Too Big to Jail cover art

Too Big to Jail

Inside HSBC, the Mexican Drug Cartels and the Greatest Banking Scandal of the Century

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Too Big to Jail

By: Chris Blackhurst
Narrated by: Chris Blackhurst
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About this listen

From journalist Chris Blackhurst, Too Big to Jail unveils how HSBC facilitated mass money laundering schemes for brutal drug kingpins and rogue nations–and thereby helped to grow one of the deadliest drugs empires the world has ever seen.

While HSBC likes to sell itself as ‘the world’s local bank’–the friendly face of corporate and personal finance–it was hit with a record US fine of $1.9 billion. In pursuit of their goal of becoming the biggest bank in the world, between 2003 and 2010, HSBC allowed El Chapo and the Sinaloa cartel, one of the most notorious and murderous criminal organizations in the world, to turn its ill-gotten money into clean dollars.

How did a bank which boasts transparency, come to facilitate Mexico’s richest drug baron? And how did a bank that had been named ‘one of the best-run organizations in the world’ become so entwined with one of the most barbaric groups of gangsters on the planet?

Too Big to Jail is an extraordinary story, brilliantly told by writer, commentator and former editor of The Independent, Chris Blackhurst, that starts in Hong Kong and ranges across London, Washington, the Cayman Islands and Mexico.

It brings together an extraordinary cast of politicians, bankers, drug dealers, FBI officers and whistle-blowers, and asks what price does greed have? Whose job is it to police global finance? And why did not a single person go to prison for facilitating the murderous expansion of a global drug empire?

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2022 Macmillan Publishers International Limited (P)2022 Macmillan Publishers International Limited
Banks & Banking Business Communication Career Success Corporate & Public Finance Organized Crime True Crime White Collar & Corporate Crime Crime Banking Latin American Business Mexico

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Critic reviews

"Packed with insights and details that will both amaze and appal you." (Oliver Bullough, author of Butler to the World)

All stars
Most relevant
Brilliant book, very well written, even though the story is absolutely infuriating. One of the books that makes you wonder whether something it’s better not to know something ..
I’d argue the title shouldn’t be too big to jail - but too well connected to jail.
Anyway, hugely recommend it.

Excellent

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A well told story which raises difficult questions about big corporations, particularly banks, are managed and how the system failed.

A fascinating listen

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This book gives a really good run down of the scandal between HSBC and the Mexican cartels money. It’s a frustrating story that more people should know, well written and narrated.

Good breakdown of another corruption scandal

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Bad bad bad accent for foreign names and city names. Story itself is interesting enough

Good story. Annoying narration

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A good piece of journalism capturing an almost cliche example of corruption.
I like it when an author narrates their book, but Blackhurst slur and pace did grate on me. If this affects you, I would suggest you change the speed to 1.2. This helped hugely.

I couldn’t help compare the fates of El Chapo and that of Stephen Green. One is incarcerated for life and forced to pay billions, the other sits in the House of Lords and was fined.
It is clear that each actor cannot be entirely compared along these simplistic measures, but both were intimately involved in actions that led to death and suffering, and their fates were determined by their level of social acceptance. Why no one was imprisoned for this corruption is hard to fathom. Why Green is welcomed into Westminster is beyond me.
If you were cynical about the Government and banking before, this book might send you over the edge.

I’m still angry, but don’t let that put you off

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