What if your best friend turned out to be a master of deception?

In 2005, Jim Phillips co-founded a marketing company with an old friend. Business boomed, contracts poured in and their client list expanded to include high-profile international brands.

But as his partner’s behaviour became increasingly erratic, Jim began to wonder: did he really know the man he had built his business with? Then, in 2013, everything fell apart when he found himself in front of a judge at the Old Bailey, trapped in a living nightmare.

From impersonating bank officials and a Chinese government minister to fabricating multi-million-pound contracts and feigning cancer, his business partner had orchestrated an elaborate con with devastating consequences.

In this raw and unflinching cautionary tale, Phillips unravels a mind-boggling web of lies and offers a blow-by-blow account of how he uncovered the shocking truth about a man he once trusted.