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Money Men

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

When investigative journalist Dan McCrum first came across Wirecard, the hot new tech company that looked poised to challenge Silicon Valley, it all looked a little too good to be true: offices were sprouting up all over the world, they were reporting runaway growth and the CEO even wore a black turtleneck in tribute to Steve Jobs (or perhaps Elizabeth Holmes). In the space of a few short years, the company had come from nowhere to overtake industry giants like Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank on the stock market.

As McCrum began to dig deeper, he encountered a story stranger and more compelling than he could have imagined: a world of short sellers and whistleblowers, pornographers and private militias, hackers and spies. Before long he realised that he wasn't the only one in pursuit. Shadowy figures were following him through the streets of London, high-flying lawyers were sending ominous letters to his boss, and he even received a criminal complaint from financial regulators. Now the race was on to prove his suspicions and clear his name.

Based on inside sources and a years-long paper trail, this is the riveting inside story of the Wirecard fraud, a multi-billion-dollar house of cards that turned Germany's biggest new tech darling into an international investigation. Uncovering fake bank accounts, fake offices, fake journalists, a fake kidnapping and possibly even a fake death, McCrum offers a searing exposé that will finally reveal the truth.

© Dan McCrum 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

Critics Review

Dan McCrum's deep dive into Wirecard was the financial investigation of the decade. Money Men tells the story from inside Wirecard's headquarters with entertaining drama and verve, but it also unspools the high-stakes reporting process McCrum and his colleagues carried out at the Financial Times against the odds. It instantly enters the canon of great financial crime books.
Bradley Hope, co-author of New York Times bestseller Billion Dollar Whale
A milestone in the history of investigative journalism.
Olaf Scholz, Chancellor of Germany, awarding the Reporters Forum Reporterpreis
Money Men is a rip-roaring ride into the underworld of the global economy. Dan McCrum is a proper reporter: there is no threat, con trick or hangover that will stand in his way. In today's pandemic of lies, courageous journalism like this is the medicine.
Tom Burgis, Sunday Times bestselling author of Kleptopia
This behind-the-scenes look into the years of work and the persistence that was required to topple Wirecard is nothing short of incredible.
AltFi
A fantastic book. Think of Dan as a bespectacled James Bond with a keyboard instead of a gun.
Steve Clapham, author of The Smart Money Method
Wirecard might still be one of Europe's most feted tech firms, were it not for a small band of sceptics - including Dan McCrum... Wirecard fought back viciously and dirtily ... Money Men should be required reading for investors and financial regulators. It is a compelling case study of a seemingly eternal truth: when a business is built on lies, there are always clues.
Economist
Book of the week
MoneyWeek
The culmination of years of careful investigative work... A gripping tale.
Evening Standard
A thrilling, head-spinning book... Money Men hugely rewards the reader when you get the scoop alongside McCrum - you are close to punching the air... A fine testament to the importance of quality journalism.
Irish Times
The best book I read this year was Money Men... It reads like a thriller as he painstakingly exposes the tissue of lies, false accounting and mythical acquisitions that lie behind the company's respectable facade... Brilliant stuff.
The Tablet
Author Dan McCrum
Narrator Dan McCrum
Duration 13 hours and 3 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781529191110
Format Audiobook
Publisher Transworld
Genre Biography: business and industry, Corporate finance, Entrepreneurship, History of specific companies / corporate history
Availability AU, GB, IE, US

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