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Conventional warfare no longer exists. Drones, offensive hacking techniques and even sonic weaponry is upending how conflict is waged — and the recent Israeli intelligence operation to plant explosives in pagers used by Hezbollah’s militants may well prove to be a watershed moment. It claimed 39 lives and wounded thousands of Lebanese civilians in markets and public places across the country, a brutal illustration of how warfare is moving away from battlefields and borders. This week on Whale Hunting, Tom is joined by Reuters Bureau Chief in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan Maya Gebeily, and Senior Reuters Correspondent David Gauthier-Villars. They discuss how Israel’s Mossad managed to deceive Hezbollah into buying explosive-rigged devices, how their detonation marked a significant escalation in the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, and what it reveals about how modern warfare is evolving.
Mentioned in this week’s episode:
“How Israel’s bulky pager fooled Hezbollah” by Maya Gebeily, James Pearson and David Gauthier-Villars.
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Mark Lombardi was on the cusp of international success with his provocative artwork. So why was the 48-year-old found dead, and his death ruled a suicide? And why did the FBI ask to examine one of his artworks in the direct aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks? Mark’s life is the subject of Brazen’s newest podcast, The Illuminator — and in this special episode of Whale Hunting, we hear from art curator Lawrence Rinder to shed light on Mark Lombardi’s art and legacy.
Lawrence was a curator at the Whitney Museum in 2000 and acquired a number of Mark Lombardi pieces about a scandal-ridden bank called BCCI, shuttered for money laundering. It’s this work the FBI were interested in — but why?
Mentioned in this week’s episode:
BCCI-ICIC & FAB (4th Version), the painting acquired by Lawrence for the Whitney Museum
The Illuminator: Art, Conspiracy and Madness, Brazen’s newest show — with episodes out every Monday.
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Honeypot operations are one of the oldest tricks in the espionage playbook — get access to sensitive information through a wily femme fatale. Scandinavian banking giant Swedbank was recently the target of such a plot. By leveraging kompromat about top executives — some of whom had a proclivity for unfaithful sexual relationships and drug abuse — Russian intelligence were able to ensure that oligarchs could launder money through Swedbank. Executives would sign off on suspicious, multi-billion-dollar transactions heading toward the Western financial system. This money would then fund Russia’s more furtive influence operations. This week on Whale Hunting, Bradley is joined by Axel Gordh Humlesjö, an investigative journalist at the Swedish national broadcaster SVT. They discuss how Axel learned that FSB agents were stationed outside his Stockholm apartment, what happened at Swedbank, and his meeting with the FSB-affiliated femme fatale who was the beating heart of the operation.
Mentioned in this week’s episode:
Axel Gordh Humlesjö and Lars Berge’s book about the story, The Honey Trap: Swedbank, Russia and the World’s Biggest Money Laundering Scheme
Catherine Belton, author of Putin’s People
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Swiss banking has long been synonymous with secrecy, a harbinger of two things in the financial world: opportunity and risk. And Credit Suisse struggled to handle this balancing act for years, leading to its spectacular implosion in 2023. Switzerland’s second largest bank had long been unscrupulous about housing ill-gotten wealth. Its bankers looked after Nazi loot and did business with “kings of kickbacks,” even collapsing the economy of Mozambique and employing private investigators to spy on its own employees. Joining us on this week’s Whale Hunting is investigative reporter Duncan Mavin, who sits down with Bradley to discuss the long string of scandals that preceded Credit Suisse’s collapse, the surprising touch paper for its disintegration, and a well-hidden industry secret: that bankers and hedge-funders do very little actual banking.Mentioned in this week’s episode:
Duncan Mavin’s new book, Meltdown: Scandal, Sleaze and the Collapse of Credit Suisse
His book about the collapse of Greensill: Pyramid of Lies: The Prime Minister, the Banker and the Billion-Pound Scandal
Rob Copeland’s book, The Fund: Ray Dalio, Bridgewater Associates, and the Unraveling of a Wall Street Legend
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When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Western economies scrambled to coordinate an offensive of their own: sanctions. They weaponized economic tools in the hope of blunting Putin’s attacks, and more than $300 billion in Russian assets were frozen in Europe. Almost overnight, these governments embarked on an unprecedented financial experiment that is drastically altering the geopolitical order — but at what cost?
Joining us this week on Whale Hunting is investigative reporter Stephanie Baker, who sits down with Tom to discuss how and where sanctions are working, the inter-oligarch war playing out between antagonistic Russian tycoons, and how cryptocurrency, technology supply chains, and unscrupulous enablers all help Russia’s war machine rumble on. Not to mention Moscow-on-the-Gulf: the new home for Russian roubles in the UAE.
