In Blind Spots: A Riches to Rags Story,
Gregory Blotnick delivers an unflinching and deeply personal account of ambition, collapse, and the long road to redemption. Published in 2025, the memoir charts his journey from high-flying hedge fund manager to incarceration, offering readers a rare look inside both Wall Street excess and the psychological unraveling that often hides behind success.
Blotnick's story begins with the hallmarks of elite achievement. Raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and armed with an Ivy League MBA, he rose quickly through the hedge fund world, eventually launching his own firm. He lived in a Manhattan penthouse, operated in the high-stakes realm of long/short equity investing, and appeared to embody the American financial dream. His depiction of hedge fund culture is sharp and revealing, laying bare a world built on status, pressure, and performative success.
But the façade cracks during the COVID-19 pandemic, which serves as the book’s key turning point. Rather than exercising caution in a volatile market, Blotnick doubled down with increasingly reckless trades. What began as overconfidence quickly devolved into desperation — leading him to blur ethical lines, hide losses, and engage in criminal behavior that would ultimately lead to arrest, incarceration, and the collapse of everything he’d built.
Substance abuse plays a significant role in this downfall. Blotnick is candid about how addiction fueled his worst decisions, creating a destructive loop of denial and risk-taking. Unlike many financial memoirs that sanitize wrongdoing, Blind Spots refuses to flinch. Blotnick owns his mistakes, acknowledges the damage he caused, and refuses to blame external forces. The honesty is brutal — and refreshing.
What elevates the book is its psychological insight. Blotnick digs beneath the surface of events to examine the mental traps that ensnared him: entitlement, ego, and the illusion of invincibility. He writes openly about how early success made him blind to risk, how privilege insulated him from consequences, and how ambition, left unchecked, can distort one's ethical compass. These reflections give the memoir a weight that extends far beyond the finance world.
His fall is dramatic. From managing millions to sharing a cell at Rikers Island, the contrast is jarring. Blotnick’s prison experience is recounted with clarity and restraint, offering a rare perspective on the consequences of white-collar crime. He doesn’t seek sympathy; instead, he illuminates the human cost of financial fraud in a way that feels both sobering and necessary.
The book has received strong praise. Kirkus Reviews lauded its “unflinching honesty and psychological insight,” while the Manhattan Book Review gave it 4.5 stars, calling it “a masterfully written confessional.” The US Review of Books noted its rare combination of personal accountability and compelling narrative, distinguishing it from a genre often steeped in excuse-making.
In a powerful gesture, Blotnick has pledged all proceeds from Blind Spots to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, underscoring his commitment to using his story to foster awareness and healing. It’s a meaningful act that reinforces the memoir’s deeper goal: not just to recount a fall from grace, but to open a conversation about mental health, pressure, and the dangers of equating identity with success.
Ultimately, Blind Spots is a cautionary tale — a reminder that intelligence and pedigree offer no immunity from self-destruction. Blotnick’s account isn’t about blame or vindication. It’s about responsibility. And by telling his story without filter or spin, he delivers a rare and valuable meditation on how ambition, when untethered from self-awareness and ethics, can lead even the brightest minds to dark places. For more information, visit gregoryblotnick.com/blindspots.
