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by David Enrich
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Dark Towers dives into the dirty inner workings and the rise and fall of Deutsche Bank, which contributed to many notable but not always beneficial events of the past 150 years, including the American railroad system, the Nazi regime, funding Russian oligarchs, and even the election of Donald Trump.
Dark Towers dives into the dirty inner workings and the rise and fall of Deutsche Bank, which contributed to many notable but not always beneficial events of the past 150 years, including the American railroad system, the Nazi regime, funding Russian oligarchs, and even the election of Donald Trump.
In 1883, German immigrant Henry Villard arrived in Gold Creek, Montana to nail in the last spike of the transcontinental railroad his company had built. Georg von Siemens of Deutsche bank was there because he had funded the railroad. But despite the big celebration, Villard’s company was falling apart.
Weeks later, his bank defaulted on its loans and its investors, including Deutsche, lost everything. Soon it came out that Villard had used the borrowed money to fund his over-the-top mansion in Manhattan. He denied blame for the whole debacle.
Later, in Germany, Villard again became acquainted with Siemens, and oddly enough, Siemens decided to do business with him again. He funded more United States railroad networks, but soon the companies under Villard went bankrupt again. Predictably, Villard again ducked the blame.
Despite the shady characters Deutsche did business with, it continued to grow. It benefited immensely from European industrialization, and by 1913, it was the sixth-largest bank worldwide.
In 1933 when Hitler came to power, Deutsche bank was the main financier for the regime. The bank was in charge of converting the gold stolen from victims of the Holocaust and turning them into cash. Deutsche also financed the construction of the Auschwitz concentration camp, and they funded the factory that produced the poison gas used in the camps’ death chambers.
After the war, what was left of the Berlin headquarters of the bank was now under the control of the British. They decided it would be beneficial to use the strong German bank to resuscitate the economy. Shockingly, they let the previous director, Hermann Abs, off the hook for his war crimes, and he was soon running Deutsche again.
It took a long time, but in 2013, regulators started to catch on to just how much shady business was going on behind Deutsche’s closed doors. Just in the first half of 2013, Deutsche fielded around 5,000 requests for information. Soon, a British investigator brought a case against Deutsche for tax fraud. Instead of stopping the illegal actions, Deutsche moved on to Germany. By the time the Germans forced them to stop, they had already swindled both governments out of almost $250 million. As regulators began imposing higher, billion-dollar fees on wrongdoers, Bill Broeksmit began trying to stop the bank’s criminal activities. No one listened. In 2009, Broeksmit confronted Troy Dixon, a young New York trader, over his risky trades. Dixon’s whole…
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Get the complete summary in the appCorrupt people and vile institutions were the main clients for Deutsche Bank in its early stages.
It wasn’t until 2013 that Deutsche’s shady business finally began to come to light.
Deutsche’s loans to Donald Trump helped him become president of the United States.
"Dark Towers" is a strong fit if you want practical ideas around biography, economics, history, especially themes like corrupt people and vile institutions were the main clients for deutsche bank in its early stages; it wasn’t until 2013 that deutsche’s shady business finally began to come to light. The MinuteRead summary distills these concepts into a focused read, whether you're deciding whether to buy the book or applying its lessons at work.
Motivated to help readers with dark Towers dives into the dirty inner workings and the rise and fall of Deutsche Bank, David Enrich wrote “Dark Towers” to package those ideas for a fast, focused read. In “Dark Towers”, David Enrich focuses on dark Towers dives into the dirty inner workings and the rise and fall of Deutsche Bank. Through “Dark Towers”, David Enrich distills the core ideas on biography into lessons readers can absorb in a single short sitting. Readers turn to this work when they w…
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