Cá Voi Tỷ Đô - Câu Chuyện Về Kẻ Đã Lừa Cả Phố Wall, Hollywood Và Thế Giới

by Tom Wright, Khánh Trang (Translator)

Hành trình của Jho Low, phụ tá 27 tuổi bí ẩn của thủ tướng Malaysia - Najib Razak, thực hiện một trong những “vụ trộm lớn nhất trong lịch sử nhân loại”.

Vào năm 2009, cựu sinh viên Trường Kinh doanh Wharton của Đại học Pennsylvania (Mỹ) Jho Low, với dáng vẻ “bầu bĩnh”, hiền lành đã khởi động chuỗi hành vi gian lận lớn chưa từng thấy - biểu tượng cho mối đe dọa lớn tiếp theo đối với hệ thống tài chính toàn cầu.

Trong một thập kỷ, Low, với sự trợ giúp của ngân hàng Goldman Sachs (Mỹ) và nhiều nhân vật khác, đã rút ruột hàng tỷ đô la từ Quỹ đầu tư nhà nước Malaysia 1MDB - ngay dưới mũi của các cơ quan giám sát ngành tài chính toàn cầu.

Low đã sử dụng tiền để tài trợ cho các cuộc bầu cử, mua bất động sản xa xỉ, ném vào các bữa tiệc rượu sâm banh và thậm chí tài trợ cho các bộ phim của Hollywood như The Wolf of Wall Street (Sói già Phố Wall). Mối quan hệ của Low trải rộng khắp từ các chính trị gia như cựu Thủ tướng Malaysia Najib Razak, các Hoàng tử Arab đến các doanh nhân nổi tiếng của giới tài chính - ngân hàng; từ các ngôi sao hàng đầu Hollywood như Leonardo DiCaprio, Paris Hilton, Miranda Kerr đến các phóng viên, nhà báo.

Đầu năm 2019, du thuyền và máy bay riêng của Low đã bị chính quyền tịch thu, cá nhân Low phải đối mặt với cáo buộc hình sự ở Malaysia và Hoa Kỳ. Low đã trở thành một kẻ chạy trốn quốc tế, khép lại một hành trình đầy bi tráng của “Đại gia Gatsby Châu Á”.

CÁ VOI TỶ ĐÔ - BILLION DOLLAR WHALE đã gia nhập hàng ngũ của những Liar's Poker, Den of Thief và Bad Blood (Máu bẩn - Alphabooks) với tư cách là một câu chuyện ngụ ngôn kinh điển về sự kiêu ngạo và tham lam trong thế giới tài chính.

“Nếu Máu bẩn (Bad Blood) là cuốn sách bom tấn trong ngành công nghệ sinh học, thì Cá voi tỷ đô (Billion Dollar Whale) là một kiệt tác trong lĩnh vực tài chính quốc tế... Một cuốn sách tuyệt vời... Rất hồi hộp và lôi cuốn!” – Bill Gates

Genres: Nonfiction, Business, Finance, True Crime, Biography, Crime, Audiobook

476 pages, Paperback

First published September 18, 2018

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. ^9

Tom Wright was one of the first journalists to arrive at the scene of the raid in which Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden. In 2013, he spearheaded coverage of the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory in Bangladesh, which killed over 1,000 people, earning the Wall Street Journal a Sigma Delta Chi award from The Society of Professional Journalists. He is a Pulitzer finalist, a Loeb winner, and has garnered numerous awards from the Society of Publishers in Asia, which in 2016 named him "Journalist of the Year." He speaks English, Malay, French and Italian.

Reviews

[Syahira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being a Malaysian and trying to come up with a perfectly objective review is impossible when it hit so close to home. Nothing against to the wonderful people who contributed to this publication. But there has never have been a book that filled me with so much rage and disgust. Therefore, I shall not self-censor myself to the barrage of insults that I shall unleash. Because at this moment, I am too sober and too angry to be nice.

Billion Dollar Whale is a very readable and well-written condensation of the decade long kleptocratic 1Malaysia Development Berhad scam that centered around one pathetic greedy moron called Jho Low. The spoiled cowardly manchild who came from a moderately rich family of Penang who dreamed of fame and luxury. By sheer luck and his connections to those of wealth and fortune, he became a self-made crazy rich Asian billionaire. Of course, none of it would have happened if Mr Low hadn't surround himself with his enablers from middle eastern princes to bankers to Hollywood A-listers to politicians who got suck into this web of lies and ill-begotten wealth that was funded by and debt paid by us millions of Malaysian taxpayers.

Sadly, there will be people who look up to Jho Low. Who see him as a genius mastermind who duped everyone for a grand short-lived adventure. There might be movie being made from this because why not? People showering in Cristal champagne. Famous paintings and acquisitions. Shopping sprees. Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Alicia Keys, Miranda Kerr, Kimora Lee Simmons, Nicole Scherzinger, Busta Rhymes and of course, Leonardo DiCaprio. Dumb dumb people being seduced by easy money but who am I to blame them. Me, someone who only shared the same nationality of the person who fooled them all.

It was painfully hard trying not to become numb after seeing countless of millions and billions dollars being thrown about. The massive scale and downright ridiculous and thoughtless inhumanity of it all. How massive amount of money being dropped and nobody even thought to wonder where they came from. Ringgit being depreciated so suddenly. Years of us being shackled by massive debt incurred. And for what? For paid affection of actors and supermodels? For some pink diamonds and tasteless Birkins? For the respect earned through dirty money borrowed from people duped left and right? "Guilt-by-lifestyle"? What bloody hypocrites them all! And sheer irresponsibility of it all that unwittingly fell on us, millions of voting citizen to turn the tide just to put a crack on it. It's not simply about money. There are people who have been unjustifiably persecuted, missing and dead because of this scandal. The unimaginable horror of what would happen if we let this charade continue further.

