{"product_id":"9781770226210","title":"The Grand Scam","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom 2005 to 2009, the heir to one of South Africa's blue-blood families methodically constructed the largest-ever con in South African history. Barry Tannenbaum, the grandson of the founder of one of the country's biggest pharmaceutical fi rms, Adcock Ingram, offered investors stratospheric returns of more than 200 per cent a year by investing in the components used to make AIDS drugs. It was nothing more than a lie, which suckered the country's business elite, including the former CEO of Pick n Pay, the one-time head of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the ex-boss of OK Bazaars.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAfter the bubble popped in June 2009, finance minister Pravin Gordhan announced that hundreds of investors in South Africa, Australia and Europe had ploughed more than R12.5 billion into Tannenbaum's scheme, based on the empty promise of immense riches. Dwarfing the Brett Kebble rip-off, Fidentia and the Krion pyramid scheme, it proved to be the most embarrassing financial disaster in the country's history, and it exposed holes in a banking and fi nancial system billed as one of the safest in the world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor Tannenbaum's victims, the nightmare continued after the scheme collapsed, as liquidators, tax offi cials and criminal investigators demanded their pound of fl esh. But Tannenbaum, now at large on Australia's Gold Coast, continues to live as if nothing happened, working for an Australian insurance company.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThe question that hasn't been answered until now is, how did Tannenbaum swindle so many people with such ease? And, more crucially, why did he do it? Through extensive interviews with his family, friends and numerous 'investors', this book provides the startling answers to those questions.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor the first time, the real motivation that fueled South Africa's Bernie Madoff is laid bare.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"book-contributors\"\u003e\n  \u003cp class=\"contributor-item\"\u003e\n    \u003cspan class=\"contributor-role\"\u003eAuthor\u003c\/span\u003e\n    \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=Author+Rob+Rose\" class=\"contributor-link\"\u003eRob Rose\u003c\/a\u003e\n  \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Rob Rose","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47377354293411,"sku":"9781770226210","price":250.0,"currency_code":"ZAR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0741\/7836\/3555\/files\/img_9781770226210_4c0ae8dc-5d30-44b2-b455-efaf5958263d.jpg?v=1776572693","url":"https:\/\/graffitibooks.co.za\/products\/9781770226210","provider":"Graffiti Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}