Has The Expose Become Mere Entertainment? From "The Caesars Palace Coup" to Maybe "Bully Market"

 On June 17th, I blogged on Law and More this: In pre-sales rankings on Amazon the hatchet job on Goldman Sachs "Bully Market" was at 119,862. Not very impressive.

But today, three days later, pre-sales rankings on Amazon are up: They are at 47,096. Here you can keep monitoring the situation. The book is to be released in August. Then there will be customer reviews, both narrative and numerical (on a scale of one to five). 

All that activity may get Goldman Sachs a bit of the jitters. See, the expose is by a former high-ranking insider at that large financial firm. Jamie Fiore Higgins had been a managing director. So, of course, she has seen a lot. She also knows a lot. She can name names. 

But, not so fast.

There are exposes which cause disruption.

And then there are those which can just make the targets lay low for a couple of months and that will be that.

The disuptive kind had been Ralph Nader's book "Unsafe at Any Speed." Born was the consumer revolution. In addition, never again was GM able to take refuge in the mantra "What is good for GM is good for the country." (That had been attributed to Charles Wilson, a GM President.)

Then there are those which certainly do sell books but don't push the dial on anything. A recent one of those - and "Bully Market" could become another non-game-changer - has been "The Caesars Palace Coup." By Sujeet Indap and Max Frumes it detailed the predatory culture of Wall Street and the business hustle of large law firms. Featured as a intended grabber early in the book is a peek at law firm Kirkland & Ellis' elaborate conference room. I guess we were supposed to condemn the over-spend.

On the surface, "Caesars" looks like it could be shaking up things. Although published way back in March 2021, its sales remain brisk. On Amazon, they provide a ranking of 25,259. That's a lot for a book out there more than 14 months. There have been 711 reviews, giving the book almost a five rating out of a possible five.

Oh, there also were probably all those meetings at fnancial firms about the book. Gathered could have been the brass, their internal public relations departments, outside public relations agencies, and also their law firms. Lots of jaw-jawing. As for the Big Law firms involved the same sorts of conferences likely took place. 

Some professionals on Wall Street and the law firms representing them could have felt embarrassed. The media, ranging from Vanity Fair to Insider, ran with the story. And, maybe their subordinates - doesn't everyone resent the boss - snickered. 

But, nothing happened. Get it: Nothing happened.

Those Wall Street firms, those law firms, and those players named in the book are all doing just great. 

"Bully Market," like "Caesars," might turn out to be a fun read. But, also like "Caesars," it might provide only entertaiment. Goldman Sachs could have to invest some more funds temporarily in reputation management And that could be that.

Life on Wall Street will go on the same. Youth will be competing to get in and work there. Those named in "Bully" could be receiving promotions,

Connect with Editor-in-Chief Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com.

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