I hope the future will unravel more of the rot. I hope the hammer of justice will pull the biggest wallop. What goes around comes around.

[Paul Ark · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Bad Blood" meets "Crazy Rich Asians"

[Stacey Sim · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have never followed the 1MDB scandal closely, you should read this to catch up. If you are bored and looking for a good thriller, you should read this book. If you are Malaysian you should read this book. If you work in the finance industry, you should read this book. If you're looking for Hollywood mixed financial crime-scandal, you should read this book. If you're looking to feel infuriated, you should read this book.

In general, you should read this book. That's it.

[Schuberino · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a hard one to rate - the story itself is astounding and outrageous, and I think an incredibly important story to know. The writing, on the other hand...is a good case study in why journalists are not necessarily authors. Full sentences repeated themselves throughout the book, countless details re-introduced over and over including exciting facts like Bangkok is the capital of Thailand (sigh). The authors twisted themselves into introducing a cliffhanger at the end of each chapter that was obvious and uncomfortable at best and at worst, created discrepancies in the reporting. The way Low was portrayed varied quite a bit (is he shy or outgoing....charismatic or awkward - I'll never know after this book because he was both!).

I also thought there was a missed opportunity to talk about the impact on Malaysia and its people as a whole. There were some references throughout the book but I think there is a much bigger story here.

Recommend reading a long article about this heist instead.

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredible! If you are into true crime, the big heist, this is the biggest. If you are interested in the manipulations of high finance, the greed of Wall Street investment banks, how money is hidden and manipulated in offshore accounts, this is your story. If you pay attention to government corruption and malfeasance, you’ll be hard put to find a more egregious case. If you are into over the top, unbelievable parties, pick up this book. If you like to follow the celebrities, the Hollywood set, they are here: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Fox, Paris Hilton and many, many more. And this story isn’t over. Many involved have been caught, others have slid by, some are in hiding and undoubtedly still pulling strings.

Our perpetrator, Jho Low, is a rather unremarkable looking Malaysian of Chinese ethnicity, born into a family of moderate wealth. His businessman father invests in him sending him to the Harrow School in England where he can rub shoulders with children of the wealthy from around the world. From there he studies at Wharton in the U.S., where he hangs out mostly with the international set making more contacts with children of influential parents. Ensnaring the influential becomes his modus operandi as his all-consuming desire for wealth and status, the brazenness of his schemes, the craftiness of his methods, his ability to find and cultivate relationships with co-conspirators who control huge amounts of money, make him one of the most remarkable criminals of our time.

I won’t spoil this book by getting into details, but the aftermath continues. Just today (2/24/2020) Reuters ran an article regarding the financial fallout as Malaysia seeks $7.5 billion in reparations from Goldman Sachs. The author Tom Wright just tweeted about the Thai government’s protection of Jho Low which is causing considerable consternation in that country. He has been reported to be hiding out in China now. The book left me with a queasy feeling about how master manipulators like Jho Low can so easily subvert global institutions and powerful government figures by offering them a piece of the action. Jho Low did significant damage to the economy of an entire country. With the United States now being led by an amoral real estate promoter who controls his attorney general like a trained dog, the chances of similar shenanigans in the U.S. hardly seem farfetched.

[Mehrsa · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all, the author makes this clear at the end, but not nearly clear enough: This is not a story about some random Malaysian conman--it's a story about Goldman sacks and hollywood and the Saudis and how greed allowed someone to lie and cheat his way to partying with Leonardo DiCaprio and Paris Hilton. Everyone can be bought. That's the moral of the story. There was some hyperbole here on the financial crime. Though Wright tries several times, he's not quite able to pull off a great explanation for why this "crime" was unique or even a crime--besides the fact that it didn't work out. Also, he seems to want to paint all the foreigners as corrupt and shady, but he goes light on all of Low's legal and banking "helpers" in America and all the money they made on him. I don't believe in the "bad guy" story of finance. I think we have the system we want. Low was just shadier than the average investor and less scrupulous. And he didn't make his investors rich, which I guess is why he's on the run now.

Also, the money they throw around (and by they I mean all the hollywood stars and actors) in the nightclubs is obscene. Disgusting. $2 million in alcohol purchases in one night? Millions in casinos? I mean, it's revolting and yet we allow it. There is no reason for it

[Anas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Its hard to put down this book, as if the stories were fantasies. The heist commited by Jho Low is definitely bigger than Bernie Maddoff ponzi scheme, well at least Bernie’s inverstors got their ‘profits’ back.

Jho Low represents a desperate figure who wants companionship, recognition and love (even if it is fake) through money. His acts, cowardly hiding behind without holding an official position in 1MDB undoubtedly shady, but not a problem for a stupid prime minister like Najib at that time. Low’s scheme perfectly summarized in the page 371- “he sensed that the world’s largest banks, it’s auditors, and its lawyers would not throw up obstacles to his scheme if they smelled profits”

Thank you to Tom Wright and Bradley Hope for writing this book. I would probably need to smuggle it if Najib wasn’t defeated back in May 2018. I hope that the publisher would consider releasing a cheaper version, and maybe translate into the Malay language so that more Malaysians can read this book.

[Venky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since the publication of All The President’s Men, Barbarians At The Gate and Too Big To Fail, there have been few books of this genre that have gripped the imagination of the reader – until the arrival of Billion Dollar Whale. A ‘whale’ is a high rolling gambler who consistently wagers large amounts of money. High rollers often receive lavish “comps” from casinos to lure them onto the gambling floors, such as free private jet transfers, limousine use and use of the casinos’ best suites.

