Recording: American Kleptocracy: How the US Created the World’s Greatest Money Laundering Scheme in History

In American Kleptocracy, Casey Michel examines just how the US’s implosion into a centre of global offshoring took place: how states like Delaware and Nevada perfected the art of the anonymous shell company, and how post-9/11 reformers watched their success usher a new flood of illicit finance directly into the US; how African despots and post-Soviet oligarchs came to dominate US coastlines, US industries, and entire cities and small towns across the Midwest; how Nazi-era lobbyists birthed an entire industry of spin-men whitewashing transnational crooks and despots, and how dirty money has now begun infiltrating US universities, think tanks and cultural centres; and how those on the frontline are trying to restore the US's legacy of anti-corruption leadership – and finally end this reign of American kleptocracy.

Casey Michel is an Adjunct Fellow at the Hudson Institute’s Kleptocracy Initiative and has contributed research pertaining to offshoring, illicit finance, and foreign interference to the German Marshall Fund, the Human Rights Foundation and others. He is also a member of RUSI’s Taskforce on a Transatlantic Response to Illicit Finance (TARIF).

American Kleptocracy: How the US Created the World’s Greatest Money Laundering Scheme in History is forthcoming from Macmillan Publishers in November 2021.

Moderator

Elise Bean served as former staff director and chief counsel for Senator Carl Levin on the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, where she led investigations into matters involving money laundering, offshore tax abuse, and corporate misconduct. She is also a member of RUSI’s Taskforce on a Transatlantic Response to Illicit Finance (TARIF).