Pyramid of Lies

The Prime Minister, the Banker and the Billion Pound Scandal

By: Duncan Mavin

Narrated by: Duncan Mavin

Length: 10 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

An epic true story of ambition, greed and hubris that nearly brought down the British government.

In March 2021, an obscure financial technology company called Greensill Capital collapsed, going into administration. As it unravelled, a multibillion-dollar scandal emerged that would shake the very foundations of the British political system, drawing in swiss bankers, global CEOs, and world leaders, including former British Prime Minister, David Cameron. At the centre was an Australian financier named Lex Greensill.

Pyramid of Lies charts the meteoric rise and spectacular downfall of Greensill and his company. He had a simple idea—democratising supply chain finance—and disrupted a trillion dollar industry in the process. But a staid business model concealed dubious practices as Greensill made increasingly risky loans to fraudulent companies using other people’s money.

Financial journalist Duncan Mavin, who has reported on the scandal for over three years, tells the incredible story of how a former sugar-cane farmer would go on to put tens of thousands of jobs at risk and gain unfettered access to the inner workings of the British government. With a globe-circling narrative full of scandal and intrigue, Pyramid of Lies reveals how the grubby world of shadow banking really operates.

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

©2022 Duncan Mavin (P)2022 Macmillan Publishers International Limited

Amazing!!!! Gets deep into the full story with all key players.

The narrator told the story great with a business tonality of a Bloomberg news reader. The story goes into depth about Lex’s childhood in Australia to his rise in the city of London as a banker. Business jargon and financial terminology are explained for listeners who are not from an investment banking background.

Could not quite get into it

The writing is good, the narration is good, but the events are just not all that salacious. It is hard to get too fired up about an obscure supply chain finance company you have never heard of.

Zero consequences

This is a thoughtful assessment of a savvy con-artist that duped leading institutions and investors out of billions of dollars. It's hard not to read this and be outraged that versions of this story - wherein, a charismatic, overly confident, and greedy individual, swindles investors and leaves others holding the bag - keep happening. It's also insane that supposedly trusted institutions didn't conduct the absolute bare minimum of due diligence.

The conclusions that Mr. Mavin draws from the Greensil fraud are incredibly important and probably deserve more than one chapter. I don't fault the writer for not fully exploring the perverse incentives as he recounts it throughout the book, but I flag this only because the takeaways are direly important.

Very well written and researched.

Enthralling recount of events!

Hard to stop listening towards end, near end, well documented recount of events, amazing web of lies bordering on fraud. Throughly recommend.

Great listen

If you want to learn about supply chain finance and key items to look out for, this is a great listen.

Interesting story with good lessons to share

The story is well researched and contains good lessons for those interested in finance, banking and investing. Less appealing is the authors attempt to portray himself as a humble hero. It comes across as self congratulatory while not adding much to the story.