Podcast
Whale Hunting
Hosted by Brazen · EN
This is WHALE HUNTING, a weekly podcast that pulls back the curtain on the hidden worlds of money and power, hosted by investigative journalists Tom Wright and Bradley Hope. Previously long-time reporters for the Wall Street Journal, Tom and Bradley now run Project Brazen, a journalism studio that’s published stories on everything from US Navy corruption to spycraft in Silicon Valley and embezzlement at the heart of Spain’s royal family.
Now, on the Whale Hunting podcast, you can join them as they share what’s got them talking this week, from the headlines to underworld gossip. Each episode will offer something different, but you can expect obscene tales of corruption, insights on the bizarre habits of billionaires, and conversations with reporters, spies, hostage negotiators, cops, authors, and the occasional criminal. Think of it as dropping in on the watercooler chat at Project Brazen’s office.
So join us. Subscribe to Whale Hunting, and find out how the world really works.
For more, or to sign up to our newsletter, visit whalehunting.projectbrazen.com.
Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://brazen.fm/plus/
12episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
The Man Stealing Billions of Dollars from the US Economy, Mauerberger's Spiderweb
Apr 2400:53:42Tap to summarizeThis episode of Whale Hunting explores the intricate web of illicit activities surrounding Benjamin Mauerberger, a South African involved in high-stakes financial crimes across Asia. Hosted by Journalists Bradley Hope and Tom Wright, the discussion delves into money laundering, scam industries, and geopolitical implications. Key Topics Benjamin Malberger's background and rise in illicit finance The role of scam centers and crypto in money laundering Connections between criminal networks and political figures in Asia The use of luxury assets and real estate for money laundering International efforts and challenges in tracking illicit financial flows Episode Breakdown 00:00 Introduction to Benjamin Mauerberger and his criminal network 01:48 The origins of Mauerberger and his early career in boiler rooms 04:04 Red flags: Excessive spending and anonymous identities 06:35 The meeting with Thailand's former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra 08:53 Malberger's connections to Cambodia and illicit asset purchases 10:55 The rise of scam industries and crypto laundering during COVID-19 13:14 The structure of Asian scam centers and organized crime 17:02 Malberger as a money laundering officer for Asian crime groups 19:58 State capture and political corruption in Thailand and Cambodia 22:15 The assets, investments, and global reach of Mauerberger 29:48 Legal challenges, investigations, and the future of Mauerberger 34:01 The impact of journalism and investigative efforts 41:41 Mauerberger's current whereabouts and ongoing investigations Keywords Money Laundering, Scams, Asia Crime Networks, Benjamin Mauerberger, Financial Crime, Investigative Journalism, Geopolitics, Asset Seizures, Thailand, Dubai Follow the investigation updates at whalehunting.projectbrazen.com To stay informed about geopolitical developments affecting illicit finance Share tips or information via hello@projectbrazen.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://brazen.fm/plus/
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From A Curious Worldview: How did MBS rise to power?
Dec 18, 202401:21:40Tap to summarizeThanks for listening to season three of Whale Hunting. We've heard from the biographer of the world’s most secretive billionaire, the man running a TV network under the Taliban, the undercover agent who exposed the world’s most corrupt bank, and so many more people who have spent months and years revealing hidden worlds of money and power. We’re taking a short break, but we'll be back in 2025 with brand new episodes.In the meantime, we'd like to share an episode of A Curious Worldview from Atlas Geographica, podcast in which host Ryan Faulkner-Hogg brings together “good journalists, good stories, great business and great authors.” In this episode, he interviews Whale Hunting co-host Bradley Hope about Blood and Oil, his book on the meteoric rise of Mohammed bin Salman. A Curious Worldview touches upon many of the same themes as this podcast, and we hope you’ll give it a listen.A Curious Worldview on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/curious-worldview-podcast/id1540424160A Curious Worldview on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/61wcpA8fkOQCAGrOfHgkigA Curious Worldview on other podcast apps: https://curiousworldview.buzzsprout.com/You can purchase a copy of Blood and Oil, the book on MBS that Bradley co-wrote, here: https://bookshop.org/a/107584/9780306846632Support our show by becoming a premium member! Visit https://brazen.fm/plus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://brazen.fm/plus/
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How did federal agents infiltrate the world’s dirtiest bank?
