Bethany McLean

Bethany Lee McLean (born December 12, 1970) is an American journalist and contributing editor for Vanity Fair magazine. She is known for her writing on the Enron scandal and the 2008 financial crisis. Previous assignments include editor-at-large, columnist for Fortune, and a contributor to Slate.

Bethany McLean
McLean in 2015
Born (1970-12-12) December 12, 1970
Hibbing, Minnesota, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Alma materWilliams College
OccupationJournalist
Known for"Is Enron Overpriced?"
Notable work
All the Devils Are Here
Spouse(s)Chris Wilford (m. 2000, div. 2006)
Sean M. Berkowitz (m. 2008)
Children2

Early life and education

McLean was born in Hibbing, Minnesota on December 12, 1970. McLean graduated from Hibbing High School in 1988.[1] In 1992 she received a B.A. in English and mathematics from Williams College.

Career

McLean started her career as an investment banking analyst for Goldman Sachs[2] and joined Vanity Fair as a contributing editor in 2008. She began as a contributor to Slate's Moneybox column, in 2010 and "The Bulldog" column in Fortune.

She authored an article on Enron for the March 5, 2001, issue of Fortune entitled, "Is Enron Overpriced?"[3] The article noted some irregularities in Enron's financial documents that were available to the public, suggesting the company's then-record high stock price was unjustified but she did not at that point suspect fraud at Enron. After Enron's rapid collapse later in 2001, McLean co-authored the book The Smartest Guys in the Room (2003) which detailed the corrupt business practices of Enron officials. The book was later made into the Academy Award-nominated documentary Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room.[4]

In 2005 Mclean got into a spat with Overstock.com CEO Patrick M. Byrne after she wrote a negative article about Overstock and him. Emails unsealed in the Fairfax Financial (NYSE:FFH) vs. SAC Capital, et al lawsuit revealed that Mclean had been receiving assignments from a contact at Copper River Management.[5][6][7][8][9][10]

She co-authored a book on the 2008 financial crisis titled All the Devils Are Here.

In September 2015, she published Shaky Ground: The Strange Saga of the U.S. Mortgage Giants which examines the governance and financial situation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac seven years after the 2008 financial crisis.[11][12] The Washington Post selected it as one of the best nonfiction books of 2015.[13]

In September 2018, she published Saudi America: The Truth about Fracking and How It's Changing the World which examined the "fracking revolution" and U.S. energy independence.[14][15] In 2019, Mclean launched a podcast titled Making a Killing on Luminary.[16]

Personal life

McLean married Chris Wilford in 2000 and divorced in 2006. In May 2008, she married attorney Sean Berkowitz, the former Director of the United States Department of Justice Enron Task Force who is currently a partner at Latham & Watkins LLP.[17][18][19][20]

McLean resides in Chicago with her husband and children.[21]

Bibliography

Books
  • Bethany McLean; Peter Elkind (2004). The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron. Penguin.
  • Bethany McLean; Joe Nocera (August 30, 2011). All the Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis. Penguin Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-101-55105-9.
  • Bethany McLean (September 14, 2015). Shaky Ground: The Strange Saga of the U.S. Mortgage Giants. Columbia Global Reports. ISBN 978-0-9909763-0-1.
  • Bethany McLean (September 11, 2018). Saudi America: The Truth About Fracking and How It's Changing the World. Columbia Global Reports. ISBN 978-0-9997454-4-1.

Essays and reporting

References
  1. Brown, Aaron (September 6, 2018). "Hibbing grad warns of economic crisis below ground". Minnesota Brown: Modern Life in Northern Minnesota. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  2. "What Working At Goldman Sachs Taught Legendary Business Journalist Bethany McLean". Business Insider. Retrieved October 19, 2015.
  3. "Is Enron Overpriced?". CNN. January 19, 2006.
  4. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room - IMDb, retrieved October 9, 2020
  5. "Is Overstock the new Amazon? – October 18, 2004". CNN. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
  6. "PHANTOM MENACE – November 14, 2005". CNN. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
  7. Antar, Sam (July 2, 2007). "White Collar Fraud: Did Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com, Deliver a Trojan Horse to the Securities and Exchange Commission?". White Collar Fraud. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
  8. https://twitter.com/bethanymac12/status/1275852799616704514. Retrieved August 12, 2020 – via Twitter. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  9. "The Patrick Byrne Chronicles: How He Breaks the Law". Daily Kos. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
  10. Metz, Cade (February 1, 2014). "Meet Patrick Byrne: Bitcoin Messiah, CEO of Overstock, Scourge of Wall Street". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
  11. Columbia Global Reports, "Financial System's Top Risk, Hiding in Plain Sight" (Press Release, September 14, 2015). Retrieved September 16, 2015
  12. "U.S. mortgage giants under the microscope | Marketplace.org". www.marketplace.org. Retrieved October 19, 2015. So they are part of the mysterious machinery that is an important component of most Americans lives, but you actually never think about it until things go wrong.
  13. Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Books of 2015
  14. Priest, R. Tyler (October 31, 2018). "'Saudi America' Review: The Truth About Fracking?". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  15. ""Saudi America" by Bethany McLean". Columbia Global Reports. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  16. "Bethany McLean on Making a Killing". The Big Picture. June 20, 2019. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  17. "Bethany McLean and Sean Berkowitz: An Enron-Trial Love Connection -- New York Magazine - Nymag". New York Magazine. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  18. Press, Canadian. "Loughlin, Giannulli lawyer is prosecutors' 'worst nightmare'". CFJC Today Kamloops. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  19. peter (July 24, 2006). "An Enron Love Connection". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  20. Bailey, Jeff. "Q & A with Bethany McLean, Author of 'All the Devils Are Here'". Chicago magazine. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  21. "Enron tale author Bethany McLean has a new book she wrote from her Chicago home". Crain's Chicago Business. November 15, 2010. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
External video
C-SPAN Q&A interview with McLean, June 19, 2005
C-SPAN Q&A interview with McLean on All the Devils are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis, November 14, 2010
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