Overview

Born into one of America's most illustrious trading families, Sam Israel was determined to strike out on his own. After apprenticing with one of the greatest traders of the 1980s, he founded his own fast-growing hedge fund, promising investors extraordinary returns.      But it was all an elaborate charade. After suffering devastating losses and fabricating fake returns, Israel knew it was only a matter of time before his real performance would be discovered. So when a former black-ops agent told him about a “secret market” run by the Fed, Israel bet his last $150 million on a chance to make billions.     Thus began his bizarre journey into “the Upperworld”—a society populated by clandestine bankers, shady European nobility, and spooks issuing cryptic warnings about a mysterious cabal known as the Octopus. 

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9780307716088

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Reviews

<p> Lawson [has] found gold...This is a fantastic story, in both senses of the word, with a freshness that recalls Liars Poker. <br>--Bryan Burrough, New York Times <br> Read this book to understand Wall Street...Someone is going to Octopus into a movie. By this time next year, Lawson will have a fat deal...The reason for that is that Octopus is an incredible dark comedy with one of the craziest true-life ironic twists you can possibly imagine. --Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone <br> Lively...turns a lens on the fast and loose ways of Wall Street...would make an excellent gift for a regulatory complicance officer...or a shrink. -- Bloomberg Businessweek <br> Lawson's spellbinding account of Sam Israel's rise and fall is a phantasmagoric trip through the larcenous outer reaches (as well as the dark heart) of the world of finance. Octopus made me worry that I was being followed or swindled. --Nick Paumgarten, New Yorker <br> A cautionary tale of the highly sophisticated, often endemic fraud that still lurks on Wall Street...I was riveted by Mr. Lawson's telling...the story is mind-boggling. <br>--Andrew Sorkin, New York Times (Dealbook) <br> Entertaining...a colorful contemporary story about greed and ambition warping judgment, about con men duping other con men...replete with secret markets, shady intelligence operatives, and even a space alien that overdosed on ice cream. --Reuters <br> Full on Twilight Zone... features not just rampant fraud but guns, supposed CIA double agents, drugs, JFK's assassination, and oh yes, world domination. Did I mention that this is a nonfiction book?...An outrageous but definitely movie-worthy tale. Lawson's reporting is prodigious. --Fortune<br> <br> Like The Sting... An astounding story that forces you to remind yourself that this actually happened not ten years ago, to real people with real money. --Maclean's <br> [Features] a series of spy-thriller escapades that could have been plucked fromt

<p> Lawson [has] found gold...This is a fantastic story, in both senses of the word, with a freshness that recalls Liars Poker. <br>--Bryan Burrough, New York Times <br> Read this book to understand Wall Street...Someone is going to Octopus into a movie. By this time next year, Lawson will have a fat deal...The reason for that is that Octopus is an incredible dark comedy with one of the craziest true-life ironic twists you can possibly imagine. --Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone <br> Lively...turns a lens on the fast and loose ways of Wall Street...would make an excellent gift for a regulatory complicance officer...or a shrink. -- Bloomberg Businessweek <br> Lawson's spellbinding account of Sam Israel's rise and fall is a phantasmagoric trip through the larcenous outer reaches (as well as the dark heart) of the world of finance. Octopus made me worry that I was being followed or swindled. --Nick Paumgarten, New Yorker <br> A cautionary tale of the highly sophisticated, often endemic fraud that still lurks on Wall Street...I was riveted by Mr. Lawson's telling...the story is mind-boggling. <br>--Andrew Sorkin, New York Times (Dealbook) <br> Entertaining...a colorful contemporary story about greed and ambition warping judgment, about con men duping other con men...replete with secret markets, shady intelligence operatives, and even a space alien that overdosed on ice cream. --Reuters <br> Full on Twilight Zone... features not just rampant fraud but guns, supposed CIA double agents, drugs, JFK's assassination, and oh yes, world domination. Did I mention that this is a nonfiction book?...An outrageous but definitely movie-worthy tale. Lawson's reporting is prodigious. --Fortune<br> <br> Like The Sting... An astounding story that forces you to remind yourself that this actually happened not ten years ago, to real people with real money. --Maclean's <br> [Features] a series of spy-thriller escapades that could have been plucked from,

