Bribe, Swindle or Steal

Reflecting on the year as it draws to a close, we note with great sadness the recent loss of sports journalist, author and inimitable soccer analyst, Grant Wahl. We’re replaying today our podcast with Grant from 2017.  He was generous with his time, happy to share his expertise and invariably good humored. He is missed.

As we near the end of the year, we asked nine experts in the field to provide us with their compliance predictions for 2023. Surprisingly, no prediction was duplicated.  We hope you enjoy these prognostications and we wish you all a wonderful holiday season and all the very best in the year ahead!

Dan Kahn, former Chief of the FCPA Unit, joins the podcast to discuss the September Monaco Memo now that the compliance community has had some time to debate it.  Dan discusses the good news, and some concerns, associated with cooperation credit, voluntary disclosure, recidivist companies, monitors and ongoing concerns about personal devices and ephemeral apps.

Casey Michel with the Hudson Institute's Kleptocracy Initiative joins the podcast for a very lively discussion about his book, American Kleptocracy: How the U.S. Created the World’s Greatest Money Laundering Scheme in History. Casey discusses America’s role in the problem of global kleptocracy and shares some optimism about the path ahead. (This episode was originally published in 2021.)

Dr. Magnus Öhman of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) joins the podcast to discuss how corruption undermines free and fair elections. He discusses his recent publication: “Vote for Free: A Global Guide for Citizen Monitoring of Campaign Finance,” which provides an eight-step model for civil society organizations seeking to monitor campaign finance.

Mykola Murskyj with Razom for Ukraine joins the podcast to discuss the organization’s work in Ukraine, the anti-corruption climate there prior to the invasion and steps that can be taken now. Mykola also discusses the Enablers Act.

As we approach the 2022 World Cup, we’re revisiting our 2018 episode with Ken Bensinger, who discusses his fascinating book, Red Card, and the decades of misconduct by FIFA eventually uncovered by the FBI. We play “violation bingo” as Ken describes the bribery, self-dealing, conflicts of interest and money laundering that were business as usual at FIFA.

As we approach the 2022 World Cup, we’re revisiting our 2017 episode with journalist Grant Wahl on how decades of FIFA corruption and self-dealing have undermined the world's favorite sport. (This episode was originally published in 2017.)

Investigative journalist Dorothee Myriam Kellou tells the story of the Lafarge plant in Syria that was ultimately taken over by ISIS

This week, we hear from Leonid Volkov who spoke at the recent TRACE London Forum.  Leonid is Alexei Navalny’s Chief of Staff and Political Director of the Anti-Corruption Foundation.  He discusses the role of corruption in Putin’s Russia as well as the impact of sanctions and the toll that rampant corruption is taking on Russia.