In an increasingly digital world, hardly anyone relies on cash. $100 bills are essentially absent from global commerce. So how come the US Federal Reserve printed 752 million and 867.2 million of them last year?

In this episode, bestselling investigative journalist and author Oliver Bullough joins us to explore how, in the criminal world, cash is still king. Drawing on his new book, Everybody Loves Our Dollars, he explores the hidden financial systems that allow drug cartels, kleptocrats, tax evaders, terrorists, and traffickers to move and protect their wealth with astonishing ease.

Despite decades of legislation, enforcement, and international cooperation, an estimated 2-5% of global GDP is still laundered every year. Why has every attempt to stop it failed? In conversation with host Atossa Araxia Abrahamian, Bullough sheds light on what’s going on beneath the surface, and what needs urgent change.

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