Bribe, Swindle Or Steal

Author, academic and former compliance professional, Alison Taylor joins the podcast to talk about her compelling new book.  She describes the contradictions inherent in companies that talk about “doing well by doing good” and explains why corporate reputation management can’t be an end in itself and how trying to do less can be the best strategy.  “You don’t have to join every conversation”.

Valerie Salembier, former publisher of Harper’s Bazaar and founder of The Authentics Foundation, discusses the true cost of counterfeit luxury items: child labor, trafficked labor and organized crime. Originally published on July 3, 2018

Investigative journalist Erlend Ofte Arntsen of Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang joins the podcast to discuss his work on the Tinder Swindler story, recently adapted into a Netflix documentary. Erlend and his colleagues broke the story of Shimon Hayut, an Israeli con man who found women on the dating app, impressed them with private jets and bodyguards, concocted stories about being in great personal danger and then drained their bank accounts and left them with extraordinary credit card debt. 

Tom Firestone, a partner with Squire Patton Boggs in Washington, discusses the new US Foreign Extortion Prevention Act (FEPA).  Tom’s perspective is especially interesting as he previously served as the Legal Adviser at the US Embassy in Moscow dealing with financial crime there and, in 2018, he wrote an article on what was needed to tackle the demand side of bribery.

François Valérian joins the podcast to discuss the platform on which he ran in TI's recent election, his priorities and his thoughts on the state of global anti-corruption efforts.

Dan Kahn, former Chief of the DOJ’s FCPA unit and current partner with Davis Polk, talks us through the anti-corruption enforcement actions, trends and highlights of 2023.

Chaim Gelfand, Vice President, Compliance, at NSO Group joins the podcast to talk about managing compliance for a product that has, baked into its design, complex privacy, corruption and human rights implications. Because of the controversial nature of spyware, we will hear from journalist Khadija Ismayilova next week about the allegation that spyware was installed on her cell phone and her concerns about abuse of the technology. Podcast originally aired: March 8, 2023

Laura Harth with Safeguard Defenders joins the podcast to talk about the more than 50 illegal Chinese police stations operating around the world, including in the United States and Canada. These violate both the sovereignty of the inadvertent ‘host’ countries and the rights of the Chinese citizens abroad who are stalked and coerced to comply with government demands to return to China or risk the persecution of their families. Laura discusses her organization’s excellent report 110 Overseas:  Chinese Transnational Policing Gone Wild. (The title is based on the emergency number for the police in China - 110.)  Podcast originally aired: February 8, 2023

Kevin G. Hall, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project's North America editor, reflects on how the Panama Papers have shaped investigative journalism over the past six years and the biggest challenges journalists face today. Podcast originally aired: April 26, 2023

Jared Bibler joins the podcast to discuss his lively book about the complete meltdown of Iceland's banking sector and, as a result, its economy. It was a brazen scheme equal in size to three Enrons and, although it happened in 2008, it remains a timely cautionary tale for the banking sector and regulators today. Podcast originally aired: April 12, 2023

Jim Campbell, author of "Madoff Talks" and featured in the recently released Netflix documentary, "Madoff: Monster of Wall Street", joins the podcast to talk about FTX. Having studied both men, he compares what we know about Bankman-Fried and Madoff. This podcast originally aired onJanuary 25, 2023.

Michael Forsythe, co-author with Walt Bogdanich of “When McKinsey Comes to Town”, joins the podcast to talk about McKinsey’s work in support of autocratic regimes, its rampant conflicts of interest and the distance between its stated values and its work on the ground. This episode originally aired on January 18, 2023.

Randall Eliason talks about extortion, conspiracy, cover-up crimes and plea bargains – topics covered in his excellent new 24 lecture course available through Great Courses. He also takes us through some examples from recent headlines. This episode originally aired on September 29, 2020.

Yana Gorokhovskaia of Freedom House joins the podcast to talk about transnational repression, the increasingly common abuse and intimidation by states of their citizens living abroad. Yana discusses Jamal Khashoggi, murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, and Roman Protasevich, whose plane was forced to land in Belarus where he is still being held, but also refers to the hundreds of other cases that don’t make the news. Freedom House has released an excellent report on this problem that can be found at: https://freedomhouse.org/report/transnational-repression. This episode originally aired January 5, 2022.

Dr. Frank Badua, Associate Professor of Accounting and Business Law at Lamar University College of Business, describes the misconduct from the 1950s through the 1970s by a group of companies that led to widespread support for passage of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. This episode originally aired February 05, 2020

Federico Masera with the University of New South Wales and the Resilient Democracy Lab in Sydney joins the podcast to discuss his recent research, together with Giorgio Gulino, "Contagious Dishonesty: Corruption Scandals and Supermarket Theft." Their intriguing research uncovers a trend toward substantially increased customer theft at supermarkets in the immediate aftermath of local corruption scandals involving prominent public officials. This podcast was originally published on September 22, 2021.  

Nobel Peace Prize winning journalist Maria Ressa joins the podcast to talk about corruption, disinformation and how to stand up to a dictator. We at TRACE are thankful for all of the investigative journalists that work to uncover financial crime, often at considerable personal risk. This podcast was originally published on Febuary 22, 2023.

For today’s podcast, we’re listening in on Pascale Dubois’ excellent and fast-paced review of the international anti-bribery landscape at the recent TRACE Forum in London.  Pascale is a leading international executive advisor and independent expert who has been involved with anti-corruption efforts for two decades, including as the World Bank’s VP of the Integrity Vice Presidency.

Jessica Tillipman, Associate Dean for Government Procurement Law at George Washington Law School, joins the podcast to give a fantastic, detailed and fast-paced overview of the latest Menendez corruption allegations, interspersed with gold bars, bundles of cash and a Mercedes convertible. In the process, Jessica takes us back to the overturning of Former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell’s corruption conviction and what we should expect in its wake.

As Russia’s war on Ukraine drags on, we revisit Russian corruption and its weaponization of financial crime in our 2017 interview with Bill Browder. He describes the brazen fraud and violence of Putin’s Russia, the death of Sergei Magnitsky, and the passage of the Magnitsky Act. You can also listen to our most recent  interview with Bill, discussing his excellent book, "Freezing Order." (That episode was originally published in 2017.)