How Money Became Dangerous: The Inside Story of Our Turbulent Relationship with Modern Finance

Former Citigroup executive Varelas debuts with a discursive insider account of the financial industry and the fiscal perils facing America today. Varelas joined Bank of America in 1985 as a corporate loan officer servicing L.A.’s diamond and gold wholesalers. One of his clients would later be convicted of laundering money for Colombian cartel boss Pablo Escobar, a lesson that Varelas says helped to prepare him for the “rationalized immoral behavior” of Wall Street. Tracing his rise to head of Citigroup’s technology, media, and telecom investment banking division, Varelas chronicles such high-stakes deals as Northrop Aircraft’s 1994 acquisition of Grumman Aerospace, and laments the technological (computer-based analytics) and structural (private Wall Street partnerships going public) changes that he believes have made the finance industry more complex and less humane over the past 30 years. Colorful anecdotes, such as the time an executive delivered an entire presentation based on a fortune cookie or the private jet ride Varelas shared with social media influencer Logan Paul, brush up against somber reflections on the bankruptcies of Orange County and Stockton, Calif. The result is an entertaining memoir that doesn’t quite live up to its inflammatory title. (Nov.)