Revolted and outraged are the feelings I’m left with after reading this well written book chronicling the brazen multi billion dollar heist better known as the 1MDB scam, perpetrated by Jho Low, Najib Razak (Malaysian ex PM) and their accomplices.

It was all too easy. Everybody, including the very financial system and institutions tasked with ensuring this sort of fraud does not occur, played along—for the profits, what else? And as with other white collar crime, especially when it involves billions, there are no real consequences other than mild slaps on the wrist. It’s hard to not come away with the conclusion that at many levels, existing systems are set up to protect and perpetuate the wealth of the privileged. While the authors painstakingly point out that their book is not meant to be didactic, there’s the obvious lesson here that these scams and heists, especially in (but not limited to) failed States with corrupt governments, will continue unabated unless 

1. There are efforts to curb the secrecy allowed by banks in fraud havens (the Cayman Islands, Seychelles etc. of the world)
2. Financial fraud laws have more teeth with individual fraudsters at banks like Goldman liable to face jail time. The loss of lucrative commissions provides a perverse incentive to these banks to turn a blind eye and abet shameless money laundering with the worst that can happen is the whole institution pays a fine. What’s a couple of billion dollars to Goldman? But sadly, the people with the power to effect change are often times the beneficiaries of these financial loopholes.

Back to the book, Messrs. Wright and Hope, both of the Wall Street Journal, tell a riveting story based on commendable investigative journalism. One is left in awe of the sheer audacity and shamelessness of Jho Low and his cast of global conspirators and the outrageous extravagance in spending the stolen billions as he parties much of it away (he’s a Malaysian Gatsby) along the way to building a real estate and Hollywood empire. He clearly never had any end game, at best thinking one or two steps ahead and you sense the train wreck that is coming at the end with each short chapter of the book building up the cliff from which that train inevitably has to plunge. 

There’s also the clear irony in his dirty money having funded Scorcese and DiCaprio’s The Wolf of Wall Street, a cautionary tale about the excesses of Wall Street greed! I detested that poorly made movie and after the revelations in the book, have lost respect for Leonardo Di Caprio who now strikes me as a shallow person for having become enamored by Low’s pretentious displays of wealth.  

The obvious question of Why is addressed as best as the authors could based on the information available but still unsatisfactorily. What really were the motivations of someone born well-to-do with a privileged upbringing and access to fancy schools in the US and UK, in perpetrating a crime of this magnitude? What was the turning point for such wild behavior if there was one? Was it the inadequacy Jho felt in prep school sitting among the children of billionaires when his own family could only claim millionaire status? Is it just greed gone berserk? Or did Jho Low harbor some unfortunate messiah misconceptions believing he was elevating the position of Malaysia and his people in the world? Was it all just to be accepted by the celebrities whose adulation he craved—billionaire superstars? Did he not feel anything growing up in a developing country with wealth while the vast majority lived in poverty? I guess we’ll never really know unless/until Jho is apprehended and questioned. Perhaps Jho Low will write his own Jordan Belfort style tell all only to profit even more from his scams. Oh well—c’est la vie!

While the book is likely to leave you disgusted and infuriated, much more if you’re Malaysian I imagine, it’s a strongly recommended read—especially if you are into true crime of the kind common in the grimy world of high finance.