by Brian Ross
First published 2009
When Bernie Madoff's arrest shattered the financial world on December 11, 2008, the numbers seemed impossible to believe. Fifty billion dollars stolen. ABC News investigative correspondent Brian Ross had covered major scandals before, but nothing prepared him for the scope of this deception. Ross gained unprecedented access to federal investigators and sources inside Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities. He even obtained Madoff's personal contact book. The deeper Ross dug, the more shocking the truth became. Bernie and his wife Ruth had built an empire of luxury on decades of lies. Money flowed from wealthy clients through a network of middlemen, all convinced they were part of an exclusive investment opportunity. Meanwhile, Madoff fabricated trades and created false statements to maintain the illusion. When the scheme collapsed, victims lost everything. Some lost their homes, their life savings, even their lives. Ross chronicles how one man's audacious fraud became the largest financial crime in history, revealing the human cost behind the headlines.
Genres: business, crime, non-fiction, 21st-century, finance, accounting
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: deception, investigation
Setting: New York
Period: 2008
288 pages · Hardcover · Hyperion