Acclaimed journalists Tom Wright and Bradley Hope combine to deliver a jaw dropping tour de force that elucidates how the impudence of a rogue individual, the intransigence at the highest levels of a rotten kleptocracy and the greedy ingenuity of a Wall Street behemoth, all combined to pull off, what arguably has to be the most brazen heist in financial history.

Swindler, Fixer, Wheeler-Dealer, Compulsive liar, and globe trotter, Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) first appeared as a simmering mist when rumours regarding a possible swindling of money from Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, 1 Malaysia Berhad (“1MDB” for short) began doing the rounds. As tumultuous events subsequently demonstrated in horrific detail, this was no swindling of a routine run-of-the-mill nature associated with the functioning of a Government fund. As Mr. White and Mr. Hope detail with extraordinary clarity, 1MDB was representative of a total collapse of governance at multiple levels. It was a gargantuan vehicle of personal convenience whose wheels were greased by the lubricants of graft. 1MBD was a mother lode of all scams that ultimately resulted in the toppling (for the first time ever) of the kleptocratic United Malys National Organisation (“UMNO”) and its strong man, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak. At the eye of the storm was Low Taek Jho.

Ambitious and eager to make his mark in the world of the nouveax rich, Jho Low, an alumnus of Harrow and Wharton, banking on his Ivy League Networks persuaded the Prime Minister of Malaysia to set up a sovereign wealth fund to be named 1MDB. The fund was to partner with PetroSaudi, a company ostensibly owned by a member of Saudi Royalty, Prince Turki. What followed as Mr. White and Hope illustrate in all its grisly detail is a complex, convoluted and conniving structure that resulted in multiple companies being incorporated in various tax havens across the globe through which moneys originally intended to fill the coffers of the fund were systematically and ruthlessly siphoned off by Jho Low and his associates.

The con-man proceeded to spray his loot on excesses that are hard to imagine. For instance, to celebrate his thirty-first birthday, Jho Low not only stayed at the $25,000 per night Chairman Suites of the fifth Floor of the Palazzo Hotel in Las Vegas, he also arranged a grand celebration that had for attendance, Swizz Beatz, Jamie Foxx, Leonardo Di Caprio, Benicio Del Toro, Busta Rhymes, Ludacris, Chris Brown and- hold your breath- Britney Spears popping out of a faux cake to wish Low a happy birthday!

This elevation of Jho Low – who otherwise would be deemed to be a parvenu within the circles of an elite – from a virtual nobody into a uber rich multi-billionaire splurging $250 million on a luxury yacht Equanimity or $8 million on acquiring jewelry to impress his could be girlfriend Miranda Kerr, was facilitated by a phalanx of unscrupulous characters who in a Faustian bargain sacrificed sense at the altar of greed.

At the very apex of the pyramid was the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak. Although unaware of the insidious depth of Jho Low’s macabre motives, the politician was none too averse to utilize public funds to both further his electoral prospects and to satiate the inexorable material needs of his high spending, preening and strutting wife, Rosmah Mansor. Having set up a ‘secret’ account for the Prime Minister with Ambank, a bank that had ANZ Grindlays as its largest shareholder, in March 2013, “Jho Low sent a BlackBerry message to Joanna Yu, an employee at Ambank in Kuala Lumpur, warning her that “681 American Pies” would soon be arriving from overseas into an account known as “AMPRIVATE BANKING – MR”. Very soon a whopping sum of $681 million made its way into the designated account to be used for the purposes of bolstering the chances of the Prime Minister in the ensuing elections of 2013.

The stash accumulated by Rosmah Mansor was to say the least – jaw dropping! “Police raided Kuala Lumpur apartment units owned by Najib’s family and carted out $274 million worth of items, including 12,000 pieces of jewelry, 567 handbags and 423 watches, as well as $28 million in cash.”

To drum up the money for 1MBD, and in the process, to obtain their own significant cut, was the ruthless Wall Street Banking giant Goldman Sachs. The duo of ‘Dr.’ Timothy Leissner, the flamboyant playboy and Chairman, South East Asia, and Andrea Vella, Head of Goldman structured finance business in Asia, who between them, ensured that, “in total over just twelve months, the bank had earned nearly $600 million from selling three bonds for the 1MDB Fund – two hundred times the typical fee.”

A Board of puppets and toothless tigers at 1MDB headed by Shahrol Halmi, merely rubber stamping the orders of Jho Low and the Prime Minister contributed to a great extent to the continuing pillage. When a contentious Mohammed Bakke Salleh, the Chairman of the Fund started raising suspicions, he was promptly removed and replaced by another pliant loyalist.

Three different auditing firms – part of the Big 4s – that completely failed in their duties to detect brazen round tripping and non-existent redemption of funds from obscure Cayman Island accounts.

The bankers themselves who compromised on all scruples at the prospect of personal enrichment. Yak, a banker with the BSI Group in Singapore, “began to take home around $5 million a year in salary and bonuses, more than five times his previous earnings, binding him to Low, the money and adulation too alluring to turn down.”

Finally, the man’s insatiable desire to be drenched in fortune and drown in fame led to a rampant fostering of greed which no amount of monetary resources could curb. Spending a staggering $85 million “on alcohol, gambling in Vegas, private jets, renting superyachts, and to pay Playboy Playmates and Hollywood celebrities to hang out with them”; renting “a suite of rooms that cost $100,000 per month”; “…acquired a condominium in New York’s Park Laurel Building…for $36 million; spending “2 million euros on champagne” in one single night at Saint-Tropez; funding Red Granite a production company co-owned by Riza Aziz, the step-son of Najib Razak and Joey McFarlane that produced the Martin Scorsese directed “Wolf of Wall Street.”

