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Pyramid of Lies
- The Prime Minister, the Banker and the Billion Pound Scandal
- Narrated by: Duncan Mavin
- Length: 10 hrs and 59 mins
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Pyramid of Lies
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Summary
An epic true story of ambition, greed and hubris that nearly brought down the British government.
In March 2021, an obscure financial technology company called Greensill Capital collapsed, going into administration. As it unravelled, a multibillion-dollar scandal emerged that would shake the very foundations of the British political system, drawing in swiss bankers, global CEOs, and world leaders, including former British Prime Minister, David Cameron. At the centre was an Australian financier named Lex Greensill.
Pyramid of Lies charts the meteoric rise and spectacular downfall of Greensill and his company. He had a simple idea—democratising supply chain finance—and disrupted a trillion dollar industry in the process. But a staid business model concealed dubious practices as Greensill made increasingly risky loans to fraudulent companies using other people’s money.
Financial journalist Duncan Mavin, who has reported on the scandal for over three years, tells the incredible story of how a former sugar-cane farmer would go on to put tens of thousands of jobs at risk and gain unfettered access to the inner workings of the British government. With a globe-circling narrative full of scandal and intrigue, Pyramid of Lies reveals how the grubby world of shadow banking really operates.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
What listeners say about Pyramid of Lies
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 02-10-22
Brilliant Summary of Events
As a former Greensill VP of Product for KYC and onboarding Automation.
I enjoyed this story. Thanks
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- CHIGOZIE
- 31-01-23
Excellent narration and story
Excellent explanation of the scandal. I think there should a next audiobook on the Gupta family group of companies.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- michael bo
- 27-11-23
Too big to jail. Fraudster who is untouchable
Very well written. Sad these people will always get away with it. Fraudster who had government in his pocket
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- Lord Pizza
- 09-02-23
Sounds like Deutsche Bank and the derivatives sham
Title says enough and yet it seems the UK legal framework happily protects Lex and yet chases after the Corner shop vat return
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Jonathan Stevenson
- 10-03-24
Pyramid of Lies, brilliant
well researched, engaging and well written. very interesting from start to finish. it could have been such a dry topic but I just could not believe what they were doing and how they were getting away with it, so I had to keep going. What I thought might be a bit of an educational but dry book turned into a bit of a page turner.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Ulla
- 31-07-22
Brilliant from beginning to end
Wow! Brilliantly researched, well written and engagingly narrated by Duncan Mavin. It is one of those rare pieces of work that are both entertaining for anyone interested and instructive for those working in risk management.
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- MS
- 11-03-23
Lex pitched me three times, never a sound investment
Lex pitched me a few times with a large number of CS bankers, that started the alarm bells but what really hurt his firm was that the it’s economics weren’t that compelling. This is story of what good sales and self belief can achieve versus creating value and substance.
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- Paul J. Jackson
- 27-09-22
Incisive and compelling
A great piece of investigative financial journalism. Reads like a thriller. Should be on the reading lists of all MBAs.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Fraser Allen
- 21-10-22
The strange world of Lex Greensill
Investigative reporter Duncan Mavin reveals the story of Lex Greensill, the Australian farmer who quickly built a surprisingly profitable empire on supply chain finance. But all was not as it seemed. As Geeensill’s sales skills duped the likes of Credit Suisse, SoftBank and former UK Prime Minister David Cameron (who comes out of this looking very shabby indeed) into thinking he was a fintech entrepreneur with the Midas touch, the reality was that his business was built on lies and greed. Indeed, it was little more than a Ponzi scheme that was doomed to fail, wiping out investors, closing businesses and leading to huge job losses. Despite intimidation from powerful interests, Mavin kept chipping away at the evidence of malpractice that so many others ignored - until even those close to Greensill could see the scale of his duplicity.
I really enjoyed this book - well narrated by the author - which I think would appeal to both finance experts and (people like myself) who have little financial knowledge but are interested in how big business works (or in this case doesn’t).
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- RJM
- 03-05-23
Listen to it for a good tale, linger over what it
Mavin's book is well researched, well written and shines a light on general problems - nepotism and gullibility in British politics and financial markets - through the lens of a scandal that is being kicked into the long grass as we speak.
Greensill was Britain's Enron or theranos - all style, no substance enriching charismatic charlatans who will change the world (they all did, but not as planned!). It will be interesting to see how the criminal justice system deals with it.
Listen to it for a good tale, linger over what it tells us about Britain
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