Mentioned in this week’s episode:
Stephanie Baker’s new book, Punishing Putin: Inside the Global Economic War to Bring Down Russia.
Read an except of her book in Bloomberg here: ‘They Have Stolen Our Business’: When You Leave Russia, Putin Sets the Terms
Sanctions evasions via Hong Kong shell companies: The Illicit Flow of Technology to Russia Goes Through This Hong Kong Address
Zeke Faux’s recent book on crypto’s wild ride: Number Go Up
Zeke’s appearance on Whale Hunting earlier this year
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For a few days in the early 2000s, Masayoshi Son — nicknamed Masa — was the richest man in the world. A few days later, it all came tumbling down. The founder and CEO of the Japanese investment conglomerate SoftBank had failed to predict the future — an intuitive gift that first made his name as an investor, and his first billions. But even the most catastrophic losses wouldn’t stop his gambling habits, betting big on start-ups from Alibaba to WeWork over the next 20 years — all on a journey to becoming one of the most controversial venture capitalists of all time. In this week’s episode of Whale Hunting, Bradley sits down with the former Financial Times editor Lionel Barber to discuss Masa: the man behind the billions, how he calculates his bets, and why he likes to compare himself to Napoleon.
Mentioned in this week’s episode:
Lionel’s new biography of Masa: Gambling Man: The Wild Ride of Japan’s Masayoshi Son
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Imagine a world where there are two maps. The regular one that everyone sees — one divided by land borders and nation states. The other, a hidden globe, made up of jurisdictions defined not by geography, but by laws that can shift, bend, or even disappear altogether. That's the vision journalist Atossa Araxia Abrahamian sets out in her new book, The Hidden Globe.
In this week's episode of the Whale Hunting podcast, Bradley sits down with Atossa to explore a rarefied world where citizenship can be bought, and the rules of jurisdiction are being rewritten on Earth and beyond. From hidden tax havens to futuristic space colonies, they discuss how the ultrawealthy and well-connected are tearing up the rulebook on how we think about nations, sovereignty, and what it means to belong.
You can find Atossa's book, The Hidden Globe: How Wealth Hacks the World online and in all good bookshops.
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When journalist Gareth Gore began investigating the collapse of Spain’s Banco Popular in 2017, he expected a predictable tale of bad investments and toxic loans. Instead, it led him to discover a vast web of hidden financial networks spread around the world, all linking back to one organization: Opus Dei. This week on Whale Hunting, Gareth joins Bradley to discuss how this secretive Catholic sect quietly wields global influence in everything from finance to policymaking and education – and how it exploits and manipulates its members to further its power. It’s all in Gareth’s new book, Opus: dark money, a secretive cult, and its mission to remake our world, out now in US bookshops.For more from Whale Hunting, make sure to follow the podcast – and subscribe to our newsletter at whalehunting.projectbrazen.com.
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For the last five years, Popular Front has been shaking up the way many of us view reporting from conflict zones. It gives its followers an up-close-and-personal view, going inside globally reported stories like Hong Kong’s 2019 umbrella protests and narco-militias in Mexico, as well as lesser-known battlegrounds like the illicit 3D printing of firearms in Europe. Jake Hanrahan, its founder, came into journalism with no formal training during VICE’s heyday, and quickly became a correspondent covering conflict in Kurdistan, Ukraine, and elsewhere. This week on Whale Hunting, Bradley Hope chats to Jake about his unconventional path into journalism, and what led him to set up a grassroots war reporting organization. They also discuss the delicate balancing act of gaining access to stories while remaining authentic, the challenges of making independent media on a shoestring, and why Jake doesn’t care about scoops.
Mentioned in this week’s episode:
Popular Front, a grassroots media organisation that focuses solely on war and conflict: https://www.popularfront.co/
Jake’s newest documentary project, Away Days, which tells “hidden stories from the fringes of society”: https://www.awaydays.tv/
For more from Whale Hunting, make sure to follow the podcast – and subscribe to our newsletter at whalehunting.projectbrazen.com. You can also follow us on Instagram @whalehunting.fm.
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When the Taliban were first toppled in 2001, there was hope among some Afghans that it could mark the start of a new Afghanistan. President Bush promised the US would help construct a new, functional government – and some diaspora returned, eager to help rebuild the country. Among them was Saad Mohseni. Saad, an Afghan-Australian banker, would go on to start a radio station with his siblings in Kabul. It would soon grow into Afghanistan’s largest media company, spreading out across Asia and the Middle East. This week on Whale Hunting, Saad talks to Bradley about what it was like to witness the rise and fall of the fledgling Afghan state through the lens of the country’s biggest media network. They also discuss the first signs of trouble in Afghanistan’s reconstruction, why Saad continues to operate Moby group under Taliban rule today, and what he sees for the future of the country.
