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

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And so they're kind of leaning on each other. And if you take one -- takes the other away, then it all collapses. At Greensill Capital, absolutely Lex and the other executives know that this is a problem. They discuss it all the time in management meetings, how are they going to kind of get out of this problem. Lex being the optimist at all these management meetings will say, leave it to me, I've got it sorted, we'll outgrow this. Of course, they couldn't. The southern Pyramid of Sneferu, commonly known as the Bent Pyramid, is believed to be the first Egyptian pyramid intended by its builders to be a "true" smooth-sided pyramid from the outset; the earlier pyramid at Meidum had smooth sides in its finished state, but it was conceived and built as a step pyramid, before having its steps filled in and concealed beneath a smooth outer casing of dressed stone. As a true smooth-sided structure, the Bent Pyramid was only a partial success—albeit a unique, visually imposing one; it is also the only major Egyptian pyramid to retain a significant proportion of its original smooth outer limestone casing intact. As such it serves as the best contemporary example of how the ancient Egyptians intended their pyramids to look. Several kilometres to the north of the Bent Pyramid is the last—and most successful—of the three pyramids constructed during the reign of Sneferu; the Red Pyramid is the world's first successfully completed smooth-sided pyramid. The structure is also the third-largest pyramid in Egypt, after the pyramids of Khufu and Khafra at Giza. And for a form of Prime Minister who really only has his reputation to sell his credibility and his reputation to have put it all on this company, which was already showing some serious red flags, that was a really strange move. He has never issued a public apology to Ms Wyatt. Her mother later claimed Ms Wyatt was forced to have an abortion as a result of her relationship with Mr Johnson. Jennifer Arcuri Boris Johnson has never publicly admitted to his alleged affair with US tech entrepreneur Jennifer Arcuri (Photo: Eugene Metreveli) For Lex, though, the moment was another triumph. This was exactly where he always thought he belonged: in a fancy, historic hotel, at the top of the head table, with seasoned bankers coveting his attention and a major political power player dancing to his tune. It was the perfect evening.

Pyramid of Lies by Duncan Mavin - Ebook | Scribd Pyramid of Lies by Duncan Mavin - Ebook | Scribd

NATHAN HUNT: One of the strangest parts of the book for me was the -- and it's a minor point, but it was the fact that when Lex Greensill had attained his position in Downing Street, he nonetheless, also chose to misrepresent his relationship with the Obama administration in the United States. He apparently had been in a meeting in the White House on an occasion, but he turned that into sort of a formal advisory relationship. Why on earth would he lie about something that doesn't give him any additional benefit beyond the Downing Street relationship he already has? And there would be some sort of implausible excuse given. A very, very difficult firm to deal with. And I suppose that was probably one of the biggest red flags, right, that if somebody is so desperate not to tell you the truth, not to answer your questions, even questions which seem pretty straightforward, then that's a real red flag. If you've got a genuine business that's genuinely growing faster that is being done in a very honest and well organized and well structured way, then you're probably fine answering difficult questions from journalists. But if you've got a business which fundamentally is not doing what it's supposed to, then that's always going to be a difficult relationship.The morning was taken up by a big meeting, recapping the past month’s work and mulling the next stage of Greensill’s rapid global expansion. A tighter group met in the afternoon, an inner circle of senior executives and board members who had been taken into King Lex’s confidence.

Pyramid of Lies The Essential Podcast, Episode 67: Pyramid of Lies

And in that case, there's a few million dollars of maybe somebody who has got a little bit more than that has been poured into these funds, which have been sold as ultrasafe, but in fact, they aren't really. They're full of risky loans. And so Credit Suisse played a really important role in fueling Greensill Capital growth, but also spreading the risk to people who didn't understand what they were getting into. An epic true story of ambition, greed and hubris – the collapse of Greensill Capital is a billion pound scandal that shredded the reputation of a British Prime Minister. Mr Johnson was swiftly summoned to the office of Charles Wilson, then-editor of The Times, and dismissed. He has since apologised, while also complaining about the “snivelling, fact-grubbing historians” who called him out.

“Most of these people were friends of his. They wouldn’t believe that someone close to them like that would be doing that.”

Xu, Bohai (31 January 2019). "The Place where Huni probably Buried". SocArXiv. doi: 10.31235/osf.io/gnw3k. Archived from the original on 31 January 2019 . Retrieved 7 April 2023. Work on the flat above No 11 began in April 2020, while the Prime Minister was in hospital with Covid. Reports at the time suggested his wife, Carrie Symonds, was horrified at the “John Lewis furniture nightmare” left behind by the Prime Minister’s predecessor, Theresa May, though she has denied the claims. Mr Johnson last week issued a “humble and sincere” apology to Lord Geidt, his ethics adviser, for withholding the messages from an inquiry. Tory sleaze As the Conservative Party self-immolates in the wake of the public’s final loss of patience with the Prime Minister, Duncan Mavin’s new book, The Pyramid of Lies: Lex Greensill and the Billion-Dollar Scandal, is a useful reminder that the creeping (now overwhelming) impression of tawdriness in public life did not begin with Boris. The future Prime Minister, then aged 23, is said to have “invented” a comment from a distinguished Oxford don, historian Colin Lucas — who happened to be his godfather.