Thank you Bancroft Audiobooks for allowing me to audibly read and review Pirate Cove: An Insider's Account of the Infamous Southport Lane Scandal on NetGalley.

Narrator: James Carter

Published: 11/07/23

Stars; 2.5 - 3

Facts on top of facts on top of ...

When I saw this book I immediately thought of the television program American Greed. I needed Stacy Keach's writers.

Pirate Cove as an audiobook was too much of everything: the names, the financial amounts, places -- every thing was too much, I was stuck on repeat. Given the writing I don't think I would have followed along with an E-book either. A physical book with tabs, highlighters and a flow chart I could have followed along; however, I didn't want to annotate. This is detail heavy.

I went into this blindly expecting to be a little smarter and just a tad wiser at the conclusion. (I wasn't.)

I recommend this for someone with a finance background and/or a personal interest in Southport.

‘Pirate Cove’ written by Richard D. Bailey and narrated by James Carter is an insider’s account of the infamous Southport Lane scandal.

A fascinating perspective written by a Certified Fraud Examiner on his front-seat account of the ultimate scandal of Alexander Chatfield Burns and Andrew Scherr. My husband and I listened to this book on a trip and I did not anticipate that I would enjoy it as much as I did. I listened to the audiobook a second time on my own. Bailey provides a detailed account of the Southport operations and the FBI investigation. Bailey kept me captivated and Carter did an excellent job of narrating.

Thank you #NetGalley and #BancroftAudiobooks for the opportunity to listen to this book early in exchange for a review. All opinions and thoughts are those of my own. #PirateCove

A fascinating and attention keeping narrative about a huge corporate finance scandal that I vaguely remember being in the headlines when I was in high school. Hearing details about how a guy from Boston, an insurance company from Dallas, and a Winery in Long Island were all connected had me feeling like that Always Sunny in Philadelphia meme. There were a couple of anecdotes that kept getting repeated, quotes and things that felt trite and worn out by the end due to sheer repetition. The actual story structure, a sort of limited first person that only had the benefit of hindsight sometimes, was annoying because the point of a memoir is to share your reflections from that hindsight.
My final take always are that 1) all corporate finance is a scam 2) the parts of the math that don’t make sense aren’t supposed to and 3) the author isn’t actually a bad guy he hired a woman as his GM.

Rating 2/5 because I wouldn’t recommend it to basically anyone in my life.

It is a good book, entertaining and with sufficient detail to understand the complex fraud schemes of the case. Mr. Bailey is certainly a courageous man for doing the right thing and makes me wish not to ever be in a similar situation. The financial stuff, documents and transactions, were explained clearly and I enjoyed those parts, key to following the case.

The writing was (for me) a little annoying at times, because it felt he was trying too hard to sound cool, but once he started going into the details of the case, that didn't bother me anymore.

I enjoyed the narration very much.

I received this book from NetGalley for my review.

Pirate Cove
An Insider's Account of the Infamous Southport Lane Scandal
by Richard D. Bailey
Narrated by James Carter

Pirate Cove is the fascinating true chronicle of the Southport Lane financial scandal.

Richard Bailey is a business consultant who was hired to run a failing winery. In the course of operating the winery, he discovered that it was a front foe an enormous money-laundering operation. After uncovering enough evidence to prove his suspicions, he reported the case to the FBI. He continued to work for his employer and to provide more evidence to the FBI, thereby uncovering one of the largest financial crimes in history.

This is a fascinating chronicle of an immense fraud perpetrated by a young genius. I would highly recommend this title to true crime lovers, particularly those interested in financial crimes.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received a free digital audio copy of this title from Net Galley.

#PirateCove#RichardDBailey#NetGalley

I grew up in Westport, CT, and went to Staples High School. Alexander Chatfield Burns, a.k.a. "Lex Burns," was in the Freshman class of 2001. Although I had already graduated by then, my younger sister remembers him as being "weird," and that he always thought he was smarter than everyone else. My sister's memories of him reflect the man described in Pirate Cove. I was simply fascinated by this story.

Richard D. Bailey is a Certified Fraud Examiner. For over 30 years, he has provided actionable and realistic financial, management, and corporate development services to distressed public and private manufacturing, service, and distribution companies. He is brought into Southport Lane by an old friend, and upon investigation, strange exchanges and discrepancies lead him to suspect fraudulent activities at the heart of Southport's operations.

This book is Bailey's first-hand account of what he discovered, the ensuing FBI investigation, and the ultimate downfall of Alexander Chatfield Burns and his partner Andrew Scherr.

I found this book captivating and didn't want to stop listening to it. I probably would have listened to it straight through if I had not had other things to do (like care for my daughter). Pirate Cove is a gripping and well-written account of a real-life financial scandal. Bailey's insider perspective and willingness to share his experiences make the book even more fascinating. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in true crime or in learning more about financial fraud.

I got this book on a whim, and to give my eyes a much needed rest. Not my usual topic of choice, umm, ever? ..(struggling to think when I've ever read or talked about finance 🤔).. so I was genuinely surprised by how much I enjoyed this book!

The narrator is a great storyteller, and the author has a way of writing as if he knows you, like you're old pals. I liked the humour, openess, honesty and unashamed vulnerability. I was hooked right from the start and didn't want it to end. Pretty fascinating story 🎧 ▶️

Book Review: Pirate Cove
Stars: 4 x 5
Author: Richard D. Bailey @bailey_rdb
Publisher: Bancroft Press. @bancroftpress
Thank you @nergalley for this Audio Arc

I really went out of my genre to listen to this book. I must say I was fascinated with it. This book is an insider’s view of the “Southport Lane” finacial scandal. The main culprit of this fraud is a man named Alexander Chatfield Burns who ends up being indited for 8 cases of fraud totaling 350 million dollars. Alexander Chatfield Burns was never found guilty because he committed suicide before the trial. There are quite a few other who were involved in the fraudulant activity and were found guilty.

Mr. Bailey had been hired as CEO of Lieb Wineries. Mr. Bailey is there to get the winery’s finances back into the Black. As he goes through the accounts and paper work for the winery he finds the financials do not add up. Mr. Bailey works diligently for quite a few years to figure this all and and eventually ends up as an informant for the FBI/Department of Justice. Way to go Richard D. Bailey!!!!!

This story is the first hand account of what happened from Richard Bailey. It was fascinating to hear all that happened. This book should be made into a movie as it was that good. I so enjoyed this book and I hope anyone else who reads/listen’s to it will enjoy it just as I did.

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