Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World

by Tom Wright

Before an agreement with the U.S. energy company could be reached, Goldman’s compliance department told its bankers to stop working with Low or his entity on the deal, again citing concerns over his wealth. It was the same reason Goldman’s private bank had given to reject Low for an account a few years earlier. As a result, Goldman switched to advising Cepsa, the IPIC unit, even though its bankers were aware that Low was still involved. Eventually, Wyatt Jr. agreed to sell, and Low invested $50 million in the deal, with Cepsa funding the remainder of the purchase price. One week later, Cepsa transferred $350 million into Low’s shell company, ostensibly to buy out Low’s share in the partnership. He had made 600 percent on his money in a matter of days. Shawki, the Goldman banker, who was now working with IPIC, told executives at the Abu Dhabi fund that the payout to Low was to reward him for scouting out the Coastal deal. Unknown to Shawki, in reality it was nothing less than corruption, the spoils shared between Low and Al Qubaisi. In public, Goldman denied knowledge of any agreement between Cepsa and Low’s shell company.