The fraud triptych: Bad blood, Black Edge and Billion Dollar Whale (3/n)

The third and final common thread or theme one can pick up reading these books is the amount of energy spent avoiding getting caught. I find it incredible that they were all able to avoid getting caught for years and the only reasonable explanation is that they put an inordinate amount of energy into the endeavor. Should they be commended for that? Absolutely not. But not recognizing that they are "good" at hiding in plain sight would also be avoiding an inconvenient truth. They are obviously crafty individuals with an uncanny capacity for 1) controlling the message and 2) controlling the feelings of others towards them.

On the issue of "controlling the message", we can discern two types of methods used. The first is being a real PR machine and making sure to be one step ahead of any reporters question. This is what Theranos did. Instead of waiting for the press to come to her, Elizabeth Holmes went straight after the press and exploited the laziness / credulity of reporters covering her company. She did check all the boxes that made a good story from a journalists perspective: young, check, woman, check, mission to save the world, check. The second method is to operate in the shadows. This is what Mathew Martoma of SAC and Jho Low of the 1MBD fund did so effectively. They were able to control the message by operating in an entity that itself carried the message: a hedge fund out to make its investors rich and a sovereign wealth fund making sure the future of the country was secure.

On the issue of "controlling the feelings of others towards them" each of them manufactured trust with the individuals surrounding them. The method through which they created trust was different of course: appearing like the long lost daughter for Elizabeth, being a reliable money maker for Mathew or promising re-election to the prime minster for Jho. They were able able to create trust with people that would open doors for them to perpetrate their fraudulent scheme. In a way they were aided / sponsored by these individuals to go down the route of fraud, either in an interested or disinterested fashion. 

The obvious question one asks after reading each of these books is "What if they had put all their energy into doing something non-fraudulent?". I actually think that is the wrong question to ask. Rather the question that should be asked is "Why weren't they able of doing something non-fraudulent?". The three parts of this brief essay try to outline the reasons: 1) a broken moral compass from an early age, 2) operating in an environment that rewards ends and not means 3) an uncanny capacity for building trust and controlling that trust. And yes of course, they all have sociopathic tendencies in the sense that they are selfish, egocentric individuals using any means necessary to get their needs (power and money) fulfilled.