{"product_id":"book-c664","title":"The Spider Network","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cem\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/em\u003e's award-winning business reporter unveils the bizarre and sinister story of how a math genius named Tom Hayes, a handful of outrageous confederates, and a deeply corrupt banking system ignited one of the greatest financial scandals in history.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 2006, an oddball group of bankers, traders and brokers from some of the world’s largest financial institutions made a startling realization: Libor—the London interbank offered rate, which determines the interest rates on trillions in loans worldwide—was set daily by a small group of easily manipulated functionaries, and that they could reap huge profits by nudging it to suit their trading portfolios. Tom Hayes, a brilliant but troubled mathematician, became the lynchpin of a wild alliance that among others included a French trader nicknamed “Gollum”; the broker “Abbo,” who liked to publicly strip naked when drinking; a Kazakh chicken farmer turned something short of financial whiz kid; a broker known as “Village” (short for “Village Idiot”) and fascinated with human-animal sex; an executive called “Clumpy” because of his patchwork hair loss; and a broker uncreatively nicknamed “Big Nose.” Eventually known as the “Spider Network,” Hayes’s circle generated untold riches —until it all unraveled in spectacularly vicious, backstabbing fashion.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Spider Network \u003c\/em\u003eis not only a rollicking account of the scam, but a provocative examination of a financial system that was crooked throughout, designed to promote envelope-pushing behavior while shielding higher-ups from the consequences of their subordinates’ rapacious actions. \u003cem\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"HarperCollins","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":49345005584688,"sku":"BDc664","price":32.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Audio CD","offer_id":49345005617456,"sku":"ZEc664","price":55.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Audio MP3-CD","offer_id":49345005650224,"sku":"ZMc664","price":45.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/c664-Square-cover.jpg?v=1778311662","url":"https:\/\/downpour.com\/products\/book-c664","provider":"Downpour","version":"1.0","type":"link"}