Lying for Money

Book excerpt: An entertaining, deeply informative explanation of how high-level financial crimes work, written “with verve and wit” (The Sunday Times, London) by an industry insider who’s an expert in the field. The way most white-collar crime works is by manipulating institutional psychology. That means creating something that looks as much as possible like a normal set of transactions. The drama comes later, when it all unwinds. Financial crime seems horribly complicated, but there are only so many ways you can con someone out of what’s theirs. In Lying for Money, veteran regulatory economist and market analyst Dan Davies tells the story of fraud through a genealogy of financial malfeasance, including: the Great Salad Oil swindle, the Pigeon King International fraud, the fictional British colony of Poyais in South America, the Boston Ladies’ Deposit Company, the Portuguese Banknote Affair, Theranos, and the Bre-X scam. Davies brings new insights into these schemes and shows how all frauds, current and historical, belong to one of four categories (“long firm,” counterfeiting, control fraud, and market crimes) and operate on the same basic principles. The only elements that change are the victims, the scammers, and the terminology. Revealing some of the most famous frauds of the modern age, Davies explains how fraud has shaped the entire development of the modern world economy. For those “who like their true-crime stories laced with economics will enjoy these forays into the dark side” (Kirkus Reviews) this is a gripping and vivid look at modern market societies.