Saad’s book, Radio Free Afghanistan, is available in bookshops from 24 September in the US and 26 September in the UK – or pre-order online.
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On Monday, Malaysia’s High Court heard how a staggering $2.4 million made its way from the coffers of the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund, 1MDB, into the bank accounts of Kim Kardashian and Pharell Williams – all via fugitive businessman Jho Low. This week on Whale Hunting, Bradley Hope and Tom Wright get together to discuss the latest developments in the ever-evolving 1MDB saga. They explain how celebrities and music stars were pulled into Jho Low’s orbit by big money, and discuss a long-overdue legal breakthrough in Switzerland, where two key players have been sentenced for their roles in the scandal.
Mentioned in this week’s episode:
Billion Dollar Whale, the story of 1MDB by Tom Wright and Bradley Hope: https://amzn.to/44bJf9I
The sentencing of Tarek Obaid and Patrick Mahoney, PetroSaudi executives: https://www.ft.com/content/6c70d17b-4546-462d-9d86-99e1c50bf9cd
The Star’s coverage of Kim Kardashian and Pharrell Williams’ connections to 1MDB https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2024/09/09/1mdb-trial-staggering-usd24mil-went-into-kim-kardashian-and-pharell-williamss-bank-accounts
Check My Steezo - From "22 Jump Street" Soundtrack (the Jho Low verse starts at 1.59 for those interested): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcnMvZC6pb0
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You’ve probably heard of blood diamonds, but what about blood antiquities?
Today, most trappings of wealth – like cash, diamonds or gold – are subject to stringent regulation. But not fine art and antiquities. Somehow, the art market has escaped the toughest rules, becoming a favored global hub for dirty money. This week on Whale Hunting, Tom Wright is joined by Tess Davis, executive director at the Antiquities Coalition, where she leads work to tackle the illicit trafficking of antiquities and ancient art. It’s a trade used to launder money by Russian oligarchs and sanctioned terrorist groups alike. Together, Tom and Tess take a deep dive into the dark side of the art world, discussing the bad actors using art as their playground, the complicity of major institutions, and what can be done to reform the art business.
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Thanks for listening to season two of Whale Hunting! The podcast will be back very soon with brand new episodes on everything from cultural racketeering to grassroots war reporting, murky offshore jurisdictions, and much more.
In the meantime, we wanted to share an episode from one of our favourite shows. It's called Lever Time and it's the flagship podcast from our friends at The Lever, a reader-supported investigative outlet covering corruption, accountability and power in the U.S. In this episode, The Lever's Arjun Singh is joined by New York Times reporter Peter Goodman and The Groundwork Collaborative's Lindsay Owens, to look at how corporations exploited the pandemic to price gouge everybody else. Enjoy!
For more from The Lever, head to levernews.com or search for Lever Time in your favorite podcast app. And remember, you can subscribe to the Whale Hunting newsletter by visiting whalehunting.projectbrazen.com.
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A furious letter from a smartly-named law firm is almost par for the course for journalists on the crime and corruption beat. From oligarchs and dictators to badly behaved billionaires, many have enlisted the help of libel lawyers to frighten off reporters and squash unfavorable stories. What’s more rare, however, is for these furious letters to materialize in an actual lawsuit. That was the unfortunate situation faced by Ed Siddons, a reporter at The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, after reporting on a multibillion-dollar Kazakh investment vehicle. For two years, Ed and the Bureau were forced to defend a defamation lawsuit launched by the company. This week on Whale Hunting, Bradley chats to Ed about why London has become the libel capital of the world, how bad actors are exploiting UK law to suppress public interest journalism, and the ferocious firms that help them pursue these claims.
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In recent years, Philipp Grüll has spent almost all his time reporting on arms deals. He’s considered something of a specialist, so when his colleague Frederik Obermaier approached him with questions about a major global arms dealer, Philipp was surprised to find he’d never heard of him. His name was Li Fangwei, and he was considered so dangerous that the FBI had put a $5m bounty on his head. Intrigued, Philipp and Frederik enlisted the help of two other German journalists – Bastian Obermayer and Christoph Giesen – to unravel the story of Li Fangwei. This week on Whale Hunting, host Tom Wright speaks with Philipp and Christoph about the group’s search for the elusive arms dealer – the topic of their new book, The Chinese Phantom: the hunt for the world’s most dangerous arms dealer. Together, they discuss the knotty web of diplomatic negotiations, state complicity, and murky dual-use technology that their investigation uncovered – as well as the ongoing mystery surrounding Li Fangwei’s whereabouts.
