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If you can’t stop watching “The Dropout” and “Inventing Anna,” you’re already gripped by real-life tales of women who lie, cheat and steal. So if you’re looking for some extended reading, or just want to pass the time before the next episode of “WeCrashed,” these non-fiction books about women scammers, grifters, thieves and frauds are a great place to start.
While crime novels are certainly rousing, there’s something extra thrilling about outlandish tales that are totally true. From a 19-year-old Stanford dropout named Elizabeth Holmes starting a fraudulent $9 billion biotech company to a pack of high school students creating a burglary ring of celebrities’ homes, these are stories about real women doing real crimes. Some even paid the time for it. (Looking at you, Anna Sorokin.)
So to keep up with all these (lady) scams, check out these books about women con artists and fraudsters.
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"Bad Blood," published in 2018, is a look at Holmes' rising fame as a groundbreaking female biotech entrepreneur and Carreyrou's involvement with the ultimate decline of her company, Theranos. He interviewed over 150 former staffers, patients, investors and others entangled in Theranos to tell the story from many angles.
"My Friend Anna" is Williams' own account of her relationship with the fake heiress and upper crust New York City swindler, Anna Sorokin, including their infamous trip to Morocco, where Sorokin racked up over $60,000 in bills that Williams covered with her corporate credit card.
Gibson took on a Goop-like mission, singing the praises of expensive health food store powders and potions, and ultimately was fined by the Australian government for "misleading and deceptive conduct" as well as lying about donating profits to charities. "The Woman Who Fooled The World" is an investigative look at the rise and fall of Gibson's health empire and lies, by Australian journalists Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano.
A cousin of Gwyneth Paltrow and an amateur filmmaker, Rebekah Neumann had lofty goals for her family and is reported to be the brains behind much of WeWork's later growth, including WeGrow, a WeWork school.
"The Cult of We" follows the growth and decline of the co-working space-turned-$47 billion-dollar lifestyle company from journalists Eliot Brown and Maureen Farrell. For more, check out AppleTV's "WeCrashed," in which Adam and Rebekah are played by Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway.
Led by Rachel Lee and Alexis Haines (née Neiers), the group was dubbed "The Bling Ring" or "Hollywood Hills Burglar Bunch" and famously targeted celebs like Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan. Sales first wrote about the group in her famous 2010 Vanity Fair story, "The Suspects Wore Louboutins," which was the inspiration for Sofia Coppola's 2013 film "The Bling Ring." In this book, Sales gives background on each member of the group and details how Lee and Haines organized their burglary sprees.
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