Con Men, The

Leo Gough was the editor of two investment newsletters during the 1990’s, ‘The Zurich Club’ and ‘Taipan’ for Fleet Street Publications. Since 1997 he has spent much of his time in the Asia/Pacific region, working with banks, such as Citibank, and consultancy firms, such as AT Kearney. Currently Leo is working in management consultancy in the Middle East. He is the author of more than 20 books on personal finance and investment.

Leo Gough’s book ‘The Con Men’ is something that has needed to be written for a very long time. It gives a potted history of the major frauds that have been perpetrated on the investing public, who have lost masses of their hard earned capital, and who have no redress for the theft of their money. Charles Vintcent, author of Investing for Recovery (FT Publishing, 2010)

• Part One A brief but efficient history of trickery Chapter 1 The horror stories Chapter 2 Our touching need for confidence  Chapter 3 Shiny new inventions and old tricks Part Two Let’s go to work: the confidence men in action Chapter 4 Sharks or maniacs? Chapter 5   Yielding to temptation: the Allen Stanford story Chapter 6 Shamanagement: financial wizardry to create paper profits Part Three   Why we get the swindlers we deserve Chapter 7 Some deadly sins of investment: trusting false prophets, investing for the Apocalypse and the money illusion Chapter 8   Moral hazard in the system Chapter 9 Due negligence: failing to do the analysis Part Four How to avoid being swindled Chapter 10   Funds are not all the same!    Chapter 11   All the books are cooked: the trouble with company accounts Chapter 12   Safer strategies Afterword Further reading Index