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Published by Ministry of Spark
True crime about money, as complete audiobooks, free. In this volume: Pablo Escobar in Colombia; the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico; Credit Suisse in Switzerland; Purdue Pharma and Binance; Ridouan Taghi in the Netherlands; Matteo Messina Denaro and Cosa Nostra in Italy; the Yamaguchi-gumi in Japan; Mossack Fonseca in Panama; Riad Salameh in Lebanon; the Gupta brothers in South Africa; Sani Abacha in Nigeria. Fifty countries, one book each, on how criminal fortunes are made and laundered and where the law catches up. Narrated with a synthetic voice. ministryofspark.com
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Slovenia left Yugoslavia first, joined the euro in 2007 and became the Balkans' star pupil. Its courts and reporters found another country. A defense ministry traded arms under a UN embargo; managers bought their companies with state-bank loans the taxpayer later covered; a former prime minister was convicted over Finnish armored vehicles and freed when the verdict was annulled; one NLB account moved over a billion dollars for sanctioned Iranian banks; and two Slovene brothers, a court found at first instance, ran a Montenegrin cocaine clan's cell and had a man killed. Covers Janez Janša and Patria, Igor Bavčar and Istrabenz, Boško Šrot and Pivovarna Laško, Uroš Rotnik and the TEŠ 6 power plant, Iraj Farrokhzadeh and NLB, and Klemen and Blaž Kadivec and the Kavač clan. Narrated with a synthetic voice. If you like stories of money and power, try our sister podcast, Immersive Business, from the Ministry of Spark: https://ministryofspark.com
Slovenia left Yugoslavia first, joined the euro in 2007 and became the Balkans' star pupil. Its courts and reporters found another country. A defense ministry traded arms under a UN embargo; managers bought their companies with state-bank loans the taxpayer later covered; a former prime minister was convicted over Finnish armored vehicles and freed when the verdict was annulled; one NLB account moved over a billion dollars for sanctioned Iranian banks; and two Slovene brothers, a court found at first instance, ran a Montenegrin cocaine clan's cell and had a man killed. Covers Janez Janša and Patria, Igor Bavčar and Istrabenz, Boško Šrot and Pivovarna Laško, Uroš Rotnik and the TEŠ 6 power plant, Iraj Farrokhzadeh and NLB, and Klemen and Blaž Kadivec and the Kavač clan. Narrated with a synthetic voice. If you like stories of money and power, try our sister podcast, Immersive Business, from the Ministry of Spark: https://ministryofspark.com
Slovenia left Yugoslavia first, joined the euro in 2007 and became the Balkans' star pupil. Its courts and reporters found another country. A defense ministry traded arms under a UN embargo; managers bought their companies with state-bank loans the taxpayer later covered; a former prime minister was convicted over Finnish armored vehicles and freed when the verdict was annulled; one NLB account moved over a billion dollars for sanctioned Iranian banks; and two Slovene brothers, a court found at first instance, ran a Montenegrin cocaine clan's cell and had a man killed. Covers Janez Janša and Patria, Igor Bavčar and Istrabenz, Boško Šrot and Pivovarna Laško, Uroš Rotnik and the TEŠ 6 power plant, Iraj Farrokhzadeh and NLB, and Klemen and Blaž Kadivec and the Kavač clan. Narrated with a synthetic voice. If you like stories of money and power, try our sister podcast, Immersive Business, from the Ministry of Spark: https://ministryofspark.com
Slovenia left Yugoslavia first, joined the euro in 2007 and became the Balkans' star pupil. Its courts and reporters found another country. A defense ministry traded arms under a UN embargo; managers bought their companies with state-bank loans the taxpayer later covered; a former prime minister was convicted over Finnish armored vehicles and freed when the verdict was annulled; one NLB account moved over a billion dollars for sanctioned Iranian banks; and two Slovene brothers, a court found at first instance, ran a Montenegrin cocaine clan's cell and had a man killed. Covers Janez Janša and Patria, Igor Bavčar and Istrabenz, Boško Šrot and Pivovarna Laško, Uroš Rotnik and the TEŠ 6 power plant, Iraj Farrokhzadeh and NLB, and Klemen and Blaž Kadivec and the Kavač clan. Narrated with a synthetic voice. If you like stories of money and power, try our sister podcast, Immersive Business, from the Ministry of Spark: https://ministryofspark.com
