Renaud de Planta, senior managing partner designate, Pictet
«Billion Dollar Whale» by Tom Wright and Bradley Hope
What it is:
It’s the amazing story of the 1MDB fraud: how a nobody from Malaysia managed, over the past few years, to fool the supposedly brightest of Wall Street, Hollywood, and even the White House, and siphon billions in U.S. dollars from the system. To add insult to injury, he has not been caught – yet.
Why I recommend it:
«It’s entertaining, full of anecdotes, and shows how easily even people in positions of power can be blindsided by the appearance of wealth and power. Hard to believe that a scam of this scale could still happen in a post-financial crisis and post-Madoff world. It serves as a great reminder of the virtue of humility and thorough due diligence.»
