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Black Edge
Black Edge: Inside Information, Dirty Money, and the Quest to Bring Down the Most Wanted Man on Wall Street | Sheelah Kolhatkar
The story of billionaire trader Steven Cohen, the rise and fall of his hedge fund SAC Capital, and the largest insider trading investigation in history--for readers of The Big Short, Den of Thieves, and Dark Money Steven A. Cohen changed Wall Street. He and his fellow pioneers of the hedge fund industry didn't lay railroads, build factories, or invent new technologies. Rather, they made their billions through speculation, by placing bets in the market that turned out to be right more often than wrong--and for this, they gained not only extreme personal wealth but formidable influence throughout society. Hedge funds now oversee more than $3 trillion in assets, and the competition between them is so fierce that traders will do whatever they can to get an edge. Cohen was one of the industry's biggest success stories, the person everyone else in the business wanted to be. Born into a middle-class family on Long Island, he longed from an early age to be a star on Wall Street. He mastered poker in high school, went off to Wharton, and in 1992 launched the hedge fund SAC Capital, which he built into a $15 billion empire, almost entirely on the basis of his wizardlike stock trading. He cultivated an air of mystery, reclusiveness, and excess, building a 35,000-square-foot mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut, flying to work by helicopter, and amassing one of the largest private art collections in the world. On Wall Street, Cohen was revered as a genius: one of the greatest traders who ever lived. That image was shattered when SAC Capital became the target of a sprawling, seven-year investigation, led by a determined group of FBI agents, prosecutors, and SEC enforcement attorneys. Labeled by prosecutors as a "magnet for market cheaters" whose culture encouraged the relentless pursuit of "edge"--and even "black edge," which is inside information--SAC Capital was ultimately indicted and pleaded guilty to charges of securities and wire fraud in connection with a vast insider trading scheme, even as Cohen himself was never charged. Black Edge offers a revelatory look at the gray zone in which so much of Wall Street functions. It's a riveting, true-life legal thriller that takes readers inside the government's pursuit of Cohen and his employees, and raises urgent and troubling questions about the power and wealth of those who sit at the pinnacle of modern Wall Street. Advance praise for Black Edge "A tour de force of groundbreaking reporting and brilliant storytelling, a revealing inside account of how the Feds track a high-profile target--and, just as important, an unsettling portrayal of how Wall Street works today."--Jeffrey Toobin, New York Times bestselling author of American Heiress "Black Edge is not just a work of major importance, it is also addictively readable--and horrifyingly compelling. Sheelah Kolhatkar pulls back the curtain on the cheating, corruption, and skulduggery that underlie large swaths of the hedge fund industry and some of Wall Street's most fabled fortunes. This book is as hard to put down as it is to stomach."--Jane Mayer, New York Times bestselling author of Dark Money "Fast-paced and filled with twists, Black Edge has the grip of a thriller. It is also an essential expos? of our times--a work that reveals the deep rot in our financial system. Everyone should read this book."--David Grann, New York Times bestselling author of The Lost City of Z
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Mitch
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This should not have been so good! 300 pages about rich people making obscene amounts of money, living billionaire lifestyles with no regard for law - a world that repulses me. Yet this account of colossal hedge fund fraud is compelling. Kolhatkar is an amazing journalist, compulsive story teller and makes complex financial manoeuvres easily understood. A five star read!

AmyG This looks very good. I may get this for my husband-for a trip we are taking to Croatia in the fall. He will need a good book. Ha, then I can read it. 2y
Mitch @AmyG it‘s a good one! 2y
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Mitch
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Having a slow start today - lots of pup cuddles and a strangely addictive book!

Bookbuyingaddict Snap same here 😆some days just go like that don‘t they ? 2y
Mitch @Karons1 yeah - it was a low key day 🤨 2y
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tullett94
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7/10

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Matilda
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I choked

Stephaniereads1 I wish. Well at a book store. Lol 5y
Stephaniereads1 Books and takeout! 5y
Matilda @Stephaniereads1 count me in! 5y
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Oblomov26
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Well I work in finance so I should read at least some books on this subject. Black Edge refers to insider information and this story is about an FBI investigation into the Hedge Fund SAC Capital, its founder Steven Cohen and his team of traders who the government alleged regularly used insider information in the pursuit of profits. A story fascinating in its detail, but as with so many white collar crimes without a completely satisfying resolution