Safe As Houses: The Schemers and Scams Behind Some of the World's Greatest Financial Scandals - Hardcover

From the South Sea Bubble scandal in 17l0-which the author says may have been the first financial scam-to young Nick Leeson's activities that brought down Barings in 1995, this volume chronicles all sorts of financial schemes and scandals. Robert Maxwell, Ivan Boesky, and lesser-known frauds are described in this detailed, well-paced text. Each incident is framed in brief historical context, giving the reader just enough background to appreciate each scandal, from its roots to its unraveling. Although many of the high-profile scams?BCCI, Guinness, the Vatican Bank?have been addressed in the press, this volume successfully looks behind the headlines and shows the reader how such scandals develop, often of their own momentum. Jaffa (Maxwell Stories, Parkwest, 1993) takes an objective look at a world where people ask, as Boesky once did, "What good is it if you can't buy it or sell it?"?Christine A. Moesch, Buffalo & Erie Cty. P.L., NY
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.