Ep 350 - Naked Corruption with Bill Black

10 snips

Oct 18, 2025

William K. Black

William K. Black, a distinguished scholar and expert on financial regulation, engages in a riveting discussion about elite control fraud and its implications in politics and crypto. He unveils how corruption has been optimized at the highest levels of government, particularly during Trump's administration. Black critiques the rollback of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and examines the pervasive influence of crypto money in politics. He warns about the systemic risks posed by crypto bubbles and emphasizes the importance of whistleblowers in exposing corruption.

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INSIGHT

Government As Control Fraud

Elite control fraud can include government actors who use office as camouflage and a sword to defraud with impunity.
William K. Black argues the presidency is the paramount form of control fraud when abused by corrupt networks.

INSIGHT

Rolling Back Anti-Bribery Enforcement

Trump moved to halt enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act to permit bribery by firms and insiders.
William K. Black links this rollback to enabling large-scale international bribery and corruption schemes.

INSIGHT

Flaunting Corruption As Strategy

A final stage of elite control fraud flaunts corruption publicly as free advertising to attract bribes.
Open corruption also creates price wars among bribe-seekers and intimidates opponents, William K. Black warns.

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Do you know what kakistocracy means? You’ll find out in this episode with guest Bill Black. Because, yeah, this is an educational podcast. A lot of us learned the term ‘elite control fraud’ from Bill in past episodes and you’ll hear more about it here.

Bill is a great storyteller. His experience as a regulator trying to enforce laws against the great crooks of the world gives him a lot of material. If you haven’t already heard our first episode with him, check it out: “Exposed: A Serial Whistleblowers Story” He’s the author of The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One – one of our favorite book titles.

At the start of this week’s interview, Bill explains:

“...The absolute paramount form of control fraud is President of the United States of America. And they set about optimizing it as soon as they got in power. Remember all those executive orders and things that Trump would sign?

“... Among their very first acts was to say, we will no longer enforce the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Now this is an act that says, no, it's not okay to bribe public officials in other countries. It's actually a crime. And Trump was saying way back in time, long before he even was talking about the presidency, how we shouldn't have a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. That it was stupid. Of course you should be able to bribe people. It's good for business.

“And if you think that's bad, the New York Bar Association took the same position. Because they were the commercial lawyers for all the firms that were bribing folks all over the world.”

Bill describes a shift to the final stage of elite control fraud. Corrupt actors no longer bother hiding their crimes. They flaunt them. This serves as "free advertising" to attract more bribes and creates a price war among those seeking favors, while simultaneously intimidating opponents.

Bill also talks to Steve about further manipulation of financial regulations and the intersections of elite control fraud within the cryptocurrency market. He goes through the real reasons crypto is useful to the ruling class and how these dynamics affect everyday people.

William K. Black is Distinguished Scholar in Residence for Financial Regulation, University of Minnesota School of Law. He is a white-collar criminologist, a former financial regulator, former banker, and serial whistleblower. He is a co-founder of Bank Whistleblowers United (BWU).

@WilliamKBlack on X