Whale Hunting

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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On Monday, Malaysia’s High Court heard how a staggering $2.4 million made its way from the coffers of the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund, 1MDB, into the bank accounts of Kim Kardashian and Pharell Williams – all via fugitive businessman Jho Low. This week on Whale Hunting, Bradley Hope and Tom Wright get together to discuss the latest developments in the ever-evolving 1MDB saga. They explain how celebrities and music stars were pulled into Jho Low’s orbit by big money, and discuss a long-overdue legal breakthrough in Switzerland, where two key players have been sentenced for their roles in the scandal.

Mentioned in this week’s episode:

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You’ve probably heard of blood diamonds, but what about blood antiquities?

Today, most trappings of wealth – like cash, diamonds or gold – are subject to stringent regulation. But not fine art and antiquities. Somehow, the art market has escaped the toughest rules, becoming a favored global hub for dirty money. This week on Whale Hunting, Tom Wright is joined by Tess Davis, executive director at the Antiquities Coalition, where she leads work to tackle the illicit trafficking of antiquities and ancient art. It’s a trade used to launder money by Russian oligarchs and sanctioned terrorist groups alike. Together, Tom and Tess take a deep dive into the dark side of the art world, discussing the bad actors using art as their playground, the complicity of major institutions, and what can be done to reform the art business.

For more from Whale Hunting, make sure to follow the podcast – and subscribe to our newsletter at whalehunting.projectbrazen.com.

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Thanks for listening to season two of Whale Hunting! The podcast will be back very soon with brand new episodes on everything from cultural racketeering to grassroots war reporting, murky offshore jurisdictions, and much more.

In the meantime, we wanted to share an episode from one of our favourite shows. It's called Lever Time and it's the flagship podcast from our friends at The Lever, a reader-supported investigative outlet covering corruption, accountability and power in the U.S. In this episode, The Lever's Arjun Singh is joined by New York Times reporter Peter Goodman and The Groundwork Collaborative's Lindsay Owens, to look at how corporations exploited the pandemic to price gouge everybody else. Enjoy!

For more from The Lever, head to levernews.com or search for Lever Time in your favorite podcast app. And remember, you can subscribe to the Whale Hunting newsletter by visiting whalehunting.projectbrazen.com.

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A furious letter from a smartly-named law firm is almost par for the course for journalists on the crime and corruption beat. From oligarchs and dictators to badly behaved billionaires, many have enlisted the help of libel lawyers to frighten off reporters and squash unfavorable stories. What’s more rare, however, is for these furious letters to materialize in an actual lawsuit. That was the unfortunate situation faced by Ed Siddons, a reporter at The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, after reporting on a multibillion-dollar Kazakh investment vehicle. For two years, Ed and the Bureau were forced to defend a defamation lawsuit launched by the company. This week on Whale Hunting, Bradley chats to Ed about why London has become the libel capital of the world, how bad actors are exploiting UK law to suppress public interest journalism, and the ferocious firms that help them pursue these claims.

For more from Whale Hunting, make sure to follow the podcast – and you can subscribe to our newsletter at whalehunting.projectbrazen.com

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In recent years, Philipp Grüll has spent almost all his time reporting on arms deals. He’s considered something of a specialist, so when his colleague Frederik Obermaier approached him with questions about a major global arms dealer, Philipp was surprised to find he’d never heard of him. His name was Li Fangwei, and he was considered so dangerous that the FBI had put a $5m bounty on his head. Intrigued, Philipp and Frederik enlisted the help of two other German journalists – Bastian Obermayer and Christoph Giesen – to unravel the story of Li Fangwei. This week on Whale Hunting, host Tom Wright speaks with Philipp and Christoph about the group’s search for the elusive arms dealer – the topic of their new book, The Chinese Phantom: the hunt for the world’s most dangerous arms dealer. Together, they discuss the knotty web of diplomatic negotiations, state complicity, and murky dual-use technology that their investigation uncovered – as well as the ongoing mystery surrounding Li Fangwei’s whereabouts. 

