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Octopus: The Secret Market and the World's Wildest Con

Octopus: The Secret Market and the World's Wildest Con

by Guy Lawson (Author)

  • Used

    Paperback 2012

    $8.92
Synopsis

Octopus is a real-life thriller that tells the inside story of a GBP300 million hedge fund fraud and the wild-goose chase through Europe by its drug-fuelled manager for a lucrative secret market beneath the financial market we all know. Sam Israel was a man who seemed to have it all. Born into one of the world's richest families, he founded his own hedge fund, promising his investors guaranteed profits. But, after suffering devastating losses and faking tax returns, Israel knew his real performance would soon be discovered. So when a former CIA-operative turned conman told him about a secret market run by the Federal Reserve, Israel bet his last $150 million of other people's money on a chance to make it all back. So began his crazy year-long adventure in a world populated by clandestine bankers, conspiracy theories, and gun-toting spooks issuing cryptic warnings about a mysterious cabal known only as the Octopus.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
 Pages: 368
 Publisher: Oneworld Publications
Published: 06 Sep 2012
ISBN 10: 1851689788
ISBN 13: 9781851689781

Media Reviews
Lawson [has] found gold...This is a fantastic story, in both senses of the word, with a freshness that recalls Liars Poker. --Bryan Burrough, New York Times A cautionary tale of the highly sophisticated, often endemic fraud that still lurks on Wall Street...I was riveted by Mr. Lawson's telling...the story is mind-boggling. --Andrew Sorkin, New York Times (Dealbook) An inside look at a savage tribal society [of Wall Street traders] that also reminds one of that rollicking farce concocted by Mel Brooks, 'The Producers'... Brings to life one of the most colorful, and often engaging, con men of this or any other century...an entertaining, well-told tale. -- Washington Times If you dig movies about cons, like Catch Me If You Can, The Sting, and The Spanish Prisoner, you will blow through Octopus, Guy Lawson's deftly and enthusiastically told tale of Same Israel and the Bayou hedge fund. -- The Daily Beast Penetratingly comprehensive...Lawson nimbly traverses the labyrinthine depths of a worldwide banking con that managed to involve looted Federal Reserve notes and the JFK assassination...An eye-opening window onto Wall Street's destructive culture of unchecked hubris and a harrowing thrill ride into the unraveling mind of a desperate operator. -- Kirkus Reviews Lawson has mined the darkest, most seductive world I can imagine and delivered up a story that almost defies comprehension. Octopus is written with a force and clarity that I found absolutely irresistible...It's a hell of a book. --Sebastian Junger, New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Storm Lawson's spellbinding account of Sam Israel's rise and fall is a phantasmagoric trip through the larcenous outer reaches (as well as the dark heart) of the world of finance. Octopus made me worry that I was being followed or swindled. -Nick Paumgarten, staff writer, The New Yorker An absorbing, splend
Author Bio
Guy Lawson is a true-crime journalist who has written for the Observer, GQ, Rolling Stone and the New York Times. His Rolling Stone piece Arms and the Dudes is currently shooting with Warner Brothers. For Octopus he interviewed Sam Israel in prison for three years and travelled extensively through London, Berlin, Washington, and New York to corroborate Israel's story. The book is currently in a bidding war to be optioned for a Hollywood movie.