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    Kleptopia: How Dirty Money Is Conquering the World
    Kleptopia: How Dirty Money Is Conquering the World
    Kleptopia: How Dirty Money Is Conquering the World
    Audiobook10 hours

    Kleptopia: How Dirty Money Is Conquering the World

    Written by Tom Burgis

    Narrated by Tom Burgis

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    About this audiobook

    “A must-read for anyone wanting to better understand what has already happened here in America and what lies ahead if Trump is reelected in November…. A magisterial account of the money and violence behind the world’s most powerful dictatorships.” –Washington Post

    In this shocking, meticulously reported work of narrative nonfiction, an award-winning investigative journalist exposes “capitalism’s monster”—global kleptocracy—and reveals how it is corrupting the world around us.

    They are everywhere, the thieves and their people. Masters of secrecy. Until now we have detected their presence only by what they leave behind. A body in a burned-out Audi. Workers riddled with bullets in the Kazakh Desert. A rigged election in Zimbabwe. A British banker silenced and humiliated for trying to expose the truth about the City of London.

    They have amassed more money than most countries. But what they are really stealing is power.

    In this real-life thriller packed with jaw-dropping revelations, award-winning investigative journalist Tom Burgis weaves together four stories that reveal a terrifying global web of corruption: the troublemaker from Basingstoke who stumbles on the secrets of a Swiss bank, the ex-Soviet billionaire constructing a private empire, the righteous Canadian lawyer with a mysterious client, and the Brooklyn crook protected by the CIA.

    Glimpses of this shadowy world have emerged over the years. In Kleptopia, Burgis connects the dots. He follows the dirty money that is flooding the global economy, emboldening dictators, and poisoning democracies. From the Kremlin to Beijing, Harare to Riyadh, Paris to the White House, the trail shows something even more sinister: the thieves are uniting. And the human cost will be great.

    Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateSep 8, 2020
    ISBN9780063007710
    Author

    Tom Burgis

    Tom Burgis is an investigations correspondent at the Financial Times. He has reported from more than forty countries, won major journalism awards in the US and Asia and been shortlisted for eight others, including twice at the British Press Awards. His critically acclaimed book The Looting Machine, about the modern plundering of Africa, won an Overseas Press Club of America award.

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    Reviews for Kleptopia

    4/5

    74 ratings6 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Outstanding. The most illuminating and interesting book I’ve come across in years

      1 person found this helpful

    • 1/5
      Material that provided no solutions to the proposed problem yet criticized everything about the capitalist system that has worked for centuries.
    • 5/5
      He must read to understand how capital and political power operate today.
    • 5/5
      I suspect the review complaining about how this book is against capitalism and "offers no solutions" has mixed it up with the similarly titled "American Kleptocracy" - or else the reviewer has terrible reading comprehension/listening skills. This is about international thieves laundering trillions of dollars through offshore tax shelters, and the attempts to hold European banks accountable for their participation in these illegal activities. It's jaw-dropping stuff and you should read it.
    • 4/5
      It's insane that we all agree to this. And we do. Did you vote Labour? Guess how Blair is making his money. Voted Conservative? Who let City of London continue without any change? And the worst thing about it is that we think it's bad, we just think the money stolen from other countries coming here is worth it. Keep voting. You think our politicians are any dumber than politicians in eastern Europe and can't figure out how to extract money from useful idiots?
    • 4/5
      Every man lives his real, most interesting life under cover of secrecy Anton Chekhov, The Lady with The DogAn alternative way of depicting this book is that ruthless thieves rule us. I am confident I am correct in stating that kleptocratic states are becoming increasingly common.I gained two extra terms. The first is ‘kleptocracy’. In a kleptocratic state, the ruler uses political authority to peddle the country’s resources for personal profit. The second, is ‘kakistocracy’. I learned this word while researching kleptocracy. This a state or society governed by its least suitable or competent citizens. If you throw in the word autocracy, you will have a state ruled by one person who concentrates all power in himself/herself.The secret of a great fortune with no apparent cause is a crime that has been forgotten because it was done properly Honore de Balzac, Old GoriotTom Burgis has composed a work about kleptocracies. He has not mentioned kakistocracies, which is a pity. If you analyse this word seriously, you recognize that it is (at one level) related to kleptocratic states. I would state that kleptocracies, kakistocracies and autocracies are linked.The writing is lively. There were occasions I had to warn myself that this is not a crime tale. Tom Burgis has depicted two kleptocratic situations—Africa and Kazakhstan/Ukraine.Evidently, kleptocratic states are not new. In my considered view, we can characterize the escapades of people like Cecil Rhodes and King Leopold in the 19th century as kleptocratic behavior.What is distinct between those times and our current days? Cecil Rhodes and King Leopold were not populists. Many of today’s corrupt leaders are populists. Populism usually rises when resentment and discontent sweep through society. There are many reasons for this, and this is not the place to plunge into this problem. However, Germany after World War I was ready for populism, as was India in 2012-2014. These are conditions in which a populist is most comfortable. He can manipulate the situation, present himself as a guardian angel, and then expels the established order. Yet, a populist creates an order that is worse than the one he supplanted.Political power becomes concentrated in the grip of a few, and kleptocracy rules. A kleptocrat is ruthless. Tom Burgis has painted a highly authentic picture of this ruthlessness in the two cases that he presented in his book. They did not have to knock too hard.’ The London bankers’ and lawyers’ private pursuits matched those of the oligarchs and their retinues. ‘The finest of the finest prostitutes. Any drug you want. Different batches of girls. Limitless money. Limitless.’ from Kleptopia. Tom BurgisThere is another contrast between the 19th century and our years. This is the international scale of the operation. Social media, and the internet has made both—propaganda and cash transfer—much simpler. I don’t know if international banks took a piece of the action in the 19th century, but they do now. The book is a dismal tale of corruption, avarice, cynicism and outright hypocrisy.Nigel of Basingstoke tried to put himself inside a BSI client’s mind. ‘Why would I come to London to set up anaccount in Switzerland in the name of a Cayman Islands entity with directors in Panama? Now, it makesabsolutely no sense unless there is something quite underhand going on.’ from Kleptopia. Tom BurgisTom Burgis presents us with two narratives. One is that of Nigel Wilkins of Basingstoke who tried, through his career, to piece together evidence against the corruption. The other is the account of fraud in Ukraine/Kazakhstan and Africa. This is a tale of greed, cruelty and dictatorial power. The kleptocrats think nothing of torturing protestors and labelling them as anti-national. Neither do they think twice about celebrating ostentatiously while their citizens are infected with Ebola and die gruesome deaths.In his last chapter, Tom gives us with a list of countries controlled by kleptocrats. The USA should thank itself that Donald Trump has been voted out of power. If not, it would have gone the way of the other countries. I am startled that he did not mention India. However, the situation in India may be distinctive in its own manner.Nigel Wilkins died without being able to pursue justice to its bitter end.Tom has weaved a compelling narrative of selfishness, corruption and exploitation of powerThere is one deficiency in the book. The analysis is not deep enough. Earlier in this review, I mentioned kakistocracies and autocracies because I believe they are related. Does democracy exist, except in name? Tom Burgis could have thrown some wisdom into these topics and the interdependences between them.Putting this quibble aside, it is an exceptional book. We ought to be frightened. Most of us lead our lives in complacent bubbles of blissful ignorance.Thieves rule us, and we vote them into power again and again.This is an exceptional book—about racketeers and dupes.