The Chinese Phantom: the hunt for the world’s most dangerous arms dealer is out now in German, and available for pre-order in English at all good online bookshops.
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In the US, all American citizens have the constitutional right to lobby their representatives in Washington DC. It’s a right that has come in handy over the years as foreign powers, dictators and kleptocrats look for proxies to help them wash their reputations and push their agendas on US soil. This week on Whale Hunting, Bradley dives into foreign lobbying with Casey Michel, an investigative journalist and author of the new book, Foreign Agents: how American lobbyists and lawmakers threaten democracy around the world. Together, they discuss the history of this murky practice in the US, how it shapes American politics in hidden ways, and what recent cases like the conviction of Senator Bob Menendez reveal about the industry.
Casey is also the director of the Combating Kleptocracy Program at the Human Rights Foundation. You can read the program’s latest report, Infiltrating America: How the UAE Launched an Unprecedented Political Interference Campaign in the US at hrf.org. Casey’s book, Foreign Agents, is available for pre-order now on Amazon in online bookstores.
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"Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that [...] he is a kind of confidence man, preying on people's vanity, ignorance or loneliness, gaining their trust and betraying them without remorse." Some fighting talk from Janet Malcolm, back in 1989. But is there truth in her words? This week on Whale Hunting, Bradley talks to Steve Fishman, the legendary journalist who got big names like fraudster Bernie Madoff and killer Son of Sam to open up. Steve's latest podcast My Friend, The Serial Killer reflects on his first big break in journalism, which came about after a close encounter with serial killer Robert Carr. He talks about why the story has continued to trouble him, and what it was like to revisit his early reporting decades later. Bradley and Steve also discuss the intimacy of telling stories in podcasts, how to get sources to talk, and the careful balance between sincerity, compassion and ruthless reporting.
To listen to Steve's podcast, search for Smoke Screen: My Friend, The Serial Killer in your favourite podcast app. There's also the special director's cut of his show Empire on Blood, with three new episodes, coming soon to The Burden feed.
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No nation faced more devastating consequences in the aftermath of 9/11 than Afghanistan. At least, that’s what Sune Rasmussen observed in his six years living and reporting from the country in the midst of its upheaval. This week on Whale Hunting, Bradley Hope speaks with Sune about his time in Afghanistan and his new book on the Allied invasion, 20 Years: Hope, War, and the Betrayal of an Afghan Generation. Together, they discuss what it was like living in Afghanistan during the war, why the Taliban continues to appeal to some young Afghans, and what Western reporting often gets wrong about Afghanistan, its people, and its plight. Sune’s book, 20 Years: Hope, War, and the Betrayal of an Afghan Generation, is available for pre-order online now.For more from Whale Hunting, make sure to follow the podcast – and you can subscribe to our newsletter at whalehunting.projectbrazen.com.
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It’s a precarious time for the Russian elite. Caught up in the invasion of Ukraine and an immovable dictator, the noblesse russe have to tip-toe through economic and political conflict to survive. In the last two years, however, an increasing number have lost their footing. This week on Whale Hunting, host Bradley Hope welcomes Xenia Rakovshik, a Russian-American journalist who's been digging into so-called Sudden Russian Death Syndrome. Together they discuss the unusual spate of sudden deaths – from heart attacks to murder-suicides and falls from height – and their seemingly outsized occurrence among Russian oligarchs and businessmen of late. Xenia also shares one theory about why this spate of deaths may have begun following Russia's invasion of Ukraine (spoiler: Putin may not be behind all of them) and what life is like for those currently living within Putin's grip, including Russian journalists.
To find out more about Xenia's investigation into mysterious Russian deaths, head to whalehunting.projectbrazen.com for the latest edition of our newsletter. Make sure to sign up to the Whale Hunting newsletter to have stories like this one delivered direct to your inbox!
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In 2013, US-based Smithfield Foods – the world's largest pork producer – was bought by a Chinese firm for nearly $5 billion. But was it just a run-of-the-mill acquisition for a big Chinese company, or was there more to the story? It was a question that would send investigative reporter Nate Halverson down a rabbit hole that exposed a hidden war across the world over two vital resources: food and water. This week on Whale Hunting, Tom Wright welcomes Nate to discuss The Grab, his new documentary delving into global conspiracies to control food and water, spanning everything from China’s acquisition of US pig farms to Saudi investors exploiting Arizona’s aquifers. Nate also shares his discoveries about Blackwater mercenary Erik Prince, what Putin’s invasion of Ukraine means for world wheat supplies, and how food insecurity and climate change will make fresh water the 21st century’s new oil.
The Grab is available to stream now on Apple TV and Amazon Prime in the US, and is coming soon to screens elsewhere in the world. Find out more at www.magpictures.com/thegrab.
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