Built on a Lie

An outstanding, readable, well researched account of the collapse of Woodford Investment Management …‘Built on a lie’ wasn’t a journalist’s sound-bite but the judgement of Mark Carney, former Governor of the Bank of England, who saw clearly that Woodford was a symptom of a dangerously unstable investment model. When a rogue investor smashes down a rotten door causing so much damage, give some credit to the rotten door. This is a must read – Vince Cable * former leader of the Liberal Democrats and Secretary of State for Business *What reads like a rip roaring tale of a corporate high wire act is in fact also a forensic exposure of a finance system out of control, populated by gambling profiteers operating with impunity and accountable to nobody – John McDonnell * Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington and former Shadow Chancellor *Owen reveals in meticulous detail the actions of disgraced fund manager Woodford - how he did what he did. But he also places at the heart of the story those who lost their life’s savings. The ones whose names and stories we mustn’t forget. Vital financial journalism with heart – Emma Barnett * broadcaster *Colourful, insightful and pacey – Oliver Shah * Business Editor of the Sunday Times and author of Damaged Goods: The Rise and Fall of Sir Philip Green *Built On A Lie pulls no punches. Owen Walker offers fresh revelations about the scandal, while asking important questions about what we can learn – Dave Baxter * Investor’s Chronicle *This book should be sold with a bottle of blood-pressure pills. Owen Walker paints a picture of complacency, incompetence and deceit that allowed Woodford, arrogant and naive in equal measure, to splurge his investors’ cash on half-baked schemes, covering up the results with financial jiggery-pokery and outright lies. Written with refreshing clarity about a subject often shrouded in mumbo-jumbo and jargon… Walker’s depiction is meticulous and unsparing. – Edward Lucas * The Times *Neil Woodford made his name as the fund manager who made middle England rich, becoming a rock star to the investment world. Then it all went horribly wrong and Woodford lost investors more than £1bn in a ruinous fire sale. The FT’s European banking correspondent tells the story expertly * Financial Times, Best Books of 2021 *

Owen Walker is an award-winning business journalist, covering European banks for the Financial Times. He was previously asset management correspondent at the newspaper and his reporting on Neil Woodford’s downfall led to the FT winning business and finance team of the year at the 2019 Society of Editors’ Press Awards. His first book, Barbarians in the Boardroom, covered activist investors and was published in 2016.