Billion Dollar Whale

1Malaysia Development Berhad was set up to invest in Malaysia's development. Instead, US prosecutors later estimated, more than $4.5 billion was diverted from it. Wright and Hope put Jho Low, a Penang-born financier who befriended Prime Minister Najib Razak's family, at the center of the scheme, and show how Goldman Sachs bond offerings that earned the bank about $600 million in fees helped move the money.

The authors broke much of the story at The Wall Street Journal, and the book draws on that reporting, documents and interviews across Asia, the Gulf, the US and Europe. It was longlisted for the 2018 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year and became a New York Times bestseller. Low's lawyers sent letters to bookshops threatening libel claims, and he said the authors had skewed the story toward his lifestyle.

Kalimullah Hassan, writing in Malaysia's The Edge, called it the most complete and readable account of the scandal while noting gaps in the narrative. The story kept moving after publication: Najib was later convicted, Goldman settled with US and Malaysian authorities in 2020, and Low remains a fugitive.

For bankers, compliance officers and investors in emerging markets, it is a detailed case study in how fee incentives, weak due diligence and political cover combine.

1. Fees can blind a bank. Goldman earned roughly $600 million on 1MDB's bonds, far above normal margins, which should itself have prompted harder questions about where the money was going.
2. Sovereign wealth is not a credit guarantee. The bonds leaned on state backing and an Abu Dhabi guarantee, which made investors and bankers less curious about the fund's actual assets.
3. Know-your-customer failures compound. Low moved money through private banks, shell companies and correspondent accounts in several countries, and the checks at each stop proved too weak to stop him.
4. Lifestyle is a red flag. A man in his twenties spending tens of millions on parties and films with no clear source of wealth was visible to everyone, yet few asked how he paid for it.
5. Investigative reporting moves markets and governments. Leaked documents and press coverage, not auditors or regulators, first exposed the scheme and helped bring down a sitting prime minister.

The book is told in five parts and an epilogue, in chronological order.

1. The invention of Jho Low. Low uses his time at Harrow and Wharton to build a network of rich friends, cultivates Najib's circle and meets Goldman banker Tim Leissner. The first heist uses a joint venture with PetroSaudi to divert money from the newly created fund.
2. Overnight billionaire. Low spends lavishly on parties, Hollywood stars and Red Granite's films, while the second heist routes proceeds of Goldman-arranged bonds, guaranteed by Abu Dhabi's IPIC, into accounts Low controls.
3. Empire. A third Goldman bond feeds the scheme, $681 million reaches Najib's account, and Low buys art, jewelry and access, while a trove of 140 gigabytes of leaked documents begins to circulate.
4. Bonfire of secrets. Journalists at Sarawak Report and The Wall Street Journal publish the leak, and Najib cracks down at home to hold on to power.
5. The captain's resolve. A Malaysian prosecutor is murdered, FBI agents led by Bill McMurry build the US case, Low parties on the run and seeks help in China, and Abu Dhabi's Khadem al-Qubaisi falls. The epilogue covers Najib's 2018 election defeat.

Named a Best Book of 2018 by the Financial Times and Fortune, this thrilling (Bill Gates) New York Times bestseller exposes how a modern Gatsby swindled over $5 billion with the aid of Goldman Sachs in the heist of the century (Axios). Now a #1 international bestseller, BILLION DOLLAR WHALE is an epic tale of white-collar crime on a global scale (Publishers Weekly, starred review), revealing how a young social climber from Malaysia pulled off one of the biggest heists in history. In 2009, a chubby, mild-mannered graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business named Jho Low set in motion a fraud of unprecedented gall and magnitude--one that would come to symbolize the next great threat to the global financial system. Over a decade, Low, with the aid of Goldman Sachs and others, siphoned billions of dollars from an investment fund--right under the nose of global financial industry watchdogs. Low used the money to finance elections, purchase luxury real estate, throw champagne-drenched parties, and even to finance Hollywood films like The Wolf of Wall Street. By early 2019, with his yacht and private jet reportedly seized by authorities and facing criminal charges in Malaysia and in the United States, Low had become an international fugitive, even as the U.S. Department of Justice continued its investigation. BILLION DOLLAR WHALE has joined the ranks of Liar's Poker, Den of Thieves, and Bad Blood as a classic harrowing parable of hubris and greed in the financial world.