The heady intoxication fueled by laundered money now began seeping into the exotic world of art. “In all between May and September 2013, Low, via Tanore, bought $137 million in art. But Low had picked up more…. such as the Van Gogh, as well as works by Lichtenstein, Picasso and Warhol, and by the end of the year he possessed art worth an estimated $330 million.” These precious acquisitions were stashed in the secretive entrepots of the Geneva Freeport – a sanctuary for preserving the material possessions of the ‘uberelite’, way beyond the prying eyes of the taxman.

Mr. White and Mr. Hope have left no stone unturned in their quest to both unearth and unleash the truth. They have done a fabulous job at that! The narrative is laid out in a matter of fact, bare bones manner with neither an intention to sensationalize things nor to take biased sides. The research is maddeningly methodical and unbelievably extensive. One can only imagine the two intrepid journalists sifting through what must have been an Everest of physical and digital depositories! This sure is an 8848 meter research of exemplary calibre!

When the dust finally settled on the pilfering, plunder and pillage, 1MDB was in debt to the tune of a whopping $10 billion with Low and his associates vanishing into thin air. At the time of this review, Low is a wanted fugitive with an Interpol notice hanging over his head like a Damocles sword. Swiftly running out of options, the net of justice and the harpoons of infernal hell seem to be closing down upon this invidious whale!

[farahxreads · Rating 4 out of 5]

The amount of money being spent casually at the expense of the Malaysian citizens was giving me anxiety. The book is clear and well written although it kind of require some basic financial/economic knowledge throughout the pages (thanks Google!) Can’t believe that I’m living through one of the biggest financial heists in history. I hope Low and his associates are soon captured and put behind the bars for his massive graft and corruption.

[Athan Tolis · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Wall Street Journal seems to be doing something right, Rupert Murdoch ownership notwithstanding, because for the second time in 2018 I find myself reading a truly amazing book that’s based on investigative work done by its correspondents.

Not only that, but it can be said with some certainty that in both instances (Elizabeth Holmes’ pseudo-science in “Bad Blood” and Jho Low’s / Najib Razhak’s stolen billions in “Billion Dollar Whale”) the Journal has played a pivotal role in shining light on these crimes and bringing the criminals to justice.

Indeed, I finished this book pretty much on the same day as Goldman was forced to let go of Andrea Vella, the head of its Asian business, for the crimes described here.

If, like me, you are a “glass half-empty” kind of guy, of course, you will also remark that it’s a terrible state of affairs when journalists are ahead of our justice system (to say nothing of the supposed pillars of our capitalist system), but that cannot possibly detract from what was a tremendous, fast paced, comprehensive and rather convincing book.

The crime of money laundering and the technique of “layering” are rather tedious, of course. And the number of characters in the book makes the “cast of characters” in the introduction a total must. But the main character in the book, Jho Low, was such a party animal that (provided you have a tolerance for what felt like at least one dodgy financial transaction per page) this was actually a fun book to read.

And it tickled the voyeur in me, who got to see “how the other half live.” Frankly, I’ve now had my fill of Swizz Beats, Alicia Keys, Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio and Miranda Kerr, to say nothing of the sundry Sheikhs, their boats and their jets; any tips on how to get the cigar smoke off my clothes are welcome!

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Recommended after finishing Bad Blood, “maybe even better”. Not even close. This is in need of a good editor. The color of Paris Hilton’s nail polish or Leonardo’s ball cap add absolutely nothing to the very complicated story. I had to power through it to finish.

I've seen several reviews saying that because this was written by journalists the story was poorly told. Being a journalist does not excuse poor writing or editing; Bad Blood is a perfect example of a journalist writing a very captivating and well written book.

[Scott Hitchcock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Epic avarice on a global level. If you don't think the financial markets are rigged for the rich in corruption that spans continents you need to read this. The tie-ins to Hollywood and American pop culture gives a new perspective to just how rich these people are and how their greed knows no bounds and their consciences are nonexistant.

[Katie.dorny · Rating 3 out of 5]

An amazing slice of financial corruption in recent decades but my GOD DID THE AUTHORS MAKE IT AS BORING AS POSSIBLE.

[Murtaza · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was an absolutely infuriating glimpse at the unhinged excesses of the global elite, through the prism of 1MDB (1 Malaysia Development Bank) a sovereign wealth fund that became the vehicle for the biggest criminal enterprise on the planet. Jho Low, a young Chinese-Malaysian Wharton graduate managed to get control of billions of dollars of dollars by manipulating his relationships with his elite school contacts and Malaysia's corrupt former Prime Minister Najib Razak. He was integral in founding a sovereign wealth fund worth billions of dollars that was, on paper, intended to be used for the development of Malaysia's economy and society.

What Low actually did with that money is unconscionable. He went on an unhinged spending spree the likes of which the world has seldom seen. Low surrounded himself with American celebrities and blew the Malaysian people's money on the most absurd excesses imaginable. He was helped in his industrial-scale kleptomania by corrupt Gulf Arab officials and, of course, the infamous U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs. Goldman and several other banks cashed in on Low's activities by taking huge cuts of each heist that he undertook from 1MDB and greasing the wheels for his access to the global financial system. The result was the enrichment of a tiny, corrupt global elite beyond any comprehension, as well as the corruption of Malaysia's institutions and the immiseration of its working people.

The 1MBD scam was complex, but essentially involved skimming off hundreds of millions of dollars at a time off of various loans, bond issues and other transactions. The money was moved around among shell companies and investment banks around the world, with compliance officials in most cases glad to place their rubber stamps on lucrative deals. Low and his co-conspirators were known to spend millions of dollars a night on partying, though he himself was the most extravagant. Had he been even a bit more low key and more focused on keeping a tight ship, the scam could've probably continued along. It makes you wonder how many other international "deals" like this have occurred and are continuing to occur right now without our knowledge. The numbers involved, tens of millions, hundreds of millions, even billions of dollars channeled to single individuals through acts of pure financial alchemy are horrifying — particularly in a world where most people survive by selling their labor for every single dollar.

