Octopus

July 30, 2012
Relying on "hundreds of hours interviewing Sam Israel in prison" and "thousands of pages of legal documents," Lawson (The Brotherhoods) reveals the inside story of the infamously fraudulent hedge fund trader who in 2008 faked his own suicide in an attempt to escape imprisonment. As a protégé in the â80s to the successful but ethically dubious Frederic J. Graber, Israel quickly learned that shirking the rules was the quickest way to a buck. But by the late â90s, Israel's independent hedge fund venture, Bayou, was in serious troubleâthe promise of guaranteed returns had driven the greedy financier to engage in increasingly unsavory business practices. Things hardly improved, but Israel's willingness to dissemble grewâas time went on, Israel became involved with ever shadier individuals; the job of upholding Bayou's manifold lies amounting to a kind of full-time counter-espionage. One such contact, intelligence operative and contract killer Robert Booth Nichols, informed a desperate Israel of a secret market run by the world's 13 most powerful families and for which the Fed is ostensibly "nothing but a front." Needless to say, things didn't turn out well for Israel, but the tale of his fraught journey makes for an exhilarating page-turner.

June 15, 2012
The sordid saga of debauched Wall Street hedge fund manager Sam Israel and how he lost more than $100 million--and most of his sanity. At one time, Israel could do no wrong. He had the magic touch on Wall Street, seemingly able to turn anything he touched into gold. Never mind that his financial prowess as a trader stemmed from a steady font of insider trading information provided by some of the most conniving players in the stock market. When Israel's fraud was discovered and his fund inevitably collapsed, he fell prey to even more pernicious con men than himself. Blinded by the promise of billions of dollars and an escape hatch from his sinking firm, Israel decided to roll the dice and bet on the wild schemes of Robert Booth Nichols, an eccentric figure claiming to be an ex-CIA asset. Nichols promised Israel entrance into the dangerous world of international high finance known as the "Shadow Market," a secretive world where the strapped financier could recoup his losses and even amass a new fortune. However, the Shadow Market didn't really exist. Or did it? The line between fact and fantasy becomes elusive in the second half of this mind-bending yarn, but Lawson (co-author: Brotherhoods: The True Story of Two Cops Who Murdered for the Mafia, 2006) somehow manages to make sense of it all. He provides a penetratingly comprehensive profile of a crooked trader run amok, and he nimbly traverses the labyrinthine depths of a worldwide banking con that managed to involve looted Federal Reserve notes and the JFK assassination. The author is sympathetic to Israel--at least he, unlike Bernie Madoff, tried to pay back those he swindled--but he doesn't sugarcoat his crimes. An eye-opening window onto Wall Street's destructive culture of unchecked hubris and a harrowing thrill ride into the unraveling mind of a desperate operator.

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February 15, 2012

When the Bayou Hedge Fund was shown to have overstated gains, understated losses, and misappropriated funds, founder Sam Israel leapt off the Bear Mountain Bridge. No, not really, he just faked his death--the way he faked everything else--in an effort to avoid the long prison sentence that was eventually handed down. Rolling Stone investigative journalist Lawson got exclusive access to Israel. Get ready to have your blood boil.

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2012

Lawson (coauthor, with William Oldham, The Brotherhoods: The True Story of Two Cops Who Murdered for the Mafia) here tells the story of Sam Israel, a smart, charming hedge fund manager who, when his company began to lose money, fabricated a few numbers with his accountant to buy time. Next, Israel bumped into Robert Booth Nichols, a James Bond-esque former CIA agent who alleged he could get Israel into a shadow market controlling all of the world's wealth, setting in motion a Mobius strip of con-artistry. With Lawson keeping everything in context, Israel's unforgettable tale turns the world of stockbrokers and hedge fund managers into something straight out of a John le Carre novel. VERDICT This is a fantastic read. Lawson observes that much of his information is from a noted con man and he had no way of verifying it. Often it feels as if Lawson himself was in thrall to Israel's charms, but the story is so riveting that readers are unlikely to care whether everything is completely accurate. Recommended for those who devour stories of deception.--Ryan Claringbole, Chesapeake P.L., VA

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.