Kuwait, 1979 to 2026: the officials trusted to guard a small, rich state's oil wealth are best placed to take it. A pension chief runs the workers' fund for thirty years and dies in London, convicted in his absence; American prosecutors allege that defense-ministry money reached a Beverly Hills hilltop; a residency undersecretary is convicted of taking bribes in the visa trade; the highest court rules that a minister need not explain secret expenses. Kuwait's courts convict sheikhs and ministers, yet little money is known to have come back. Covers Fahad Al-Rajaan and the Public Institution for Social Security, Khaled Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah and the army fund, Talal Al-Khaled Al-Sabah and the secret expenses, Mazen Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah and the visa trade, and Fahad Mohammed Al-Sabah and Grupo Torras. Narrated with a synthetic voice. If you like stories of money and power, try our sister podcast, Immersive Business, from the Ministry of Spark: https://ministryofspark.com
Kuwait, 1979 to 2026: the officials trusted to guard a small, rich state's oil wealth are best placed to take it. A pension chief runs the workers' fund for thirty years and dies in London, convicted in his absence; American prosecutors allege that defense-ministry money reached a Beverly Hills hilltop; a residency undersecretary is convicted of taking bribes in the visa trade; the highest court rules that a minister need not explain secret expenses. Kuwait's courts convict sheikhs and ministers, yet little money is known to have come back. Covers Fahad Al-Rajaan and the Public Institution for Social Security, Khaled Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah and the army fund, Talal Al-Khaled Al-Sabah and the secret expenses, Mazen Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah and the visa trade, and Fahad Mohammed Al-Sabah and Grupo Torras. Narrated with a synthetic voice. If you like stories of money and power, try our sister podcast, Immersive Business, from the Ministry of Spark: https://ministryofspark.com
Kuwait, 1979 to 2026: the officials trusted to guard a small, rich state's oil wealth are best placed to take it. A pension chief runs the workers' fund for thirty years and dies in London, convicted in his absence; American prosecutors allege that defense-ministry money reached a Beverly Hills hilltop; a residency undersecretary is convicted of taking bribes in the visa trade; the highest court rules that a minister need not explain secret expenses. Kuwait's courts convict sheikhs and ministers, yet little money is known to have come back. Covers Fahad Al-Rajaan and the Public Institution for Social Security, Khaled Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah and the army fund, Talal Al-Khaled Al-Sabah and the secret expenses, Mazen Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah and the visa trade, and Fahad Mohammed Al-Sabah and Grupo Torras. Narrated with a synthetic voice. If you like stories of money and power, try our sister podcast, Immersive Business, from the Ministry of Spark: https://ministryofspark.com
Kuwait, 1979 to 2026: the officials trusted to guard a small, rich state's oil wealth are best placed to take it. A pension chief runs the workers' fund for thirty years and dies in London, convicted in his absence; American prosecutors allege that defense-ministry money reached a Beverly Hills hilltop; a residency undersecretary is convicted of taking bribes in the visa trade; the highest court rules that a minister need not explain secret expenses. Kuwait's courts convict sheikhs and ministers, yet little money is known to have come back. Covers Fahad Al-Rajaan and the Public Institution for Social Security, Khaled Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah and the army fund, Talal Al-Khaled Al-Sabah and the secret expenses, Mazen Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah and the visa trade, and Fahad Mohammed Al-Sabah and Grupo Torras. Narrated with a synthetic voice. If you like stories of money and power, try our sister podcast, Immersive Business, from the Ministry of Spark: https://ministryofspark.com
Luxembourg, a Grand Duchy of 680,000 people, holds eight trillion euros in funds and has spent a century selling discretion. This book follows what that discretion bought: tax rulings stamped the day they arrived, a clearing house accused and never tried, funds that sent European savings to Madoff, a private bank convicted over Malaysia's stolen millions, a notary who approved what she should have refused, a secret service that recorded its own prime minister, bombings no court has solved, and a charity emptied of 61 million euros in five months. Covers PricewaterhouseCoopers and the tax official Marius Kohl, Clearstream and Denis Robert, UBS and LuxAlpha, Edmond de Rothschild (Europe) and 1MDB, Caritas and the fraud that emptied it, Flavio Becca and his watches, and Mikhail Fridman and the Luxembourg state. Narrated with a synthetic voice. If you like stories of money and power, try our sister podcast, Immersive Business, from the Ministry of Spark: https://ministryofspark.com
