Sean Williams gives us a peek beneath a global shadow economy that thrives as countries like North Korea and China operate like criminal enterprises.
Jordan's must reads (including books from this episode): AcceleratEd
Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/1154
What We Discuss with Sean Williams:
- North Korea operates as a massive organized crime outfit, generating revenue through forced labor, human trafficking, drug production/trafficking, and cybercrime to fund the regime's survival.
- North Korean hackers (Lazarus Group) have become sophisticated cybercriminals, stealing $1.5 billion in cryptocurrency from ByBit exchange in February 2025.
- Chinese "flying money" (Fei Chen) operates as an ancient, untraceable money transfer system now widely used by drug cartels and for capital flight from China, possibly totaling $2 trillion annually.
- Chinese money laundering has had a visible impact on real estate markets in Vancouver, Toronto, Sydney, and Los Angeles, where properties purchased with laundered funds remain unfinished or abandoned.
- Despite public diplomatic cooperation between US and China on financial crimes, both countries have conflicting incentives — China benefits from US drug chaos while the US benefits from Chinese capital flight.
- And much more...
And if you're still game to support us, please leave a review here — even one sentence helps!
This Episode Is Brought To You By Our Fine Sponsors:
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
