Stung : The Incredible Obsession of Brian Molony

by Gary Stephen Ross

He was one of the brightest stars at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, a brilliant young banker on his way to the top. But Brian Molony had a secret he loved to gamble. The unsuspecting bank was soon fuelling that obsession, as Molony helped himself to hundreds of thousands, then millions, of dollars in fraudulent loans. Despite falling deeper and deeper in the hole, Molony convinced himself he could win it all back. Before long, the mild-mannered assistant manager had become one of the biggest high-rollers the casinos had ever seen and earned himself a place in the annals of criminal history.

Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime, Biography, Crime

301 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

No matter what your poison, if you want to understand addiction better, read the story of Brian Molony. The sick irony isn't lost on me that in the movie, they cast Philip Seymour Hoffmann to play the main character. Truth is stranger than fiction.

[Veeral · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best white-collar true crime books that I have ever read.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Engrossing, gut-wrenching and hard to read for those who are not just hardcore stingy humans but those prone to clipping coupons or not leaving tips in cheap diners. The amount of money that gambling addict/bank thief Moloney loses in casinos and horsetracks is breathtaking. The speed in which he does it, even more so. The book captures a decent 1st person POV as amounts like $50,000, $100,000 and more are squandered in compulsive 8-12 hour/2-3 day betting binges. Once the embezzlement starts at his own job, a highbrow but careless bank, it's difficult to keep track of the book's timeline. At one point there's an audit to be conducted at Moloney's branch and death seems near. In the next minute, it's over and no evidence is found of his multiple switchings of enormous funds from one bogus account to another. And this goes on another 100 pages. Eventually, the climaxes build on top of one another, and it's time to switch to some light reading--like Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's "The Gulag Archipelago", the abridged version. After the historical bust is made and imprisonment begins, Moloney's journals about prison life are more pleasant (and funny) to read than all the prior self-destruction. You finally see a human being emerge from the fanatic. An excellent portrait of addiction.

[Emily]

Might be biased because the film adaptation is one of my favorite movies but this is one of my top books of the year so far. It could use a little more editing—typos, paragraphs leaping from one idea to another with no flow, big chunks of interviews that get off the point sometimes—but overall it made a bank audit extremely exhilarating, which is an achievement. Does a great job explaining the banking system and gambling industry. It even ends up, perhaps unintentionally, having some interesting commentary on the carceral system and prison abolition.

Brian Molony is such a fascinating guy, it’s difficult to grasp anything about him even after almost 300 pages. Stubborn and likable and even honest in his strange, self-defined way, he comes off kinda sexy, kind of a jerk, kind of still a complete mystery. I could read an entire book just of his journal entries from prison—they’re funny and poignant and frightening all at once.

Read that PSH visited Molony in Toronto before filming Owning Mahowny in 2002 and they spent a few hours talking, just the two of them—I’d die to be in that room.

[Jeffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's an easy read that explores the powers of this addiction, and how it really isn't about the money, but just to keep gambling.

It also shows the greed of the casino and banking industry. It's a very intriguing story. When I read it, I am always thinking this wouldn't happen again in an age of computers, but then Bernie Madoff in 2008... You just never know.. CIBC has also been in quite a few controversies since this as well (much, much bigger fines). In fact, the bank recovered all the money because of insurance (minus 250k deductible) and then the bank settled a civil suit with the casinos for probabaly half of that amount... So bank came out pretty good, considering they also realized how poor their banking procedures were.

I always laugh at pictures of Mr. M because he literally looks in his 40s going on 50, but he is in his late20s. Well maybe more sad, than laugh, because I can only imagine that his addiction made him age much quicker.

[Darin Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a lifetime Toronto resident I remember this case very well and reading this book brought me back to the Toronto of the early 80s. The book itself is a compelling read though as someone who had gambled I found Molony's foolish and ever riskier bets extremely frustrating especially when he was up and lost everything. Of course that's the point this isn't really about gambling it's about compulsive behaviour and the damage it does to people. An excellent read.

[Becky Wolsk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very suspenseful - now I want to see the movie- the true account of a compulsive gambler who stole from the bank where he was an executive

[Geoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing story, great movie too.

[Pete Symenuk · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an interesting story of gambling addiction and a trusted bank emloyee with access to millions of dollars.

[Alton Chaney · Rating 3 out of 5]

A truly tragic look at the darkest side of an addiction few could understand. The amounts gambled away are staggering and frustrating to read about. I would say well written and easy to follow even through some of the complexities of Brian's process, and the briefness was a very nice change of pace from many of the other longer novels I've trudged through recently.

[Amar Pai · Rating 4 out of 5]

This guy worked as a manager in a Canadian bank... he embezzled 10 million from the bank in order to pay for gambling binges at Atlantic City and with his local bookies... man compulsive gamblers are so crazy. Total annihilation of self

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was astonished to learn how much Molony stole from The CIBC, his place of employment. A bit of a slow read but interesting none the less.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friend recommended this book. I thought it was well written and well documented and a quick read. Really enjoyed this book!

[Samir · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent!

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

great good stuff, every bit as good as the movie it inspired OWNING MAHONEY