Octopus: Sam Israel, the Secret Market, and Wall Street's Wildest Con

Description

Octopus is a real-life thriller that tells the inside story of an audacious hedge fund fraud and the wild search, by a colorful cast of rogues and schemers, for a secret market beneath the financial market we all know.Sam Israel was a man who seemed to have it all until the hedge fund he ran, Bayou, imploded and he became the target of a nationwide manhunt. Born into one of Americas most illustrious trading families, Israel was determined to strike out on his own. So after apprenticing with one of the greatest hedge fund traders of the 1980s, Sam founded his own fund and promised his investors guaranteed profits. With the proprietary computer program hed created, he claimed to be able to predict the future. But his future was already beginning to unravel.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 intelligence operative 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 year-long adventure in the Upperworld -- a society populated by clandestine bankers, shady European nobility, and spooks issuing cryptic warnings about a mysterious cabal known as the Octopus. Whether the secret market was real or a con, Israel was all in and as the pressures mounted and increasingly sinister violence crept into his life, he struggled to break free of the Octopus tentacles.From the Hardcover edition.ReviewLawson [has] found goldThis is a fantastic story, in both senses of the word, with a freshness that recalls Liars Poker.--Bryan Burrough, New York Times Read this book to understand Wall StreetSomeone is going to Octopus into a movie. By this time next year, Lawson will have a fat dealThe 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"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 BusinessweekA cautionary tale of the highly sophisticated, often endemic fraud that still lurks on Wall StreetI was riveted by Mr. Lawsons tellingthe story is mind-boggling.--Andrew Sorkin, New York Times (Dealbook)Entertaininga colorful contemporary story about greed and ambition warping judgment, about con men duping other con menreplete with secret markets, shady intelligence operatives, and even a space alien that overdosed on ice cream.--ReutersFull on *Twilight Zonefeatures not just rampant fraud but guns, supposed CIA double agents, drugs, JFKs assassination, and oh yes, world domination. Did I mention that this is a nonfiction book?...An outrageous but definitely movie-worthy tale. Lawsons reporting is prodigious.--FortuneLike The StingAn astounding story that forces you to remind yourself that this actually happened not ten years ago, to real people with real money.--Macleans [Features] a series of spy-thriller escapades that could have been plucked from a Jason Bourne movieMore fun and thrilling than any work of journalism about hedge funds has the right to be.--Canadian BusinessAn inside look at a savage tribal society [of Wall Street traders] that also reminds one of that rollicking farce concocted by Mel Brooks, The Producers Brings to life one of the most colorful, and often engaging, con men of this or any other centuryan entertaining, well-told tale.--Washington TimesIf you dig movies about cons, like Catch Me If You Can, The Sting, and The Spanish Prisoner, you will blow through Octopus, Guy Lawsons deftly and enthusiastically told tale of Same Israel and the Bayou hedge fund.--The Daily BeastPenetratingly comprehensiveLawson nimbly traverses the labyrinthine depths of a worldwide banking con that managed to involve looted Federal Reserve notes and the JFK assassinationAn eye-opening window onto Wall Streets destructive culture of unchecked hubris and a harrowing thrill ride into the unraveling mind of a desperate operator.--Kirkus Reviews*About the AuthorGUY LAWSON has traveled the world reporting on war, crime, politics, and sports. His work has appeared in many national publications, including the New York Times, Harper's, GQ, and Rolling Stone, and he previously coauthored The Brotherhoods. He and his family make their home in upstate New York.