The Chinese Phantom: the hunt for the world’s most dangerous arms dealer is out now in German, and available for pre-order in English at all good online bookshops.

For more from Whale Hunting, make sure to follow the podcast – and you can subscribe to our newsletter at whalehunting.projectbrazen.com.

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In the US, all American citizens have the constitutional right to lobby their representatives in Washington DC. It’s a right that has come in handy over the years as foreign powers, dictators and kleptocrats look for proxies to help them wash their reputations and push their agendas on US soil. This week on Whale Hunting, Bradley dives into foreign lobbying with Casey Michel, an investigative journalist and author of the new book, Foreign Agents: how American lobbyists and lawmakers threaten democracy around the world. Together, they discuss the history of this murky practice in the US, how it shapes American politics in hidden ways, and what recent cases like the conviction of Senator Bob Menendez reveal about the industry. 

Casey is also the director of the Combating Kleptocracy Program at the Human Rights Foundation. You can read the program’s latest report, Infiltrating America: How the UAE Launched an Unprecedented Political Interference Campaign in the US at hrf.org. Casey’s book, Foreign Agents, is available for pre-order now on Amazon in online bookstores. 

For more from Whale Hunting, make sure to follow the podcast – and you can subscribe to our newsletter at whalehunting.projectbrazen.com.

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"Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that [...] he is a kind of confidence man, preying on people's vanity, ignorance or loneliness, gaining their trust and betraying them without remorse." Some fighting talk from Janet Malcolm, back in 1989. But is there truth in her words? This week on Whale Hunting, Bradley talks to Steve Fishman, the legendary journalist who got big names like fraudster Bernie Madoff and killer Son of Sam to open up. Steve's latest podcast My Friend, The Serial Killer reflects on his first big break in journalism, which came about after a close encounter with serial killer Robert Carr. He talks about why the story has continued to trouble him, and what it was like to revisit his early reporting decades later. Bradley and Steve also discuss the intimacy of telling stories in podcasts, how to get sources to talk, and the careful balance between sincerity, compassion and ruthless reporting.

To listen to Steve's podcast, search for Smoke Screen: My Friend, The Serial Killer in your favourite podcast app. There's also the special director's cut of his show Empire on Blood, with three new episodes, coming soon to The Burden feed.

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No nation faced more devastating consequences in the aftermath of 9/11 than Afghanistan. At least, that’s what Sune Rasmussen observed in his six years living and reporting from the country in the midst of its upheaval. This week on Whale Hunting, Bradley Hope speaks with Sune about his time in Afghanistan and his new book on the Allied invasion, 20 Years: Hope, War, and the Betrayal of an Afghan Generation. Together, they discuss what it was like living in Afghanistan during the war, why the Taliban continues to appeal to some young Afghans, and what Western reporting often gets wrong about Afghanistan, its people, and its plight. Sune’s book, 20 Years: Hope, War, and the Betrayal of an Afghan Generation, is available for pre-order online now.For more from Whale Hunting, make sure to follow the podcast – and you can subscribe to our newsletter at whalehunting.projectbrazen.com.

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It’s a precarious time for the Russian elite. Caught up in the invasion of Ukraine and an immovable dictator, the noblesse russe have to tip-toe through economic and political conflict to survive. In the last two years, however, an increasing number have lost their footing. This week on Whale Hunting, host Bradley Hope welcomes Xenia Rakovshik, a Russian-American journalist who's been digging into so-called Sudden Russian Death Syndrome. Together they discuss the unusual spate of sudden deaths – from heart attacks to murder-suicides and falls from height – and their seemingly outsized occurrence among Russian oligarchs and businessmen of late. Xenia also shares one theory about why this spate of deaths may have begun following Russia's invasion of Ukraine (spoiler: Putin may not be behind all of them) and what life is like for those currently living within Putin's grip, including Russian journalists.

To find out more about Xenia's investigation into mysterious Russian deaths, head to whalehunting.projectbrazen.com for the latest edition of our newsletter. Make sure to sign up to the Whale Hunting newsletter to have stories like this one delivered direct to your inbox!

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