<p> Lawson [has] found gold...This is a fantastic story, in both senses of the word, with a freshness that recalls Liars Poker. <br>--Bryan Burrough, New York Times <br> Read this book to understand Wall Street...Someone is going to Octopus into a movie. By this time next year, Lawson will have a fat deal...The reason for that is that Octopus is an incredible dark comedy with one of the craziest true-life ironic twists you can possibly imagine. --Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone <br> Lively...turns a lens on the fast and loose ways of Wall Street...would make an excellent gift for a regulatory complicance officer...or a shrink. -- Bloomberg Businessweek <br> Lawson's spellbinding account of Sam Israel's rise and fall is a phantasmagoric trip through the larcenous outer reaches (as well as the dark heart) of the world of finance. Octopus made me worry that I was being followed or swindled. --Nick Paumgarten, New Yorker <br> A cautionary tale of the highly sophisticated, often endemic fraud that still lurks on Wall Street...I was riveted by Mr. Lawson's telling...the story is mind-boggling. <br>--Andrew Sorkin, New York Times (Dealbook) <br> Entertaining...a colorful contemporary story about greed and ambition warping judgment, about con men duping other con men...replete with secret markets, shady intelligence operatives, and even a space alien that overdosed on ice cream. --Reuters <br> Full on Twilight Zone... features not just rampant fraud but guns, supposed CIA double agents, drugs, JFK's assassination, and oh yes, world domination. Did I mention that this is a nonfiction book?...An outrageous but definitely movie-worthy tale. Lawson's reporting is prodigious. --Fortune<br> <br> Like The Sting... An astounding story that forces you to remind yourself that this actually happened not ten years ago, to real people with real money. --Maclean's <br> [Features] a series of spy-thriller escapades that could have been plucked fromf

<p> Lawson [has] found gold...This is a fantastic story, in both senses of the word, with a freshness that recalls Liars Poker. <br>--Bryan Burrough, New York Times <br> Read this book to understand Wall Street...Someone is going to Octopus into a movie. By this time next year, Lawson will have a fat deal...The reason for that is that Octopus is an incredible dark comedy with one of the craziest true-life ironic twists you can possibly imagine. --Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone <br> Lively...turns a lens on the fast and loose ways of Wall Street...would make an excellent gift for a regulatory complicance officer...or a shrink. -- Bloomberg Businessweek <br> Lawson's spellbinding account of Sam Israel's rise and fall is a phantasmagoric trip through the larcenous outer reaches (as well as the dark heart) of the world of finance. Octopus made me worry that I was being followed or swindled. --Nick Paumgarten, New Yorker <br> A cautionary tale of the highly sophisticated, often endemic fraud that still lurks on Wall Street...I was riveted by Mr. Lawson's telling...the story is mind-boggling. <br>--Andrew Sorkin, New York Times (Dealbook) <br> Entertaining...a colorful contemporary story about greed and ambition warping judgment, about con men duping other con men...replete with secret markets, shady intelligence operatives, and even a space alien that overdosed on ice cream. --Reuters <br> Full on Twilight Zone... features not just rampant fraud but guns, supposed CIA double agents, drugs, JFK's assassination, and oh yes, world domination. Did I mention that this is a nonfiction book?...An outrageous but definitely movie-worthy tale. Lawson's reporting is prodigious. --Fortune<br> <br> Like The Sting... An astounding story that forces you to remind yourself that this actually happened not ten years ago, to real people with real money. --Maclean's <br> [Features] a series of spy-thriller escapades that could have been plucked from

Author Information

GUY LAWSON has traveled the world reporting on war, crime, politics, and sports. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Harper's, GQ, and Rolling Stone. He and his live in upstate New York.

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