Bribe, Swindle or Steal

Scott Greytak of Transparency International U.S. joins the podcast to talk about the many loopholes that permit U.S. lawyers to work for criminal actors as they exploit the U.S. financial system. He brings us up-to-date on the ABA’s recent change to its Model Rules of Professional Conduct and when we’ll see the ENABLERS Act revisited.

Robert Worth, a journalist previously based in Baghdad with the New York Times and author of A Rage for Order: The Middle East in Turmoil from Tahrir Square to ISIS, describes the deadly and intractable problem of corruption in Iraq. He discusses the role the United States and its pallets of cash played in this, but also the enforced sectarian apportionment of power—the Muhasasa—that ensures each group protects its fiefdom rather than acting in the best interest of the whole country. (This episode was originally published in 2022.)

Oliver Bullough joins the podcast again to discuss his book, Butler to the World. The book addresses how the UK went from a colonial power dominating the world to a service provider—or butler or perhaps consigliere—to the world’s oligarchs. (This episode was originally published in 2022.)

Kelly Richmond Pope, Professor of Forensic Accounting at DePaul University, joins the podcast to talk about her new book: Fool Me Once: Scams, Stories and Secrets from the Trillion-Dollar Fraud Industry. She describes the three types of fraud perpetrators and why we blame the victims of fraud for their gullibility and I ask her whether lawyers or accountants are more at fault for rampant fraud!

Jennifer Taub, author, legal scholar, professor and advocate, joins the podcast to talk about her latest book: Big Dirty Money: The Shocking Injustice and Unseen Cost of White Collar Crime. Jennifer focuses, in particular, on how much more gently we treat corporate financial crime than we do very petty financial crime, in spite of the fact that the former costs taxpayers far more money. (This episode was originally published in 2021.)

Hans Greimel and William Sposato, journalists and authors, join the podcast to discuss their book: Collision Course: Carlos Ghosn and the Culture Wars That Upended an Auto Empire. They cover Ghosn’s rise to hero status in Japan, his ultimate fall—arrest, detention and escape from the country—and the many compliance challenges raised by this strange story. (This episode was originally published in 2021.)

Jeff Cottle of Brown Rudnick, and former partner of Norton Rose Fulbright, discusses how to secure and maintain board support, what ideal communications patterns look like and when and how to leave if the board refuses to hear bad news. (This episode was originally published in 2019.)

The first episode of a two-part series, Chaim Gelfand, Vice President, Compliance, at NSO Group talks about managing compliance for a product that has, baked into its design, complex privacy, corruption and human rights implications. Because of the controversial nature of spyware, we hear from journalist Khadija Ismayilova in the second episode about the allegation that spyware was installed on her cell phone and her concerns about abuse of the technology. (This episode was originally published in March 2023.)

This podcast is the second episode in a two-part discussion of the compliance and human rights implications of spyware. After hearing from Chaim Gelfand at NSO Group, we asked Khadija Ismayilova, an investigative journalist in Azerbaijan who is alleged to have been monitored for four years by spyware installed on her phone, to speak to the privacy and human rights issues. (The first half of the conversation has some IT issues, but it clears up in the second half, so please stay with us!) (This episode was originally published in March 2023.)  

Peter Humphrey and his wife were well-respected compliance professionals active in China when they were arrested, tried and imprisoned unjustly for two years. (This episode was originally published in 2017.)