American kleptocracy : how the U.S. created the world's greatest money laundering scheme in history / Casey Michel.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Michel, Casey, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Money laundering--United States.

Money laundering.

Financial institutions--Moral and ethical aspects.

Financial institutions.

Banks and banking, International.

United States.

Banks and banking, International--United States.

Financial institutions--Moral and ethical aspects--United States.

Commercial crimes--United States.

Commercial crimes.

Physical Description:

x, 349 pages ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : St. Martin's Press, an imprint of St. Martin's Publishing Group, 2021.

Summary:

"A remarkable debut by one of America's premier young reporters on financial corruption, Casey Michel's American Kleptocracy offers the first explosive investigation into how the United States of America built the largest illicit offshore finance system the world has ever known. "An indefatigable young American journalist who has virtually cornered the international kleptocracy beat on the US end of the black aquifer." -The Los Angeles Review of Books For years, one country has acted as the greatest offshore haven in the world, attracting hundreds of billions of dollars in illicit finance tied directly to corrupt regimes, extremist networks, and the worst the world has to offer. But it hasn't been the sand-splattered Caribbean islands, or even traditional financial secrecy havens like Switzerland or Panama, that have come to dominate the offshoring world. Instead, the country profiting the most also happens to be the one that still claims to be the moral leader of the free world, and the one that claims to be leading the fight against the crooked and the corrupt: the USA. American Kleptocracy examines just how the United States' implosion into a center 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 in a new flood of illicit finance directly into the U.S.; how African despots and post-Soviet oligarchs came to dominate American coastlines, American industries, and entire cities and small towns across the American Midwest; how Nazi-era lobbyists birthed an entire industry of spin-men whitewashing trans-national crooks and despots, and how dirty money has now begun infiltrating America's universities and think tanks and cultural centers; and how those on the front-line are trying to restore America's legacy of anti-corruption leadership-and finally end this reign of American kleptocracy"-- Provided by publisher.

For years, one country has acted as the greatest offshore haven in the world, attracting hundreds of billions of dollars in illicit finance tied directly to corrupt regimes, extremist networks, and the worst the world has to offer. Yet the country profiting the most also happens to be the one that still claims to be the moral leader of the free world, and the one that claims to be leading the fight against the crooked and the corrupt: the USA. Michel examines just how the United States' implosion into a center of global offshoring took place-- and how to end this reign of American kleptocracy. - adapted from jacket

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: pt. I STATIONARY BANDITS

1. The Sole Miracle

2. Why Not Do as the Americans Do?

3. Control Everything, Own Nothing

4. Neck-Deep

5. Slap in the Face

pt. II LIFESTYLES OF THE RICH AND FAMOUS

6. Scooping Caviar with a Shovel

7. Mensa-Certified Genius

8. Fish Physician

9. United States v. Thriller Jacket

pt. III AMERICAN WARLORDS

10. Not a Gambino

11. The Wild West

12. A Gaping Hole

13. Fucking Cursed

pt. IV UNITED STATES OF ANONYMITY

14. The Oligarchs Are Just Fronts

15. Corruption in the Flesh

16. Open Season

17. American Kleptocracies.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781250274526

1250274524

OCLC:

1227086949