PRAISE FOR SQUEEZING SILVER
A fascinating view inside what was perhaps our first modern financial meltdown. Mark Cymrot’s meticulous account reads like a legal thriller – complete with larger than life characters, secret liaisons, and all the machinations we have come to expect from powerful defendants. In the end, there was justice, of a particular yet meaningful American sort. Could this still happen today?
Simon H. JohnsonWhenever I look back on my career, I realize how fortunate I was to work under the leadership of Mark Cymrot in the landmark silver lawsuit. In Squeezing Silver, Mark shows you why.
Pedro R. PierluisiIn Squeezing Silver, Mark Cymrot depicts his intense confrontation as a young lawyer with three legal titans in the midst of a historic trial. Having known these four fine lawyers, I know Mark’s descriptions are realistic and perceptive. The story is exciting, and Mark’s insights about a remarkable courtroom battle are uniquely revealing.
Michael D. HessSqueezing Silver is a major reference for those who want to bring about justice through the courts. This captivating book explains Mark’s outstanding legal work for Minpeco. In our later work together, we recovered millions of dollars for Peru due to his extraordinary skills as a litigator.
Jose UgazA fast read with timeless significance.
With vivid descriptions of characters and events, attorney Mark Cymrot brings alive crucial moments and memorable tensions in the 1988 trial that unveiled one of America’s most colorful and creative financial deceptions: the 1979-1980 scheme to rig the world silver market. In his nonfiction legal thriller, Mr. Cymrot deftly tells the story of how three sons of Texas wildcatter H.L. Hunt conspired with two Arab sheiks and others, meeting at thoroughbred horseracing events and luxury hotels worldwide, in a plot to hoard silver bullion. In so doing, Mr. Cymrot brings an immensely complex and intriguing civil case to the general reader, in the same way that he and his team of young trial lawyers unraveled the components of the conspiracy with such stunning clarity that the jurors could easily comprehend the details and the extent of the wrongdoing. It’s a fast read; it’s also timeless, as this excerpt from Mr. Cymrot’s opening argument shows: “We are talking about a group of privileged men who used their power and influence to push up the price of silver illegally. We will show that they did this using their incredible fortunes with an utter contempt for the very legal economic systems that were so very good to them.
Ann Hagedorn
Former Wall Street Journal staff writer who covered the 1988 trial