The Liars Ball: The Extraordinary Saga of How One Building Broke the Worlds Toughest Tycoons

PRAISE FOR THE LIAR'S BALL BY VICKY WARD "Vicky Ward has done it again. She has taken a subject and a cast of characters, many of whom we would not invite to dinner, and woven a page-turning, compelling tale. She transforms real estate players, who to most of us are stick figures, into pulsating characters. Yes, they are greedy. But they also can be visionary and vulnerable, and damn interesting." —KEN AULETTA, The New Yorker "This riveting book is far more than an exposé of ambition, greed, and business acumen (which, it turns out, is composed in equal parts of hubris, chutzpah, and sheer brilliance) at the apex of the New York real estate world. It is also a most subtle analysis of character, motive, passion, and rivalries, the stuff of which great fiction is made. The Liar's Ball will be a revelation to those of us who've always wondered how real estate tycoons become billionaires one day and can go bankrupt the next. I couldn't put this book down. It's a romp of a read." —HENRY LOUIS GATES, Jr., Director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research, Harvard University "The story of the world's most valuable office building is a gripping tale of boom and bust, battling billionaires, and huge egos flirting with disaster in their relentless, debt-financed pursuit of the ultimate trophy deal. Vicky Ward sheds fresh light on tycoons from Donald Trump to Steve Jobs as she brilliantly explores the vision and fragility at the heart of the most volatile part of American capitalism." —MATTHEW BISHOP, New York Bureau Chief, The Economist "Lucid, action filled, and built on astounding access—how did she get all that information?—to some of the most powerful and secretive men (yes, all men) in the world. And a rip-roaring read as well." —JAY FIELDEN, Editor in Chief, Town & Country " The Liar's Ball is about men with edifice complexes. In this case, the ones who have left their mark all over New York City. Thanks to Vicky Ward, one of the most secretive, ruthless, and successful boys' clubs has been exposed. This is a fascinating and unputdownable book." —DR. AMANDA FOREMAN, author of A World on Fire

Preface ix Cast of Characters xi Introduction xv Chapter 1 Stealing the Spotlight 1 Chapter 2 Alpha Males 11 Chapter 3 The Rigged Bid 21 Chapter 4 Harry’s Hero 37 Chapter 5 The Odd Couple: The English Lord and the Housewife Tycoon 49 Chapter 6 The Age of the Wolf 65 Chapter 7 Donald Trump’s Bag Man 79 Chapter 8 The Money Hunters and the Salesman from Indianapolis 91 Chapter 9 Donald’s “Force Majeure” 103 Chapter 10 Paradise, Briefl y 109 Chapter 11 Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride 117 Chapter 12 Tick Tock—A Year on the Clock 129 Chapter 13 The Fall That Wasn’t 145 Chapter 14 Aftermath 153 Note about the Sources 157 Acknowledgments 159 Notes 161 Bibliography 231 About the Author 233 Index 235

VICKY WARD is the New York-based, British-born author of the New York Times bestseller The Devil's Casino: Friendship, Betrayal, and the High-Stakes Games Played Inside Lehman Brothers (Wiley, 2010). A former contributing editor to Vanity Fair for 11 years, she is the former executive editor of Talk magazine and the former news features editor of the New York Post . Her work has appeared in the New York Times , the Financial Times, The Times (London), and the Daily Telegraph . She holds a master's in English literature from Cambridge University.