that Steve Cohen did not comment on the book but that is understandable. The atmosphere with the attorneys is exactly like I see it all the time. Nobody wants to lose a case and everybody wants to appear tough.