This book has to make you reflect on how an economic system in which things like this are possible — not just cash but billions of dollars of public loans conjured out of thin air and then stolen — can be viable. It sounds like the financial absurdities that occurred during the late Soviet Union or during other periods of systemic economic collapse. This book will undoubtedly infuriate anyone who reads it. Low didn't just spend billions of other peoples money (at least $5billion is missing from the fund and perhaps more) but wasted it on the most frivolous expenditures imaginable. He and his associates were deeply unwise and evil people. They stole from the mouths of the poor who needed those funds and spent them on excesses that did not, indeed could not, satisfy them or make them happy. Can anyone be happy spending 2 million Euros a night on champagne, just to impress a group of strangers in a French nightclub?

The whole story is absolutely gripping and horrible. I abhor the romanticization of violence and am against capital punishment as a rule. But after reading this book I have to admit that I understand the symbol of the guillotine more than ever. The book made me angry enough, but if I was a Malaysian citizen reading it I'm not even sure I could finish.

[Makmild · Rating 5 out of 5]

สนุกมากกกกกก แบบมากๆ ถ้าเคยอ่านแบดบลัดมาก่อน เล่มนี้ก็ทรงๆ เดียวกัน แต่โหดคนละอย่าง แบดบลัดนี่โหดเชิงวิทยาศาสตร์และธุรกิจเพียวๆ แต่อันนี้คือ ขี้โกง ใช้คำว่าขี้โกงมากๆ ได้อย่างเต็มปากเต็มคำ

โจ โลว์ คือ ไม่รู้ว่าจะบอกว่าไม่เก่งก็ไม่ใช่ แต่ถ้าเก่งจริงๆ มันก็แบบ ไม่ใช่แบบนี้ปะวะ 555555555 คนอะไรหาทางโกงชาติได้เก่งชิบหาย ส่วนตัวคิดว่าเขาเป็นคนที่เข้าใจทักษะศตวรรษที่ 21 อย่างถ่องแท้และแน่นอนมากๆ 555 เถียงไม่ได้จริงๆ และเข้าใจสิ่งที่คนต้องการ คือ "เงิน" เป็นบุคคลที่โดนอำนาจครอบงำอย่างถอนตัวไม่ขึ้น และลุ่มหลงในอำนาจนั้นจนอะไรก็เอาไม่อยู่

นอกจากเรื่องความสามารถในการโกงแล้ว อีกอย่างหนึ่งที่อดทึ่งไม่ได้คือ ความสามารถในการแบกรับความเสี่ยงกับจิตใจ จำได้ว่าตอนเราเด็กๆ แค่แม่ให้เงินไปซื้อขนม 20 บาทแล้วมีตังถอนกลับมาแต่แอบงุบงิบไว้ยังทนไม่ไหว ต้องเอาเงินไปคืนเลย เลยสงสัยว่าใจของโจทำด้วยอะไรวะถึงเอาเงินภาษีของประชาชนไปผลาญเล่นแบบนั้น เฮงซวย

แต่ความผิดนี้ไม่ใช่แค่โจ โลว์คนเดียว���ท่านั้นที่ต้องรับไป ยังมีตามอีกเป็นพรวนโดยเฉพาะธนาคารยักษ์ใหญ่ทั้งหลายที่เคยพูดว่าจะไม่ให้มีการซักฟอกเงิน โถ่ พ่อคุณ เห็นเงินก็หน้ามืดกันหมด สัญจะที่เคยว่าไว้ก็เป็นแค่ลมปากเท่านั้นแหละ ให้เงินผ่านไปอย่างง่ายดาย ส่วนคนที่ทำถูกกฏหมายแทบตายเวลาโอนเงินทีเสียค่าธรรมเนียมยังกับชดใช้กรรมเท่าไรก็ไม่พอ

เล่มนี้หนา อาจชวนให้ใจบางก่อนอ่าน แต่พอเริ่มอ���านแล้วจะวางไม่ลง ทำไมการซักฟอกเงินถึงทำเป็นเรื่องง่ายๆ ได้แบบนี้กันนะ การเปิดบริษัทกล่องแล้วเอาเงินไปฟอกมันง่ายขนาดนั้นเลยหรือ จริงๆ คิดว่าไม่ง่ายถ้าเงินไม่ถึง แต่พอมีเงินมากๆ เข้าอะไรๆ ก็ง่ายทั้งนั้นแหละ

โจ โลว์จะโกงขนาดนี้ไม่ได้เลยถ้าไม่ได้มีคำว่า "กองทุนแห่งชาติ" เข้ามาผสมโรงด้วยตั้งแต่ต้น เมื่อเราเอาอำนาจเงินกับอำนาจรัฐมาหลอมรวมกัน ไม่มีทางที่จะแยก "การโกงกิน" ออกมาได้ด้วยเช่นกัน โดยเฉพาะอย่างยิ่งกับประเทศโลกที่สามหรือประเทศที่กำลังพัฒนาทั้งหลาย เมื่ออำนาจรัฐไม่แข็งแรงพอที่จะจัดการคอร์ปรัปชั่น ภาคการเงินก็ตกอยู่ในภาวะสุ่มเสี่ยง แต่ที่โชคร้ายเหลือคณานับคือประชาชนผู้เสียภาษีและพยายามเรียกร้องสิ่งที่สมควรได้ให้กับตนเอง

