Whale Hunting

Conventional 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.

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Mark 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?

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Honeypot 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.

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Swiss 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:

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When 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.

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For a few days in the early 2000s, Masayoshi Son — nicknamed Masa — was the richest man in the world. A few days later, it all came tumbling down. The founder and CEO of the Japanese investment conglomerate SoftBank had failed to predict the future — an intuitive gift that first made his name as an investor, and his first billions. But even the most catastrophic losses wouldn’t stop his gambling habits, betting big on start-ups from Alibaba to WeWork over the next 20 years — all on a journey to becoming one of the most controversial venture capitalists of all time. In this week’s episode of Whale Hunting, Bradley sits down with the former Financial Times editor Lionel Barber to discuss Masa: the man behind the billions, how he calculates his bets, and why he likes to compare himself to Napoleon.

Mentioned in this week’s episode:

Lionel’s new biography of Masa: Gambling Man: The Wild Ride of Japan’s Masayoshi Son

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Imagine a world where there are two maps. The regular one that everyone sees — one divided by land borders and nation states. The other, a hidden globe, made up of jurisdictions defined not by geography, but by laws that can shift, bend, or even disappear altogether. That's the vision journalist Atossa Araxia Abrahamian sets out in her new book, The Hidden Globe.

In this week's episode of the Whale Hunting podcast, Bradley sits down with Atossa to explore a rarefied world where citizenship can be bought, and the rules of jurisdiction are being rewritten on Earth and beyond. From hidden tax havens to futuristic space colonies, they discuss how the ultrawealthy and well-connected are tearing up the rulebook on how we think about nations, sovereignty, and what it means to belong.

You can find Atossa's book, The Hidden Globe: How Wealth Hacks the World online and in all good bookshops.

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When journalist Gareth Gore began investigating the collapse of Spain’s Banco Popular in 2017, he expected a predictable tale of bad investments and toxic loans. Instead, it led him to discover a vast web of hidden financial networks spread around the world, all linking back to one organization: Opus Dei. This week on Whale Hunting, Gareth joins Bradley to discuss how this secretive Catholic sect quietly wields global influence in everything from finance to policymaking and education – and how it exploits and manipulates its members to further its power. It’s all in Gareth’s new book, Opus: dark money, a secretive cult, and its mission to remake our world, out now in US bookshops.For more from Whale Hunting, make sure to follow the podcast – and subscribe to our newsletter at whalehunting.projectbrazen.com.

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For the last five years, Popular Front has been shaking up the way many of us view reporting from conflict zones. It gives its followers an up-close-and-personal view, going inside globally reported stories like Hong Kong’s 2019 umbrella protests and narco-militias in Mexico, as well as lesser-known battlegrounds like the illicit 3D printing of firearms in Europe. Jake Hanrahan, its founder, came into journalism with no formal training during VICE’s heyday, and quickly became a correspondent covering conflict in Kurdistan, Ukraine, and elsewhere. This week on Whale Hunting, Bradley Hope chats to Jake about his unconventional path into journalism, and what led him to set up a grassroots war reporting organization. They also discuss the delicate balancing act of gaining access to stories while remaining authentic, the challenges of making independent media on a shoestring, and why Jake doesn’t care about scoops.

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When the Taliban were first toppled in 2001, there was hope among some Afghans that it could mark the start of a new Afghanistan. President Bush promised the US would help construct a new, functional government – and some diaspora returned, eager to help rebuild the country. Among them was Saad Mohseni. Saad, an Afghan-Australian banker, would go on to start a radio station with his siblings in Kabul. It would soon grow into Afghanistan’s largest media company, spreading out across Asia and the Middle East. This week on Whale Hunting, Saad talks to Bradley about what it was like to witness the rise and fall of the fledgling Afghan state through the lens of the country’s biggest media network. They also discuss the first signs of trouble in Afghanistan’s reconstruction, why Saad continues to operate Moby group under Taliban rule today, and what he sees for the future of the country.

Saad’s book, Radio Free Afghanistan, is available in bookshops from 24 September in the US and 26 September in the UK – or pre-order online.

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