Billion Dollar Whale

The “extraordinary” (Financial Times) and definitive inside account of the 1MDB scandal, a “must read” (Booklist) “epic tale” (Publishers Weekly) that exposes the secret nexus of elite wealth, banking, Hollywood, and politics from two award-winning Wall Street Journal reporters.

In 2009, with the dust yet to settle on the financial crisis, a fraud of unprecedented gall and magnitude was being set into motion. It began in Malaysia and would spread around the world, touching some of the world’s leading financial firms, A-list Hollywood celebrities, supermodels, Las Vegas casinos and nightclubs, and even the art world. Now known as the 1MDB affair, the scandal would come to symbolize the next great threat to the global financial system.

Federal agents who helped unravel Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme say the 1MDB affair will become the textbook case of financial fraud in the modern age–and its fallout is already being credited for taking down the prime minister of Malaysia. To date, there are investigations in Singapore, the United States, and Switzerland, with money-laundering charges filed in Malaysia. Government authorities have seized assets including a mega-yacht, private jet, and millions of dollars in jewelry. A stunning true-tale of hubris and greed, Billion Dollar Whale reveals how one of the biggest heists in history was pulled off–right under the nose of the global financial industry.