Billion Dollar Whale

This is one very interesting story. Think Wolf of Wall Street, in the year 2010, with bigger parties, more money, and one of the companies financed by this Wolf/Whale, is the production company that made Wolf of Wall Street. It’s graft, corruption and the lack of a moral compass on the largest of scales. Well written and just crazy to contemplate.

It also showcases how many people are willing to look the other way. Is it trust (and I guess that we need that, trade is built on trust)? Or is it greed (which, in a way, also built trade)?

When I read it in 2019, the book also made me think of American politics at the time: was it not also there that money and power from business (and not even good businesses in case of the president) buy you political power? I wondered why the system of checks and balances seemed not to be working.

I had no direct answers, and who knows it’s also a glass half full thing (that it’s happening less and this is just an exception). I do recommend the book, if it’s just for how crazy it is.

An external synopsis included with the original notes describes Jho Low’s role in a Malaysian investment-fund fraud, including money diverted to property, parties and films such as The Wolf of Wall Street. Its source was not recorded in the review.