FAULT LINE LEDGERThe whole shelf, Cases 21 to 25
You asked for WeWork, SVB and FTX. Here's the whole story, plus every book.
Valued at $47 billion in 2019. Worth $0 to shareholders by 2024. Here's how.
Five collapses, $300B+ in liabilities at the largest, 68 dated events.
Six pieces in one download: a new 50-page book of five long case files you can only get here, Case Files Volume 1, The Money Tricks Explained, What Happened Next, the How It Ended posters and the 12 Warning Signs checklist.
First edition, checked November 15, 2026. Later editions free.
Instant PDF download. Secure Stripe checkout. All sales are final.
Five new case files sold nowhere else, plus every book, for $4 more than the books alone. Bought one by one, the books are $63 (Case Files Volume 1 $17, The Money Tricks Explained $27, What Happened Next $12, How It Ended $7, and the checklist is free).
At checkout you can add the Red Flags Spreadsheet for $37.
Plus Case Files, Money Tricks, What Happened Next, How It Ended and the 12 Warning Signs
Inside: new cases 21 to 25, beside Volume 1's short files on FTX, SVB and WeWork
A letter from the desk
The documentary ended. Your questions didn't.
You've watched a few of these now. Enron, Blockbuster, Toys "R" Us. Each one ends on a courtroom sketch or a closed store, and the comments fill up with the same things.
"I think this video is missing the most important point."
A viewer, on the cause the video skipped"They need to do a follow up."
A viewer, on the part the documentary left outAnd under nearly every video, somebody asks for WeWork. Or SVB. Or FTX.
Case Files Volume 1 gives each of those three a short file, about three pages. That's enough for the four numbers and the turning point. It isn't enough for the whole story: how it rose, every date, the week it broke, why the auditors and the board didn't stop it, and who got paid when it ended.
So I wrote the long versions, about nine pages each, and added two more collapses that belong beside them: Credit Suisse, which fell the same week as SVB, and Evergrande, the biggest of all by debt. They're cases 21 to 25, numbered to sit right after Volume 1 on your shelf. They come only in this collection, with every other book I've made.
A free lesson from case 24
How a bank with strong capital disappeared in a weekend
Credit Suisse was 167 years old. At the end of 2022 its capital ratio was 14.1%, above what regulators asked for. On March 19, 2023 it was sold to UBS for CHF 3 billion. Here's the same bank read two ways.
Before: the lobby
What regulators watched
Capital ratio at the end of 2022, down only slightly from 14.4% a year earlier. A fresh CHF 4 billion share sale. A restructuring plan. On paper, solvent.
After: the drawer
What customers did
| Customer deposits, end 2021 | CHF 392.8B |
| Customer deposits, end 2022 | CHF 233.2B |
| Change in one year | -41% |
The ratio barely moved. Two fifths of the deposits walked out.
Capital tells you how much loss a bank can absorb. It says nothing about whether the people who fund it are staying. A bank can be solvent and still die if its depositors leave faster than it can sell things. Its fourth-quarter results showed the outflow on February 9, 2023, about six weeks before the end.
Run it yourself on any bank
- Open its latest annual report and find the balance sheet.
- Write down customer deposits for this year and last year.
- Work out the change as a percentage.
- If deposits shrank by double digits while the bank says its capital is strong, it's telling you two stories. Believe the customers.
Get the deposit check free
A one-page worksheet that runs this exact test on any bank, with a scale for reading the result. Print it, fill in five banks, done in an evening.
That's one of five "Check it yourself" tests in the new book, one per case. The other four, and the full Credit Suisse file with its timeline, last week and who got paid, are inside.
What's inside
Six pieces in one download
Every Fault Line Ledger book, in the order I'd read them.
The Whole Story: Cases 21 to 25
Five long case files, each about nine pages, built the same way: what one share was worth before and after, the lobby and the drawer, a dated timeline, the number that turned first with a chart and worked example, the week it broke, why nobody stopped it, who got paid, and the five fault lines scored.
Case Files Volume 1
Twenty collapses from Enron to Pets.com, each with the timeline, four key numbers, the turning point and the sources.
The Money Tricks Explained
Twelve accounting moves, like mark-to-market and round-tripping, in plain words, each tied to the company that used it and the dollar amount.
What Happened Next
Where the money, the founders, the customers and the stock went after every Volume 1 collapse.
How It Ended
Twenty collapses on one page each, from best year to bankruptcy filing, ready to print or read in two minutes.
The 12 Warning Signs
Twelve signs that showed up before 30 famous bankruptcies, each with the case, date and source.
Also in the new book
- Your shelf: what each file is for and a reading order
- Five collapses side by side on the five fault lines
- Heard it on the news? A table of which file to open
- A blank case file to fill in on any company
- Fifteen terms, from AT1 bonds to reverse splits
- Every source, file by file
First edition, checked November 15, 2026. Later editions free.
Instant PDF download. Secure Stripe checkout. All sales are final.
Look before you buy
Real pages from the new book
Who made this
Walt Brennan, Fault Line Ledger
I host Fault Line Ledger, where I read company filings out loud and explain where it really went wrong. I believe the cause shows up in the filings before it shows up in the news, and that anyone who reads a bank statement can read a balance sheet once someone explains it plainly.
Every number in the new book comes from a filing, a court record, a regulator's finding or an official review, like the Fed's own report on SVB, the FTX bankruptcy declarations and the Swiss parliament's Credit Suisse inquiry. Each file lists its sources. Cases still moving, like the Credit Suisse bond appeal and the Evergrande liquidation, carry their status as of November 15, 2026.
What I won't do
- Call anyone a fraud without a conviction or a regulator's finding behind it.
- Tell you which company falls next, or what to buy or sell.
- Show a share price without its date, or across a reverse split without adjusting.
Questions
Before you buy
I already own Case Files Volume 1. Is this worth it?
You get 50 new pages plus $46 of other books, for $67. The new pages are the full WeWork, SVB and FTX files plus Credit Suisse and Evergrande, sold nowhere else. The $46 is The Money Tricks Explained ($27), What Happened Next ($12) and the How It Ended posters ($7).
Aren't WeWork, SVB and FTX already in Volume 1?
Yes, as short files of about three pages. The new book gives each one about nine pages: the rise, a full timeline, the number that turned first worked out, the last week, why nobody stopped it and where the money went, checked through November 2026.
Will this tell me which company collapses next?
No. It shows you which numbers turned first in real collapses and gives you five checks to run yourself. It names no live company as the next one and gives no investment advice.
How do I get it, and can I read it on my phone?
Right after checkout you get a download page with every file, all PDFs. They open on any phone, tablet or computer. The posters come in A4 and US Letter if you want to print them.
Can I get a refund?
All sales are final. This is a digital download you get right away, so we don't offer refunds. This doesn't affect any rights you have by law. The free lesson, the contents and the real pages above are here so you can check before you buy.
Something's wrong or I have a question
Write to faultlineledger@awakeup.shop. Corrections go into the next edition, and you get later editions free.
The whole shelf
Twenty-five case files. One download.
Read the drawer, not the lobby.
First edition, checked November 15, 2026. Later editions free.
Instant PDF download. Secure Stripe checkout. All sales are final.
