How Masayoshi Son’s ‘money guy’ Lex Greensill went from hero to zero

In February 2020, SoftBank Group Corp.’s Masayoshi Son visited Indonesia, offering to invest billions of dollars toward the development of a new capital city. Lex Greensill, at the time a favorite of Son’s, was part of the entourage.

SoftBank had invested $1.5 billion (¥166 billion) in Greensill’s eponymous finance company, but in a meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Son introduced Greensill as the "money guy,” according to local TV footage.

One year later, the money guy has become a money pit. Greensill Capital collapsed in March in one of the most spectacular financial blowups of recent years, sending shock waves through a Swiss banking giant, two of Japan’s largest firms and a British tycoon’s industrial empire.