Luxembourg, a Grand Duchy of 680,000 people, holds eight trillion euros in funds and has spent a century selling discretion. This book follows what that discretion bought: tax rulings stamped the day they arrived, a clearing house accused and never tried, funds that sent European savings to Madoff, a private bank convicted over Malaysia's stolen millions, a notary who approved what she should have refused, a secret service that recorded its own prime minister, bombings no court has solved, and a charity emptied of 61 million euros in five months. Covers PricewaterhouseCoopers and the tax official Marius Kohl, Clearstream and Denis Robert, UBS and LuxAlpha, Edmond de Rothschild (Europe) and 1MDB, Caritas and the fraud that emptied it, Flavio Becca and his watches, and Mikhail Fridman and the Luxembourg state. Narrated with a synthetic voice. If you like stories of money and power, try our sister podcast, Immersive Business, from the Ministry of Spark: https://ministryofspark.com
Luxembourg, a Grand Duchy of 680,000 people, holds eight trillion euros in funds and has spent a century selling discretion. This book follows what that discretion bought: tax rulings stamped the day they arrived, a clearing house accused and never tried, funds that sent European savings to Madoff, a private bank convicted over Malaysia's stolen millions, a notary who approved what she should have refused, a secret service that recorded its own prime minister, bombings no court has solved, and a charity emptied of 61 million euros in five months. Covers PricewaterhouseCoopers and the tax official Marius Kohl, Clearstream and Denis Robert, UBS and LuxAlpha, Edmond de Rothschild (Europe) and 1MDB, Caritas and the fraud that emptied it, Flavio Becca and his watches, and Mikhail Fridman and the Luxembourg state. Narrated with a synthetic voice. If you like stories of money and power, try our sister podcast, Immersive Business, from the Ministry of Spark: https://ministryofspark.com
Luxembourg, a Grand Duchy of 680,000 people, holds eight trillion euros in funds and has spent a century selling discretion. This book follows what that discretion bought: tax rulings stamped the day they arrived, a clearing house accused and never tried, funds that sent European savings to Madoff, a private bank convicted over Malaysia's stolen millions, a notary who approved what she should have refused, a secret service that recorded its own prime minister, bombings no court has solved, and a charity emptied of 61 million euros in five months. Covers PricewaterhouseCoopers and the tax official Marius Kohl, Clearstream and Denis Robert, UBS and LuxAlpha, Edmond de Rothschild (Europe) and 1MDB, Caritas and the fraud that emptied it, Flavio Becca and his watches, and Mikhail Fridman and the Luxembourg state. Narrated with a synthetic voice. If you like stories of money and power, try our sister podcast, Immersive Business, from the Ministry of Spark: https://ministryofspark.com
Serbia, 1991 to 2026. Under sanctions, pyramid banks drained citizens' marks while the regime moved money to Cyprus. State-security officers were convicted of political murder, and a special-forces commander of organizing a prime minister's assassination. A cocaine broker's associate was filmed meeting the interior minister; a football gang's leader told a court his group served the state; intelligence officers stand accused of guarding a cannabis farm; and on a railway prosecutors say was corrupted, a station canopy fell and killed sixteen people. Why do so many cases end unanswered? Covers Darko Šarić and his cocaine network, Veljko Belivuk and the Principi, Milorad Ulemek and the Zemun clan, Željko Ražnatović and the Serb Volunteer Guard, Predrag Koluvija and the Jovanjica farm, and Aleksandar Vulin and the US sanctions against him. Narrated with a synthetic voice. If you like stories of money and power, try our sister podcast, Immersive Business, from the Ministry of Spark: https://ministryofspark.com
