The definitive inside account from two award-winning Wall Street Journal reporters of the “modern Gatsby” who managed to swindle over $5 billion with the aid of Goldman Sachs and others, exposing the secret nexus of elite wealth, banking, Hollywood, and politics. In 2009, with the dust yet to settle on the financial crisis, a baby-faced, seemingly mild-mannered Wharton grad began setting in motion a fraud of unprecedented gall and magnitude–one that would come to symbolize the next great threat to the global financial system. His name is Jho Low, a man whose behavior was so preposterous he might seem made up.

An epic true-tale of hubris and greed, Billion Dollar Whale reveals how this young social climber pulled off one of the biggest heists in history–right under the nose of the global financial industry. Federal agents who helped unravel Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme say this case will become the textbook case of financial fraud in the modern age–and its fallout is already being credited for taking down the prime minister of Malaysia. For readers of Liar’s Poker, Den of Thieves, and Bad Blood, Billion Dollar Whale will become a classic, harrowing parable about finance run amok.