คนแบบโจ โลว์จะวนกลับมาเสมอ ในรูปแบบตัวละครใหม่ เรื่องราวอาจจะยิ่งใหญ่ขึ้น ข้ามชาติมากขึ้น และเลวร้ายกว่าเดิมในโลกที่ทุกอย่างหมุนเร็วไปกว่าเดิม ถ้าอำนาจรัฐกับการเงินยังไม่แยกออกจากกกัน เงินของประชาชนก็เป็นได้เพียงตัวประกันของเหล่าชนชั้นนำที่คดกินชาติต่อไป

[Soo Yen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really loving the current hottest book in Malaysia. Too much money and too many characters/banks/fake companies /parties to keep track of. There's a lot of long technical financial details that are not easily understood for the laypeople. The book is more suited for those in the banking or finance industry.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve seen this reviewed as “Bad Blood” meets “Crazy Rich Asians” in a bunch of places and it’s such an apt comparison that I haven’t got a lot to add. Crimes of finance are a niche interest of mine, and if they tickle you too, this will be sure to hit the spot.

[Queen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely riveting. It plays out like a train wreck you can't tear your eyes away from.. happening in slow motion with the ppl of Malaysia being the casualties.

How everything happened is just... unfathomable.

[ScienceOfSuccess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting - YES!
Educational... hmm... maybe if you want to have a nice party...

[Zak · Rating 4 out of 5]

A riveting read which culminates (forgivably) in a little sense of schadenfreude. Details of the myriad financial transactions and corporate structures concocted to pull off the heist seem credible. As to the non-curricular activities revealed with much gusto in the book, I have no way of verifying their accuracy. The disappointing part about this book is, towards the end, the authors seem to attempt to inject more sensationalism into their story by devolving into pure conjecture (suggesting murders and whatnot). I think they should have exercised more professional restraint in this regard.

[Monte Price · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listen... if I were somehow able to leverage the few connections I had to create a billion dollar investment fund that mimicked that of other sovereign nations and then secreted 700 million dollars out of the initial investment and managed to convince the board of directors of this new board that it was actually repayment on a loan the investment partner had took out in the creation of this fund I would have stopped there....

I had an idea that people were greedy, that there were forces out there in the universe that encouraged people to look away from rampant fraud... But there is a a special place in hell for so many of the bankers involved in how this man was able to get away with secreting BILLIONS of dollars in various accounts in various countries through some of the most circuitous wire transfers known to man.

While the bankers might have earned their spot in hell I did learn a lot about international banking, a subject that I hadn't really ever considered would be useful in my day to day life.

All in all this was a banger of a time, even though the more I listened to this particular story unraveling the more i found myself getting annoyed with society. Don't even get me started on what this man started to do once his scheme started to unravel. Or that the scheme only unraveled because he and his associates were cheap... Like, you're failing to juggle a few billions dollars that you made through a collection of inflated property estimates and the occasional legitimate deal and you can't break off a couple million for the man who has the e mails of you being stupid enough to talk about you being a scammer in writing? You truly hate to see it.

I do think it's worth a read, and as always the audiobook narration by Will Collyer is excellent.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Billion Dollar Whale is the true story of Jho Low, a wannabe billionaire who swindled the country of Malaysia out of almost 10 billion dollars through 1MDB, a state-owned investment fund. It chronicles how Low craftily set up 1MDB, keeping his name away from any official documentation, but still retaining power and control over the fund which enabled him to dip into the money and divert it into his bank accounts through different money laundering tricks. As the story progresses, we meet the numerous people who conspired or aided him over the years to not only steal the money, but also to use it to support his lavish lifestyle. The story follows Low's entire arc as he rises to fame and then crashes down in the end.

Overall, this was an enjoyable book. It was another audio book read for my husband and me, and we were hooked by the shear craziness of Jho Low's brazenness, as well as his selfishness and greed. It's written by two Wall Street Journal reporters who were among the first to write exposés on Low, and the research is incredibly detailed and thorough.

While the research is impressive, I felt like the book could have used a good edit. Especially in the first part of the book, there were many detailed accounts of the lavish parties Low was throwing, as well as his casino and night club stunts. It's fascinating to read about the celebrities and other wealthy people who fell for his charade, but it did get repetitive after a while. If it had been condensed, it would have been a more thrilling read.

There were also a lot of complicated financial tricks that happened in order for Low to pull off his heists. The authors tried to explain them, but I still felt unsure of what was happening at points. The authors also seemed to enjoy patting themselves on the back for their great reporting. It wasn't overly obnoxious, but it was a little annoying to read a few plugs for both their initial articles on Low and the Wall Street Journal as a whole.

Given that this book was released at the end of 2018 by Wall Street Journal reporters, the comparisons with Bad Blood can't be entirely overlooked. Admittedly, we did try this book because we enjoyed Bad Blood so much, but it just isn't the same as Bad Blood, so I think we were more disappointed with this book than we would have been if we hadn't just read Bad Blood and had that comparison in our mind.

Overall, Billion Dollar Whale tells an impressive story that highlights the effects of corruption and greed. The reporters were thorough and did their best to explain complicated subjects even if it was sometimes confusing. If you want to read a book about someone who had people fooled around the world, this is a good read. If you want to understand more about the 1MDB scandal in Malaysia, this also does a really good job of explaining what happened and how it happened.

