"Spin Dictators"

This week’s podcast is a bit off the beaten track.  We speak with Sherub Tharchen in Paro in Bhutan about his country.  We cover some of the basics, including the country’s location between two neighbors with high levels of corruption, and then discuss how the current King of Bhutan tackled corruption in a way that, while probably not replicable in most countries, has nevertheless had great success for the Bhutanese.

Leah Ambler, then Director of Corruption Prevention at the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity and previously Legal Analyst at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), delves—in her personal capacity—into her excellent chapter on whistleblower protections, emphasizes their importance in reducing corruption and highlights the challenges posed by the lack of comprehensive, harmonized legislation.  Originally posted on Jan. 12, 2022

This week on Bribe, Swindle, or Steal, we listen in on the lively presentation at the 2024 TRACE Forum featuring former enforcement officials, Charles Duross, Partner, Morrison Foerster, David Last, Partner, Cleary Gottlieb, and Mark Mendelsohn, Partner, Paul Weiss. Speaking with TRACE President, Alexandra Wrage, Chuck, David, and Mark discuss their time as Chiefs of the FCPA Unit and their experiences navigating heightened scrutiny and shifting resources, and then they offer their perspectives on what lies ahead.

In this re-posted episode, Prof. Mark Pieth discusses his book, Gold Laundering: The dirty secrets of the gold trade - and how to clean up. He outlines the many problems, including child and trafficked labor, environmental degradation, violence, and corruption. He also addresses some modest steps forward and how, in spite of the considerable challenges, more progress can be made. This epsiode was originally posted on December 1, 2021.

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 news broke!

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