Trading Secrets

This is the true story of how R. Foster Winans, a well-regarded columnist for The Wall Street Journal allowed himself to become corrupted by a Svengali-like, Gatsby-ish stock broker in the heady days of the early 1980s. His is the same storyline used a year later by Oliver Stone in his original film "Wall Street," starring Michael Douglas as an Ivan Boesky standin and Bud Fox as the young, ambitious sycophant. The broker in Winans case, Peter Brant, proved to be the character that makes this story vibrate with authenticity, an attractive, mysterious, driven young man who, like Gatsby, drifted cooly out of nowhere and bought a palace on Long Island sound. Winans and Brant were indicted. Winans fought his case on technical grounds all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court with the backing of First Amendment and Wall Street interest groups. He lost and served nine months in a federal minimum security prison. Reviewers, most of them journalists, often criticized Winans for what he did, which was leak advance word of his columns to the stockbroker for a share of trading profits, but they raved about his honesty in telling his story and his skill at story-telling. A few examples: "Candid and engrossing." Time Magazine -- "This guy can write. Winans can make you feel what is happening better than most fiction writers I?ve read." Pittsburgh Press. -- "The book is wonderfully crafted. It is engrossing." Dallas Morning News -- "This is fast-paced, well written. Riveting." Publishers Weekly -- "The guy can write." Kirkus Reviews -- "Winans is a talented writer." USA Today -- "A captivating book...combination morality play, spy thriller and journalism primer." Chicago Sun Times -- "Tightly written, dramatic. A compelling book." New York Daily News -- "An ambitiously crafted narrative." LA Times -- "Gripping. He writes well. This book moves. The reader gets involved." San Diego Union -- "Superbly crafted. Rich in detail and written in a compelling narrative style, it reads like a popular novel." Business Week -- "Winans ... writes like a dream." Washington Times -- "This is an immensely readable chronicle." Christian Science Monitor.