Jabez, as he was universally known, was a business man, philanthropist, politician, temperance campaigner and charmer. He was also an astonishing scoundrel - a liar, adulterer and cheat - who perpetrated the most destructive fraud of the nineteenth century. When the Liberator building society collapsed under the weight of its own extravagant malpractice, thousands of people were left defrauded and destitute. Jabez, the Liberator's moving spirit, immediately took flight to Argentina, accompanied...
Filthy Rich (James Patterson True Crime, #2)
by James Patterson and John Connolly
A shocking true crime tale of money, power, sex and corruption. Jeffrey Epstein rose from humble origins to the rarefied heights of New York City's financial elite. But even after he had it all, Epstein wanted more. And that unceasing desire - especially a taste for young girls - resulted in his stunning fall from grace. From Epstein himself, to the girls he employed as masseuses at his home, to the police officers investigating the appalling charges against him, Filthy Rich examines all sides o...
Ponzimonium is a book chock-full of advice to educate investors on the scam artists ripping off America. The primary message is that investors should not spend on unregulated companies or individuals who trade unregulated marketsbackground checks are priceless. The book tells provocative stories such as that of Darren Potter, who cleverly categorized investments in his program as loans” and ironically became a victim himself of a Ponzi scheme. There is an Investor Bill of Rights” that pushes...
'The crime of fraud, when conducted well, is a fascinating pursuit. It’s a test of intellect, determination and stamina. It is a floating mess of fact and fiction that you have to carry in your mind for twenty-four hours a day. It can be used to realize dreams, to slip on any mask required.’Elliot Castro was just a teenager when he began to use his formidable intelligence and charm to swindle millions from the credit card system. No outside individual has ever pulled off this scale of fraudulent...
Three powerful men converge on the banks of the Red Cedar River in the early 1900s in southern Minnesota—George Albert Hormel, founder of what will become the $10 billion food conglomerate Hormel Foods; Alpha LaRue Eberhart, the author’s paternal grandfather and Hormel’s Executive Vice President and Corporate Secretary; and Ransome Josiah Thomson, Hormel’s comptroller. Over ten years, Thomson will embezzle $1.2 million from the company’s coffers, nearly bringing the company to its knees. The Bu...
FORBES TOP 10 HIGHER EDUCATION BOOKS OF 2020 The riveting true story behind the Varsity Blues college admissions scandal, a cautionary tale of parenting gone wrong, the system that enabled families to veer so far off course, and the mastermind who made it all happen. When federal prosecutors dropped the bombshell of Operation Varsity Blues, it broke open the crimes of exclusive universities and wealthy families all over the country, shattering the myth of American meritocracy. In Unacceptabl...
Gerard Lee Bevan was the model of an Edwardian swell - arrogant, smooth, well-connected and highly cultured. He married money and influence - his wife Sophie Kenrick was a cousin of the future prime minister Neville Chamberlain - and over the years he kept a string of showgirl mistresses. But his was a success built on fraud and deception, and eventually Bevan could sustain the fiction no longer. After a series of desperate swerves, he fled the country on 8 February 1922, abandoning his family...
‘The next stage meant that there was no going back. An Irish prisoner stepped forward and slipped a blade into my hand. I felt the ice cold metal and pressed it against the governor’s cheek. I thought to myself: would they ever release me after this?’Bobby Cummines was only 28 when he passed through the grim gates of Parkhurst, Britain’s Alcatraz, as a category-A prisoner with a host of crimes to his name. Joining the most notorious gangsters and criminals of the day – from the Krays, the Yorks...
INTRODUCTION BY MISHA GLENNY, author of McMafiaA gripping narrative of power, corruption and greed, The Mechanism is the true story of how a simple investigation into money laundering uncovered the biggest corruption scandal in human history.When a small team of investigators discovered that a black market currency dealer was operating out of a Brazilian petrol station, they could never have imagined that their work would destroy the government and lead to the impeachment of two presidents. As t...
Molly Bloom reveals how she built one of the most exclusive, high-stakes underground poker games in the world-an insider's story of excess and danger, glamour and greed. In the late 2000s, Molly Bloom, a twentysomething petite brunette from Loveland Colorado, ran the highest stakes, most exclusive poker game Hollywood had ever seen-she was its mistress, its lion tamer, its agent, and its oxygen. Everyone wanted in, few were invited to play. Hundreds of millions of dollars were won and lost at...
99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Mobile Device Was Hacked
by Robert Siciliano