Why Lex Greensill should have read Machiavelli on the Medici The failed prince of supply-chain financing and his credulous creditors should have heeded the cautionary lessons of medieval banking about the dangers of mixing finance with politics. Harold James Share The collapse of Greensill Capital, a London-based financial services firm, offers a timely but costly warning about a number of contemporary trends. Clearly, we should be wary of the hype around financial innovation. But we also need to shine a brighter spotlight on the shady world of corporate lobbying, the regulation of risk, and other issues at the intersection of capitalism and government.