The duo who broke the story of the Abraaj scandal have now entertainingly, edifyingly and thoroughly broken down the capitalistic/philanthropic mirage that was Arif Naqvi. This splendid cautionary tale lays bare the vulnerabilities of the world of high finance, where even the grandees of Davos were marks for the kid from Karachi - a man who could seemingly, simultaneously produce mega-returns for investors and lift up poor people in the Third World - until, as Clark and Louch compellingly recount, he disastrously could not ― John Helyar, coauthor of Barbarians at the Gate

An unbelievable true tale of greed, corruption and manipulation among the world's financial elite and how the World Bank, Bill Gates and the governments of the US, UK, France, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden and Kuwait fell victim to the world's largest private equity Ponzi scheme. ― Harry Markopolos, the Bernie Madoff whistleblower

Arif Naqvi separated billionaires and royalty from their wealth by appealing to their private conceit that they had made their billions doing God's work. The twists and turns of the increasingly desperate effort to raise funds to protect Arif's reputation and keep Abraaj afloat - the near misses and lucky saves - are spellbinding. You won't want to put the book down ― Eileen Applebaum, coauthor of Private Equity at Work

How do you dupe the World Bank, the World Economic Forum, the Gates Foundation, and countless financial 'luminaries' from around the globe? Attach yourself to the latest piece of financial gibberish "philanthrocapitalism" hire a couple of McKinsey consultants and then get the Harvard Business School to write glowing reports about you. In this page turner, Clark and Louch serve up an emphatic indictment of the 'expert class' people who think agility with numbers is somehow equivalent to wisdom and morality ― Duff McDonald, author of The Golden Passport

The writing matches that of the best thrillers, with one huge extra bonus: you learn tons, even if you know this industry reasonably well. The rigour and colossal effort that went into this book transpires on each page. There is no dull moment. It is 300 pages of reading pleasure mixed with serious discomfort at what is being presented: the world of finance as it can be ― Ludovic Phalippou, professor of Financial Economics at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford

Simon Clark and Will Louch do us a service with their highly readable reminder of how greed and gullibility so often go together, and why we need good investigative journalism to keep reminding us that if the pitch (and the person doing the pitch) look just too good to be true there is probably something fishy going on behind the scenes ― Professor Sir David Omand, former director of GCHQ and author of How Spies Think

A rip-roaring account of one of the biggest frauds in corporate history. Through a pacy and deeply-researched narrative, Clark and Louch unpick how a private equity trailblazer convinced some of the world's richest and most sophisticated investors to part with their money - with devastating consequences. A must read for anyone who is sceptical about the claims made by investment companies about their ethical credentials and motives

― Owen Walker, award-winning FT journalist and author of Built on a Lie

A riveting account of the intertwining of brilliance and greed... Should be a mandatory read at all schools of journalism and business schools. It's a rare tour de force from which both can learn ― Business Standard, India

A scorching epilogue... This is tough stuff and this is a tough book that should contribute to much greater scepticism about the bloated financial system ― The Sunday Times

Clark and Louch have done an outstanding job in untangling the knots that usually keep the secretive world of private equity out of reach for most people ― Pakistan's Dawn

It's a sorry tale, one that raises important questions about our ability to deliver "ethical" capitalism. Alas, it is proof, yet again, of the investment adage, that if something is too good to be true it probably is. While his backers count their losses and Naqvi battles his US pursuers, it is galling to think that right now, somewhere, a snake oil salesman is doing their darnedest and folks are falling for it. Nothing ever changes ― Chris Blackhurst, The National

Impeccably researched and sumptuous in its detail...It is a page-turner, built around a riveting portrait of the key man of the title. Mr. Naqvi who comes across as a teeming mass of contradictions ― The Economist

This excellent book, which is more true crime than finance, describes in cinematic detail how Naqvi and his colleagues pumped up valuations, moved money between the company, its funds and their personal accounts, and lied about performance ― Reuters

Simon Clark is a Wall Street Journal reporter based in London. His investigative reporting has led him to the poppy fields of Afghanistan, the copper mines of Congo and to many banks in the City of London. He was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 2016. He lives in Lewes, England.

Will Louch is at law school in London. He was previously a Wall Street Journal reporter covering private equity in London and New York. Before that, he was based in Brussels where he wrote about European politics.