Billion Dollar Whale

By: Bradley Hope, Tom Wright

Narrated by: Will Collyer

Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins

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

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, New York Times bestselling author of The Accidental Billionaires and Bringing Down 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

Incredible story

If this was a fiction story, you wouldn’t like it because it would be an impossible story to believe. That fact that it’s a real story is f**king incredible. Wow!

Important true life story

Want to understand the realities of the modern finance industry and culture of celebrity, this is the book. Story picks up speed like a thriller.

Great heist story... not to mention true

Billion dollar whale makes wolf of wall street seem so insignificant. Cannot believe the scale of the theft and the celebrities involved

Creative thinking

You can't imagine how one can achieve so much money by smooth talking rich people and getting away with it. Til the date anyways. The book has a lot of detail and connections to Hollywood. The story is being pushed out to more viewers so it would be nice if it gets turned into a movie.

Wow

Well written we’ll read start to finish I was hooked.
The depth of their investigation was amazing and scary the amount of names named very eye opening, this book was not about Capitalism it was about Cronyism and government left unchecked too much power in too few hands!

Still ongoing...Where is Jho Low

Fascinating look into a global money scam...and I find laughter in the number of “righteous” celebs that promote all their “goodness” only to be aligned with global crooks. Maybe Leo can stop flying around the world so much if he truly cares about the environment.

Best book ive listened to this year

I could not stop listening and my mind was blown by the corruption and massive amounts of money being thrown around. If this story does not become the most ironic blockbuster film about financial crimes I will be amazed.

Good read

Very good really enjoyed it. Would recommend as a read for anyone interested in the 1MBD fraud.

What an exciting book

Pretty insane how corrupt Asian and middle eastern business is. Such a great book to learn more about global financial fraud. Can’t wait till they make a movie or a tv series. Highly recommend this book to whoever enjoys financial crime and an insane story that happened not even 10 years ago.

Beyond belief

Absolutely brilliant book. Reads almost like a fiction novel. When greed meets unbridled ambitions. Thumbs up.