Dec 11, 202400:40:17Tap to summarizeA rare opportunity arises when global financial institutions implode: a brief window into how the world really works. There’s an opportunity to learn how money is laundered and where it’s coming from, which financial instruments or jurisdictions are being used to aid and abet criminals, and which drug lords or even governments are trying to hide what they’re up to. In 1991, the Pakistani-owned Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) was shuttered by regulators for helping bad actors the world over move criminal cash. A window was opened, and this week on Whale Hunting, Bradley Hope is joined by a man who had a front-row seat: former IRS and DEA undercover agent Robert Mazur, who was the key witness at the trial of numerous BCCI executives who he befriended while posing as a money launderer for Colombia’s Medellin Cartel in the late 1980s. They discuss Robert’s time undercover, how he became a central character in the downfall of BCCI and infiltrated Pablo Escobar’s notorious cartel, and how he came to realise that one of the banks through which Escobar moved his ill-gotten gains, BCCI, was no anomaly: There are scores of international banks with corporate incentives to provide banking services to dictators, money launderers and even terrorists.Mentioned in this week’s episode: Robert Mazur’s books about his time undercover: The Infiltrator and The Betrayal The Infiltrator has since been adapted into a feature film starring Breaking Bad’s Robert Cranston as Robert Mazur. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://brazen.fm/plus/
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Why does Elon Musk need private spies?
Dec 4, 202400:40:15Tap to summarizeFor the right price, a billionaire can buy almost anything in the private intelligence industry. Investigators will covertly dig through bins, pose as friendly faces to deceptively extract information, and even coordinate offensive hacking attacks to access private data. Although this by no means represents the whole industry, there is nothing off-menu to the world's wealthiest if you know the right people. And Elon Musk — the proprietor of the world’s deepest pockets — apparently uses private spies liberally, often to acquire information relevant to his personal life and reputation. Apparently, he's just desperate to control everything. This week on Whale Hunting, Bradley is joined by fellow aficionado of the private intelligence industry Alexi Mostrous, Investigations Editor at Tortoise Media. They discuss why Elon Musk uses private spies for personal matters, the relationship between journalists and the intelligence industry, and how Bradley once pranked an overly eager investigator to protect his source.Mentioned in this week’s episode: Elon’s Spies, Alexi Mostrous’ latest podcast for Tortoise Walter’s War, a podcast about Oliver Lewis presented by Tortoise’s Basia Cummings Neil Gerrard, a lawyer who represented ENRC and is known for representing wealthy clients in high profile legal spats The controversial Christopher Steele dossier, which was published by BuzzFeed News Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter by Kate Cogan and Ryan Mac Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://brazen.fm/plus/
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What does Iran achieve by outsourcing assassination attempts in the West?
Nov 27, 202400:25:27Tap to summarizeIran’s war with Israel and the U.S. has been waged through numerous proxies — Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen — but more recently, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, have been “outsourcing” their operations on foreign soil to lesser-known actors. At least 33 attempted hits and abductions have allegedly been orchestrated from Iran since 2020, carried out by individuals with little or no obvious connection to the Islamic Republic. Pakistani citizens have been foiled plotting attacks in Greece, and an Azerbaijani gang was recruited in the U.S. to assassinate an Iranian American journalist. Iran’s tactics are becoming increasingly reckless abroad, stoking fear among its known enemies — whether Israeli citizens or Iranian dissidents living in exile. This week on Whale Hunting, Bradley is joined in the studio by Reuters features editor Cassell Bryan-Low. They discuss Cassell’s investigation into Iran’s use of hitmen on foreign soil, how frequently these operations are thwarted, and what the ultimate objectives of such operations are: revenge, sabotage or something bigger?Mentioned in this week’s episode: “Murder for hire: Inside Iran’s proxy war with Israel in the West” by Renee Maltezou, Cassell Bryan-Low, Yannis Souliotis and Phil Stewart. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://brazen.fm/plus/
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Do Hezbollah's booby-trapped pagers herald a new era of warfare?
Nov 20, 202400:32:14Tap to summarizeConventional 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://brazen.fm/plus/
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Why was the FBI fascinated by the artist Mark Lombardi?
Nov 13, 202400:15:47Tap to summarizeMark 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://brazen.fm/plus/
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How did the FSB infiltrate one of Sweden’s biggest banks?
Nov 6, 202400:35:23Tap to summarizeHoneypot 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://brazen.fm/plus/
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How did Credit Suisse become the most scandal-ridden bank of all time?
Oct 30, 202400:33:51Tap to summarizeSwiss 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://brazen.fm/plus/
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How do you stop Putin’s war machine?
Oct 23, 202400:35:58Tap to summarizeWhen 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 For more from Whale Hunting, make sure to follow the podcast — and subscribe to our newsletter at whalehunting.projectbrazen.com. Subscribing gives you access to more from Whale Hunting, and helps support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://brazen.fm/plus/
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