Did you know that one of the biggest investors in Cleveland real estate this century was a lackey for an Eastern European oligarch? How about the fact that this infamous Michael Jackson glove was used as a tool to launder ill-begotten wealth by the son of an African dictator?
In his incredible new book “American Kleptocracy,” Casey Michel unwinds the serpentine ways that kleptocrats have exploited vehicles like anonymous shell companies and complicit industries like real estate and corporate law to launder billions of dollars of their corrupt cash. More importantly, he highlights all of the consequences our porous system has had on Americans here at home. Hulking buildings left to rot, once-profitable factories driven into disrepair, unattainable rents — all in America, all because of the game of American kleptocracy.
I wanted to sit down with Casey to flesh out why America has become one of the world’s leading destinations for ill-begotten wealth. I wanted to understand all the ways it was hurting people, both at home and abroad. And I wanted to trace out what American policymakers can and must do about it.
I’m excited to bring you the first edition of The Incision’s brand new show.
And you can find “American Kleptocracy” on Bookshop, your local bookstore, or wherever you shop for books.
Casey Michel on the Greatest Money Laundering Scheme in History