[Pawarut Jongsirirag · Rating 4 out of 5]

นักธุรกิจ(มั้ง)หนึ่งคน ที่เห็นช่องโหว่ของระบบการเงินโลก เเละ รู้จักการนำช่องโหว่นั้นนำมาใช้เพื่อความร่ำรวยของตนเอง
นักการเมืองระดับนายกรัฐมนตรีคนหนึ่ง ที่ทำได้ทุกอย่างเพื่ออำนาจเเละความสุขสบายของตนเอง
นักการเงินเละนักธุรกิจหลายคน ที่ยอมปิดตาข้างหนึ่งตลอด หากทำให้พวกเขามีเงินใช่ไม่ขาดมือ

เมื่อรวมกับระบบการเงินโลกที่เป็นเหมือนเสือกระดาษที่ช่องโหว่พี่อะไรจะเยอะขนาดนั้น ผลที่ออกมาคือมหากาพย์การโกงเงินระดับ 5000 ล้านดอลลาร์เล่มนี้

Billion Dollar Whale เหมือนกับ Bad Blood เลยครับ เป็นหนังสือเเนวเจาลึกเชิงสารคดีถึงี่มาที่ไปของเหตุการณ์ที่เกิดขึ้น ต่างกันตรงที่ เล่มนี้จะละเอียดมาก เก็บทุกเม็ด ใครเป็นใคร ไปที่ไหนยังไงคิดอะไร เห็นกันทุกมุมมองเท่าที่เขียนได้ กลับกันความละเอียดก็ทำให้มันเนือยๆไปบ้างเหมือนกัน จนรู้สึกว่าถ้าพี่กระชับอีกนิดน่าจะตัดไปได้ซัก 100 หน้าเลยนะ ส่วน Bad Blood สำหรับใครที่อ่านเเล้วจะเข้าใจเล่มนั้นก็เร่งไป เหมือนรีบอะไรซักอย่าง ซึ่งตัวละครพี่ก็เยอะเหลือกัน พอรีบก็เข้าพงเลยครับ จำตัวละครไม่ได้ 555

การโจรกรรมขนาดนี้เนี่ย เอาจริงๆก็ยอมใจให้โจ โชว์นะ ว่าพี่เเกเอาเรื่องจริงๆ คอนเนกชั่นมีในทุกวงการตั้งเเต่ดาราศิลปิน (พี่ดิคราปิโอนี่ออกมาบ่อยจนเปลี่ยนชื่อหนังสือว่า Billion Dollar Whale & Dicapio ได้เลยเเหละ) นักการเมือง นักการเงิน นักธุรกิจ เป็นคนนึงที่ใช้คอนเนกชั่นให้เป็นประโยชน์มากที่สุดเท่าที่เคยเห็นเลย เเบบรีดประโยชน์มันออกมาทุกเม็ด ต้องจ่าย ต้องไปหาใครพี่เเกได้หมดขอเเค่สุดท้ายมันได้ตามที่เเกต้องการก็พอ เเล้วทุกคนก็เต็มใจให้เเกรีดด้วย เพราะได้ประโยชน์ตอบเเทนสมน้ำสมเนื้อทุกคน เเกรู้ว่าใครต้องการอะไรเเละจัดหา��ห้ได้เสมอ เลยเป็นการเอาคนระยำตำบอนมาเทลงโถรวมให้กอดคอเต้น ชะ ชะ ช่ากันอย่างสนุกสนาน

เเต่ทุกปาร์ตี้ก็ต้องมีวันเลิกรา จะคอนเนคชั่นมากขนาดไหน เงินในบัญชีมากมายยังไง ควมผิดพลาดที่ปิดไม่มิดมันก็ต้องมี เรื่องนี้ก็คงเปรียบได้เเบบลูกโป่งน้ำ ตอนเเรกๆก็ดี ไม่มีปัญหาอะไร เเต่พอน้ำมันถูกเติมขึ้นมาทีละนิดทีละนิด เเต่โลว์ก็ไม่สนใจ หรืออาจจะสนใจเเต่คิดว่าจ���ดการได้เเน่ๆก็ไม่รู้ จนในที่สุดลูกโป่งมันก็เเตก เรื่องทุกอย่างเเดงออกมาหมด ก็ไม่เหลืออะไรให้เเก้ไขเเละไคว่ขว้าอีกเเล้ว

เซ็งเล็กน้อยที่พบว่ามีเเค่ไม่กี่คนที่จบไม่สวยหลังเรื่องนี้ออกมาหลังม่าน ทำให้เห็นว่านอกจากระบการเงินจะเเย่เเล้ว กระบวนการยุติธรรมที่ผูกกับเคสลักษณะนี้ก็เเย่ไม่ต่างกัน ทำให้คิดว่าเคสนี้ก็อาจจะไม่ใช่เคสสุดท้ายที่จะเกิดขึ้นเเน่นอน ในเมื่อทำผิดขนาดนี้ยังไม่โดนลงโทษ ก็เห็นชัดเลยว่าประโยชน์ที่ได้คุ้มค่ากว่าความเสี่ยงเเน่นอน เคสใหม่ๆก็เเค่ดูจากเคสนี้เป็นตัวอย่างว่าพลาดตรงไหน เเล้วทำไปเเก้ไขใหม่ ออกมาเป็นโคตรการโกงต่อไป ซึ่งก็อาจไปพลาดตรงไหนซักที่ ได้หนังสือตีเเผ่ออกมาอีกเล่ม วนๆกันไปเเบบนี้ไม่รู้จบ

[Alex Givant · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book shows us time and again that people with connections and stealing millions and billions are rarely punished for that - be it US, Russia, Malaysia, etc. It shows us that bankers are driven by one and only one target - profit, you bring money - you great, you don't - you fired. And after they eventually step in pile of shit they find scapegoats to blame and continue with business as usual. All of these fines they pay is just cost of doing business and no wonders bank's charges growing every year for regular people - someone should be on the end for all of this mess adventurous high-flying people are making. This book pretends a bit that USA is knight in shiny armor battling with international dragon of corruption - while it's enough bad people in USA who gets away with nothing more that wrist slap doing the same shit as Jho Low did.

