Money Men

A Hot Startup, A Billion Dollar Fraud, A Fight for the Truth

By: Dan McCrum

Narrated by: Dan McCrum

Brought to you by Penguin.

When investigative journalist Dan McCrum first came across Wirecard, the hot new tech company that looked poised to challenge Silicon Valley, it all looked a little too good to be true: offices were sprouting up all over the world, they were reporting runaway growth and the CEO even wore a black turtleneck in tribute to Steve Jobs (or perhaps Elizabeth Holmes). In the space of a few short years, the company had come from nowhere to overtake industry giants like Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank on the stock market.

As McCrum began to dig deeper, he encountered a story stranger and more compelling than he could have imagined: a world of short sellers and whistleblowers, pornographers and private militias, hackers and spies. Before long, he realised that he wasn't the only one in pursuit. Shadowy figures were following him through the streets of London, high-flying lawyers were sending ominous letters to his boss and he even received a criminal complaint from financial regulators. Now the race was on to prove his suspicions and clear his name.

Based on inside sources and a years-long paper trail, this is the riveting inside story of the Wirecard fraud, a multi-billion-dollar house of cards that turned Germany's biggest new tech darling into an international investigation. Uncovering fake bank accounts, fake offices, fake journalists, a fake kidnapping and possibly even a fake death, McCrum offers a searing exposé that will finally reveal the truth.

©2022 Dan McCrum (P)2022 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Dan McCrum's deep dive into Wirecard was the financial investigation of the decade. Money Men tells the story from inside Wirecard's headquarters with entertaining drama and verve, but it also unspools the high-stakes reporting process McCrum and his colleagues carried out at the Financial Times against the odds. It instantly enters the canon of great financial crime books." (Bradley Hope, co-author of New York Times bestseller Billion Dollar Whale)

"A milestone in the history of investigative journalism." (Olaf Scholz, Chancellor of Germany, awarding the Reporters Forum Reporterpreis)

"Money Men is a rip-roaring ride into the underworld of the global economy. Dan McCrum is a proper reporter: there is no threat, con trick or hangover that will stand in his way. In today's pandemic of lies, courageous journalism like this is the medicine." (Tom Burgis, Sunday Times bestselling author of Kleptopia)

Best business book

One of best business books ever. On par with Bad Blood. Impressive work by McCrum. Hats off.

Very informative; terrible narration

I really enjoyed listening to all of the information in this book. My only two notes on the content were 1. There were so many names it was hard to keep them straight in the audio version - it would have benefited from briefly re-introducing minor players when they pop back up later in the book and 2. The book didn’t need to discuss the Wirecard executives’ politics to demonstrate the fraud. It was definitely an interesting aside but kind of screwed up the pacing of the book. Otherwise the book was great. But the narration was terrible. The microphone picked up the sound of the excess saliva in his mouth. His cadence of speech was very strange and broke up the sentences in strange ways.

Overall recommend! But maybe in print?

People see what they want to

Great story of persistent journalism to catch a modern day ponzi scheme. Despite the threats, lies, and ineptitude of local law enforcement, justice finally prevailed.

Interesting book but…

I very much wish the author had not read his own book. The odd breathing and nasal quality of his voice are distracting. It’s a shame. He is an intrepid, incredibly intelligent reporter. I watched a documentary about this case and he was engaging in limited, focused quantities. A book 100% compromised of him as both the narrator and author is almost intolerable.

The book also loses its way with extraneous details/granular details and side stories. While these are understandably interesting to the author, they are tedious. The book would have benefited from a better editor.

A great book overshadowed by voice production

I found the story to be very interesting. The author has a good voice but the editing wasn’t great. You can hear the author swallowing, breathing or making small pronunciation mistakes, It’s not often, but it’s enough to feel like someone didn’t quite do their job in editing the audio,

Good story but lacks a better narrator

I listen to a lot of audio books and the narrator makes the difference here. The story is good, but I can’t follow the narrator.

Good story . Narration painfully jerky.

Would be a far better experience with a decent reader. Story is fascinating but listening has made the experience irritating. These books are expensive so getting a decent narrator is the minimum expectation

great story

if only the lector was better. I couldn’t help but hear his dry mouth making noises almost all the time

Fantastic! Go Dan!!

If this isn’t an excellent example of perseverance, I don’t know what would be! This was an excellent read, and I couldn’t stop.

Can’t believe this is a true story

I’m so glad Dan decided to read his masterpiece. It takes a lot of skill to weave such a complex and convoluted set of circumstances into a gripping story like this one.