All That Glitters

A Story of Friendship, Fraud, and Fine Art

By: Orlando Whitfield

Narrated by: Orlando Whitfield

A NEW YORKER, ECONOMIST, AND TOWN & COUNTRY BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • A dazzling insider’s account of the contemporary art world and the stunning rise and fall of the charismatic American art dealer Inigo Philbrick, as seen through the eyes of his friend and fellow dealer

In development as a series for HBO

Orlando Whitfield and Inigo Philbrick met in 2006 at London’s Goldsmiths University where they became best friends. By 2007 they had started I&O Fine Art.

Orlando would eventually set up his own gallery and watch as Inigo quickly immersed himself in a world of private jets and multimillion-dollar deals for major clients. Inigo seemed brilliant, but underneath the extravagant façade, his complicated financial schemes were unraveling. With debt, lawsuits, and court summonses piling up, Inigo went into a tailspin of lies and subterfuge. At around the same time, Orlando would himself experience a nervous breakdown and leave the art world for good. By 2019 things had spiraled enough out of control for Inigo to flee to the remote island nation of Vanuatu, 300 miles west of Fiji. Within a year, he was arrested by the FBI and extradited to America, where he was sentenced to seven years in prison for having committed more than $86 million in fraud.

All That Glitters is at once a shocking and compulsive story of ambition and downfall, a cautionary tale, and an intimate portrait of friendship and its loss.

Meaty and knowledgeable!

I liked the ongoing saga and real life stories .. also the layers and detailed descriptions!

Great story. Fantastic writer.

I will read anything else this man writes. His prose is stellar. I could not be happier with this purchase.

Interesting look inside art sales

The subject matter of this book has been sorely under reported. I loved the peek behind the curtain of nefarious trading in fine art. It focused too much on the author’s attempts to be a part of it. I would have preferred a finer timeline and more details of the actual fraud that occurred. The last part of the book seemed to leave out too many interesting events of a major scandal and most of the personal downfall drama.

Art’s Inner World

Brilliant performance and marvelous writing. An achingly honest account of an art world crime and the friendship the author struggled to keep with the perpetrator. Engrossing and well worth the listen.

Friendship and fraud in the world of art and the uber-rich.

Great story, phenomenal writing, and terrific narration by the author. Compelling - I finished it in a couple of days.

Came in for a scandal , stayed for well written story

I expected to loathe the author and his fraudster buddy but the more immersed I was in this book I started to enjoy it and feel sympathy for Orlando. As an artist myself I have very little respect for the art market that caters to Uber rich and famous . The author doesn’t try to excuse himself or lay blame , instead his pleasant voice paints vivid , honest picture in the show starring Inigo the great … . I look forward to more books by the same author

Rich people stealing from rich people

Interesting book, especially if you are aware of the art world. Otherwise, I don’t know that it would interest you a lot. But I enjoyed it. The writer got hooked by a psychopath. And because I’m a therapist, I see this happen a lot! It usually happens between a predator male and a young woman. But this time it happened with a young man and a Ripley like character. In the era of Trump, these characters are having a field day. I’m surprised Trump hasn’t let him out of jail yet!

Gripping

A true page turner. Immensely fascinating and provocative. Highly recommended. Even if you have no interest in art, this will reveal something you didn’t know you were looking for.

Fascinating

Loved it. A fascinating journey into the contemporary art world. Very well written and superbly narrated by the author.

Horrible narration - You cannot believe how bad

The writer-as-narrator reduces what could have been a fascinating story into an unpleasant array of atonal words that is as fascinating as a refrigerator hum. I could isolate any few sentences and tell how hard he was trying to be expressive but he is just painfully incapable. This guy even made Banksy boring. Plus I had to actually concentrate on this torture to know what was going on. This is one of the best examples of the worse self collaborations I have ever come across. My very very last preorder of anything with an unknown reader.