4 ms·

Strongly recommend Billion Dollar Whale on the 1MDB ... Amazing and extremely entertaining book. They literally stole 16 billion usd.

kyrra 8y ago
Not sure if the book covered it, but WSJ had a piece that told the story of some of that money being used to pay for some of the most expensive birthday parties ever in Vegas. https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-billion-dollar-mystery-man-and-the-wildest-party-vegas-ever-saw-1536984061 https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-billion-dollar-mystery-man-...
- natechols 8y ago
  Those are the authors of the book, and I think that's what became the first chapter.
zawerf 8y ago
I found this summary of the book pretty good if you don't have time: https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/9w1b19/the_amazing_tale_of_possibly_the_most_successful/ https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/9w1b19/the_...
- magic_beans 8y ago
  Fascinating summary, but the comments got really nasty with people throwing around some pretty cruel terms for women. :|
  - shaki-dora 8y ago
    HN does not see kindly upon people pointing out rabid misogyny, because misogynists are easily offended, and may get the wrong idea that there behaviour is, well, wrong. Edit: After reading the actual comment in the linked threat, they are surprisingly, I don't know, self-aware? I wouldn't write any of those posts myself, but it's also not quite as bad as one expects, considering some other fare I've seen in the comments to Scott Alexander's blog posts.
georgeecollins 8y ago
Strongly agree! Book is a great primer on how / why crooks drive up the price of high end real estate, art and film financing. You will never wonder how these businesses can charge so much again. At one point (when the 1MDB company is financing the Wolf of Wall Street) the original true life "Wolf of Wall Street" person says: I don't want to have anything to do with these people, they must be crooked. The only reason why you spend money like this is if it is stolen. Exactly!
bps4484 8y ago
I would recommend the book, but would skim the first 300 or so pages and only read deeply the parts that catch your eye. I think the author was on a mission to get the book to 400 pages and there is a LOT of filler on every detail of every Jho Low party and the types of gems the wife of the PM of malaysia bought.
fbanks 8y ago
Financial crime investigator here - also recommend "Sarawak Report" book by Clare Brown. She was originally researching deforestation and local corruption in Malaysian Borneo and kept running into Jho Low adjacent figures and eventually helped to source the key documents tying the whole scheme together. Had to order it from the UK and it's even longer than the Whale book, but full of crazy stories.

kyrra 8y ago

Not sure if the book covered it, but WSJ had a piece that told the story of some of that money being used to pay for some of the most expensive birthday parties ever in Vegas. https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-billion-dollar-mystery-man-and-the-wildest-party-vegas-ever-saw-1536984061 https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-billion-dollar-mystery-man-...

natechols 8y ago
Those are the authors of the book, and I think that's what became the first chapter.

zawerf 8y ago

I found this summary of the book pretty good if you don't have time: https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/9w1b19/the_amazing_tale_of_possibly_the_most_successful/ https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/9w1b19/the_...

magic_beans 8y ago
Fascinating summary, but the comments got really nasty with people throwing around some pretty cruel terms for women. :|
- shaki-dora 8y ago
  HN does not see kindly upon people pointing out rabid misogyny, because misogynists are easily offended, and may get the wrong idea that there behaviour is, well, wrong. Edit: After reading the actual comment in the linked threat, they are surprisingly, I don't know, self-aware? I wouldn't write any of those posts myself, but it's also not quite as bad as one expects, considering some other fare I've seen in the comments to Scott Alexander's blog posts.

georgeecollins 8y ago

Strongly agree! Book is a great primer on how / why crooks drive up the price of high end real estate, art and film financing. You will never wonder how these businesses can charge so much again. At one point (when the 1MDB company is financing the Wolf of Wall Street) the original true life "Wolf of Wall Street" person says: I don't want to have anything to do with these people, they must be crooked. The only reason why you spend money like this is if it is stolen. Exactly!

bps4484 8y ago

I would recommend the book, but would skim the first 300 or so pages and only read deeply the parts that catch your eye. I think the author was on a mission to get the book to 400 pages and there is a LOT of filler on every detail of every Jho Low party and the types of gems the wife of the PM of malaysia bought.

fbanks 8y ago

Financial crime investigator here - also recommend "Sarawak Report" book by Clare Brown. She was originally researching deforestation and local corruption in Malaysian Borneo and kept running into Jho Low adjacent figures and eventually helped to source the key documents tying the whole scheme together. Had to order it from the UK and it's even longer than the Whale book, but full of crazy stories.