Black Edge
Steven Cohen changed Wall Street. He and his fellow pioneers of the hedge fund industry made their billions through financial speculation, by placing bets in the market that turned out to be right more often than not. Cohen was revered as one of the greatest traders who ever lived. But that image was shattered when his fund, SAC Capital, became the target of a seven-year government investigation. Black Edge raises urgent and troubling questions about those who sit at the pinnacle of high finance and how they have reshaped the economy.
Praise for Black Edge
“If you liked James B. Stewart’s Den of Thieves, Sheelah Kolhatkar’s thrilling Black Edge should be next on your reading list.”
— The Wall Street Journal
“A modern version of Moby-Dick, with wiretaps rather than harpoons.”
— Jennifer Senior, The New York Times
“A lot of people do not trust Wall Street. They regard it as a moneymaking machine for those who work there, which has little interest in practice in its stated aim of channeling capital into businesses and helping them to grow for the broader benefit of society. For such skeptics, Steven Cohen is Exhibit A.”
— John Gapper, Financial Times
“A richly reported, entertaining tale about the cat-and-mouse game between the government and Cohen.”
— Andrew Ross Sorkin, The New York Times Book Review
“Black Edge is not just a work of major importance, it is also addictively readable—and horrifyingly compelling. Sheelah Kolhatkar pulls back the curtain on the cheating, corruption, and skulduggery that underlie large swaths of the hedge fund industry and some of Wall Street’s most fabled fortunes. This book is as hard to put down as it is to stomach.”
— Jane Mayer, New York Times bestselling author of Dark Money
“Black Edge is a real-life thriller about the government’s attempt to get the legendary trader Steve Cohen on insider trading charges—and the lengths to which he goes to elude them. Using deep reporting and top-notch storytelling, Sheelah Kolhatkar is able to shed new light on one of the least known and most fascinating characters on Wall Street.”
— Bethany McLean, co-author of The Smartest Guys in the Room