





Join host Alexandra Addison, President & Founder of TRACE, on Bribe, Swindle or Steal as she explores the world of financial crime—corruption, fraud, money laundering and sanctions—and what motivates people to break the law, how wrongdoers cover their tracks and what can be done to put a stop to the looting through interviews with experts in the field.
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At the 2025 TRACE Annapolis Forum, Nicola Bonucci, Associate Professor at Paris Cité and former General Counsel of the OECD, reflects on 25 years of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention and the evolving challenges of global enforcement. From uncertainties around FCPA guidance, political influence, and uneven implementation, to questions about the U.S.'s continued leadership in anti-bribery efforts, Nicola highlights the risks companies face in an increasingly unpredictable landscape—where cross-border investigations, bribe solicitation, and public scrutiny are on the rise.
This episode was originally published on 24 September 2025.
Michael Forsythe, co-author with Walt Bogdanich of "When McKinsey Comes to Town", joins the podcast to talk about McKinsey's work in support of autocratic regimes, its rampant conflicts of interest and the distance between its stated values and its work on the ground.
This episode originally aired on January 18, 2023.
Randall Eliason talks about extortion, conspiracy, cover-up crimes and plea bargains – topics covered in his excellent new 24 lecture course available through Great Courses. He also takes us through some examples from recent headlines.
This episode originally aired on September 29, 2020.
Yana Gorokhovskaia of Freedom House joins the podcast to talk about transnational repression, the increasingly common abuse and intimidation by states of their citizens living abroad. Yana discusses Jamal Khashoggi, murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, and Roman Protasevich, whose plane was forced to land in Belarus where he is still being held, but also refers to the hundreds of other cases that don't make the news. Freedom House has released an excellent report on this problem that can be found at: https://freedomhouse.org/report/transnational-repression.
This episode originally aired January 5, 2022.
Dr. Frank Badua, Associate Professor of Accounting and Business Law at Lamar University College of Business, describes the misconduct from the 1950s through the 1970s by a group of companies that led to widespread support for passage of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
This episode originally aired February 5, 2020.
Federico Masera with the University of New South Wales and the Resilient Democracy Lab in Sydney joins the podcast to discuss his recent research, together with Giorgio Gulino, "Contagious Dishonesty: Corruption Scandals and Supermarket Theft." Their intriguing research uncovers a trend toward substantially increased customer theft at supermarkets in the immediate aftermath of local corruption scandals involving prominent public officials.
This podcast was originally published on September 22, 2021.
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