Whale Hunting is a weekly newsletter delving into the secret worlds of money and power that Project Brazen became obsessed with ever since its multi-year investigation into the globe-sprawling 1MDB scandal starting in 2015. That project changed our entire worldview. We wrote a book about it.
Jho Low, the fraudster who orchestrated the $6 billion theft from 1MDB and is still at large, was the ultimate whale. The term comes from nightclubs and casinos, who use it as a codeword for big spenders. Our use of the term is broader. The whales are the people, usually armed with extraordinary amounts of money, that play a larger role in global affairs than their public profile might suggest. Sometimes they’re a public figure doing unexpected things behind the scenes. Understanding who they are and what they’re up to is an eye-opening experience that will change how you interpret the daily news.