Bribe, Swindle or Steal

In light of last week's sentencing of Sam Bankman-Fried—25 years in prison and an $11 billion forfeiture order—we are re-posting our conversation with Jim Campbell, author of "Madoff Talks" and his comparison of the two men.   Originally posted on January 25, 2023

For this week's podcast, we listen in on the excellent presentation—dense with practical information—by John Davis, member, Miller & Chevalier, at the TRACE Forum in Annapolis.

This week on Bribe, Swindle, or Steal, we listen in on the presentation of Nicola Bonucci, International Lawyer and former Director for Legal Affairs OECD, at the TRACE Forum in Annapolis. Nicola provides context for recent compliance news from the EU and discusses the adoption of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive at a gathering of compliance experts just three hours after the n...

Tom Cardamone, President and CEO of Global Financial Integrity, joins the podcast to discuss the regulatory and enforcement challenges associated with flags of convenience. These range from trafficked labor to environmental violations and Tom highlights the inherent tension between substantial tax incentives on one hand and accountability on the other. Originally posted September 15, 2021

Pavel Verkhniatsky joins the podcast from Kyiv where he is the Managing Partner of COSA Solutions with particular expertise in sophisticated due diligence and cross-border investigations. We range from the very broad and geopolitical to the very specific as Pavel discusses the impact of sanctions on Russia, as well as common due diligence 'red flags'.

Daniel Treisman, co-author of Spin Dictators: The Changing Face of Tyranny in the 21st Century, discusses the new generation of dictators and how they weaponize information, bully with legal action and mobilize enablers to stay in power. Originally posted on May 24, 2023

Zeke Faux joins the podcast to talk about the support and credibility provided to oil tankers violating sanctions by the companies that insure them.  Zeke, together with Zachary Mider, wrote an excellent Bloomberg article earlier this month about one New York insurance company that insures a disproportionate number of these aged tankers accused of shipping sanctioned Iranian oil.

In honor of the extraordinarily courageous and principled life of Alexei Navalny, first poisoned with Novichuk and killed today in Polar Wolf prison, we are reposting our 2021 conversation with his chief of staff, Leonid Volkov. Leonid Volkov joins the podcast to talk about Putin's obsessive campaign against Navalny, who was first poisoned with Novichok and later imprisoned. Volkov also discusses...

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. This episode originally aired 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, 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 dange...

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 concer...

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 p...

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 cas...

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 5, 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 sca...

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 February 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.