[Jie Hui · Rating 5 out of 5]

Skillful journalism and writing that detailed the most outrageous theft of people's money from Malaysia. It is ridiculous that nobody even care to do further due diligence as long as they get a cut from the cake. I couldn't contain my anger towards the events depicted in the book, yet was amazed at the extend of human greed that would make our future generations suffer, while the beneficiaries suffer no or minimal punishment.

[Julian Lees · Rating 5 out of 5]

The greed....oh the greed!

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was not super familiar with the 1MDB scandal. I had heard a little bit in the news about the Malaysian prime minister, Najib Razak, but hadn't paid too close attention. The details of this book are unbelievable and serve as further maddening proof of the power of greed in this world. Jho Low dupes everyone, from bankers to politicians to A-list celebrities, all because they want a taste of his riches. They never ask too much about where or how he got all his money, that would spoil the fun. In some ways it was a little depressing to read this book, especially in these times, because it just made me more and more frustrated with the state of the world. I think it's important to know more about these types of frauds, though, because they open your eyes to the way people can be bought and the extent to which they can lie. I was appalled by how easily people watched (and took joy in) Low spending hundreds of millions on frivolous, stupid things - basically throwing the Malaysian people's money away on booze and gambling. It just shows that we should always question what the people in charge are selling as the truth and that there should be more transparency in banking, governments, and the movement of money across the globe.

The book is structured very well and reads like a financial thriller. I listened to it on audio and never got bored or confused (ok, maybe a little confused by some of the financial maneuvers). It reminded me a lot in tone and genre of another recent read, Bad Blood. My only wish would be that there was a little more information about Malaysia in general and the every day people affected by this fraud, but that would've made for another whole book probably. I definitely recommend to fans of nonfiction, this is not just a boring business/financial read.

[Ceeceereads · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this an absorbing read. I didn’t know anything about this case but was interested because of recently enjoying Bad Blood and My Friend Anna. I find these kind of stories fascinating and beyond comprehension. The key was to let some (a lot) go over my head with the financial jargon. I understand the authors were writing facts and it was clearly thoroughly researched, but I could get the gist without attempting to understand the inner workings of offshore accounts etc. The celebrity side of it however was like a car crash; greedy, naive and I’m sure for them, extremely humiliating. 5 stars.

[Walter Ullon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a bit torn about this one. Initially, I was going to assign it just ⭐⭐ but it wouldn't have been fair given the breadth of research (I think the authors at one point commented that it took the team three years to collect everything) and the quality of journalistic storytelling. But herein lies the problem.

Mostly, the book reads like a collection of somewhat disjointed articles glued together for the sake of presenting a larger narrative. In this sense it is successful, as all the facts, figures, and players are collected in one convenient place for your consideration. However, it doesn't make for riveting stuff, especially when chapter after chapter the authors employ the same formulaic structure: hook, exposition, cliffhanger. But I'll chuck that to personal taste.

The biggest issue I have with the story though, is that for all of their work exposing this scandal, the authors failed to infuse its consequences with enough gravity to have me care about it. In "The Smartest Guys in the Room", the Enron scandal, the consequences were clear: the people of California whom the company gamed to inflate its profits, and the legions of employess that lost not only their jobs, but their pensions and savings as well. Likewise for the Bernie Madoff scandal and Jordan Belfort's "Wolf of Wall Street" antics, which defrauded thousands of small-time, mom-and-pop individual investors.

In the 1MDB scandal, however, the victims were mostly greedy institutional investors and various other schemers: the Goldmans, Petro-Saudis, "deal makers", and Swiss bankers of the world. Cry me a river, mkay?

Sure, we can argue that ultimately it is the people of Malaysia who ended up losing here, as the fund was supposed to have created jobs and drive a new wave of prosperity, but as this is still a developing case, the ultimate damage is hard to gauge.

What's worse, is that although some people went to jail and had their assets frozen, properties seized and auctioned off, etc.. the character around which the authors chose the flesh out the story is still at large and has gotten off largely unscathed. Talk about anticlimactic...

Not terrible, but I've read better from the "Journal".

[Andrew Tollemache · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Wall Street 2 Gordon Gekko tells Shia Laboeuf (I forgot character name): "A fisherman always sees a fisherman from afar" which basically means it takes one, to know one. Thus we learn midway through "Billion Dollar Whale" that one of the 1st to spot that Jho Low was a fraud and was playing with stolen money was Jordan Belfort aka The Wolf of Wall Street. Ironically, Jho Low was the one who bankrolled the Leo DiCaprio movie about Belfort, "The Wolf of Wall Street".
"Billion Dollar Whale" (BDW) is a great book on perhaps the greatest theft ever which is the embezzlement of $3-5B from the 1MDB Malaysian wealth fund by JHo Low. BDW documents how Low started out in life as the son of a rich Malaysian textile family who when he went to prep school in the UK and later Wharton in the US, decided he had to live like the obscenely wealthy sons of Mid East oil kingdoms and European nobility. He used family connections, balls and wit to ingratiate himself with the Malaysian Prime Minister and a coterie of wanna be players across the globe to set up a sovereign wealth fund for Malaysia (even though country already had one) and used a constellation of shell companies and shady banks to make off with an estimated $3-5B.
This amazing pile of stolen $$ was used to fuel a 5 year epic orgy of global partying with models, Hollywood titans and Goldman Sachs and he even invested some it along the way. Leo DiCaprio figures prominently as a kinda celebrity on retainer who used Low to get the movie "Wolf of Wall St" made when Hollywood passed on it. I so hope DiCaprio gets to play himself in the movie.
Even in our fallen world such a colossal theft can not go uncovered forever and everyone from the Malaysian PM, to Goldman bankers to Miranda Kerr got arrested or forced to give back Low's gifts Everyone got caught save Low who is still out there somehwere and even has his lawyers threatening to sue the authors for libel