The Pyramid of Lies

The Pyramid of Lies: Lex Greensill and the Billion-Dollar Scandal

Duncan Mavin (author)

In March 2021, an obscure financial technology company called Greensill Capital collapsed, going into administration. As it unravelled, a multibillion-dollar scandal emerged that would shake the very foundations of the British political system, drawing in swiss bankers, global CEOs, and world leaders, including former British Prime Minister, David Cameron. At the centre was an Australian financier named Lex Greensill.

Pyramid of Lies charts the meteoric rise and spectacular downfall of Greensill and his company. He had a simple idea – democratising supply chain finance – and disrupted a trillion dollar industry in the process. But a staid business model concealed dubious practices as Greensill made increasingly risky loans to fraudulent companies using other people’s money.

Financial journalist Duncan Mavin, who has reported on the scandal for over three years, tells the incredible story of how a former sugar-cane farmer would go on to put tens of thousands of jobs at risk and gain unfettered access to the inner workings of the British government. With a globe-circling narrative full of scandal and intrigue, Pyramid of Lies reveals how the grubby world of shadow banking really operates.

Duncan Mavin is a seasoned international financial journalist. Born and raised near Newcastle, he studied history at Durham University and spent a decade as a chartered accountant in the City and in Toronto. He then became a financial reporter and foreign correspondent for Canada’s National Post. Since 2009, he has been a reporter and editor for Dow Jones publications including the Wall Street Journal, based in Hong Kong, London and New York. Duncan wrote and edited the Journal’s influential Heard on the Street column for several years, and was the Journal’s Financial Editor for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He was also the Managing Editor for Barron’s Group. His writing has also appeared in Barron’s, Financial News and on Bloomberg News. He lives with his wife and three sons in the UK, and is a long-suffering fan of Sunderland football club. The Pyramid of Lies is his first book.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Macmillan; Main Market edition (21 July 2022)
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 9781529088885
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 23.5 x 3.05 x 15.24 cm