Billion Dollar Whale: Superbly reported book on swindle of the millennium

The story of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad fraud highlights the shocking power of those who learn to con the masters of the international finance community, writes Rahul Jacob

Parties figure all too prominently in Billion Dollar Whale. But these are not just celebrity-heavy, Page 3 affairs; they offer a case study of how to build a financial business on a house of cards. It is only his second year at the University of Pennsylvania, but the precocious Malaysian Jho Low, who has just turned 20, understands that the appearance of wealth is a building block to more wealth. Low spends a staggering $40,000 at a Philadelphia nightclub. Champagne flows liberally. Guests use chopsticks to help themselves to sushi placed on a bikini-clad model as if she were an