Shadowy foreign governments, a powerless Federal Reserve, and a clandestine currency market controlled only by the world's most elite international bankers. This is the story of the Eurodollar: a financial term as mysterious as the saga behind it. What began as a popular method for foreign countries and corporations to subvert US law grew into a secretive system for international banks to lend money to one another – a system as gargantuan as it is enigmatic. Tune in for the tale of how the first US dollars made its way abroad, and how the unregulated system it spawned reared its head in the 2008 financial crisis.

Host: Emma Ross

Researcher: John Sun

Producer: Christian F. Jung

The Global Inquirer is a production of the International Relations Organization at UVA, and affiliated with TEEJ, UVA’s podcasting network.