Serbia, 1991 to 2026. Under sanctions, pyramid banks drained citizens' marks while the regime moved money to Cyprus. State-security officers were convicted of political murder, and a special-forces commander of organizing a prime minister's assassination. A cocaine broker's associate was filmed meeting the interior minister; a football gang's leader told a court his group served the state; intelligence officers stand accused of guarding a cannabis farm; and on a railway prosecutors say was corrupted, a station canopy fell and killed sixteen people. Why do so many cases end unanswered? Covers Darko Šarić and his cocaine network, Veljko Belivuk and the Principi, Milorad Ulemek and the Zemun clan, Željko Ražnatović and the Serb Volunteer Guard, Predrag Koluvija and the Jovanjica farm, and Aleksandar Vulin and the US sanctions against him. Narrated with a synthetic voice. If you like stories of money and power, try our sister podcast, Immersive Business, from the Ministry of Spark: https://ministryofspark.com
Serbia, 1991 to 2026. Under sanctions, pyramid banks drained citizens' marks while the regime moved money to Cyprus. State-security officers were convicted of political murder, and a special-forces commander of organizing a prime minister's assassination. A cocaine broker's associate was filmed meeting the interior minister; a football gang's leader told a court his group served the state; intelligence officers stand accused of guarding a cannabis farm; and on a railway prosecutors say was corrupted, a station canopy fell and killed sixteen people. Why do so many cases end unanswered? Covers Darko Šarić and his cocaine network, Veljko Belivuk and the Principi, Milorad Ulemek and the Zemun clan, Željko Ražnatović and the Serb Volunteer Guard, Predrag Koluvija and the Jovanjica farm, and Aleksandar Vulin and the US sanctions against him. Narrated with a synthetic voice. If you like stories of money and power, try our sister podcast, Immersive Business, from the Ministry of Spark: https://ministryofspark.com
Serbia, 1991 to 2026. Under sanctions, pyramid banks drained citizens' marks while the regime moved money to Cyprus. State-security officers were convicted of political murder, and a special-forces commander of organizing a prime minister's assassination. A cocaine broker's associate was filmed meeting the interior minister; a football gang's leader told a court his group served the state; intelligence officers stand accused of guarding a cannabis farm; and on a railway prosecutors say was corrupted, a station canopy fell and killed sixteen people. Why do so many cases end unanswered? Covers Darko Šarić and his cocaine network, Veljko Belivuk and the Principi, Milorad Ulemek and the Zemun clan, Željko Ražnatović and the Serb Volunteer Guard, Predrag Koluvija and the Jovanjica farm, and Aleksandar Vulin and the US sanctions against him. Narrated with a synthetic voice. If you like stories of money and power, try our sister podcast, Immersive Business, from the Ministry of Spark: https://ministryofspark.com
Lebanon, 1990 to 2026. In 2022 depositors held up their own banks to get their own money, three years after the banks shut and a country's savings vanished into a central bank that owed far more than it held. This book follows where the money went: commissions of three-eighths of one percent that investigators say went to a company in the Virgin Islands, used cars shipped to West Africa, checks leaving a collapsing bank, subsidized fuel carried over the mountains, Paris apartments and Cayman companies, and a port where 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate sat for six years. Covers Riad Salameh and the Banque du Liban, Raja Salameh and Forry Associates, Samir Hanna and Bank Audi, Rana Koleilat and Bank al-Madina, and Ayman Joumaa and the Lebanese Canadian Bank. Narrated with a synthetic voice. If you like stories of money and power, try our sister podcast, Immersive Business, from the Ministry of Spark: https://ministryofspark.com
Lebanon, 1990 to 2026. In 2022 depositors held up their own banks to get their own money, three years after the banks shut and a country's savings vanished into a central bank that owed far more than it held. This book follows where the money went: commissions of three-eighths of one percent that investigators say went to a company in the Virgin Islands, used cars shipped to West Africa, checks leaving a collapsing bank, subsidized fuel carried over the mountains, Paris apartments and Cayman companies, and a port where 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate sat for six years. Covers Riad Salameh and the Banque du Liban, Raja Salameh and Forry Associates, Samir Hanna and Bank Audi, Rana Koleilat and Bank al-Madina, and Ayman Joumaa and the Lebanese Canadian Bank. Narrated with a synthetic voice. If you like stories of money and power, try our sister podcast, Immersive Business, from the Ministry of Spark: https://ministryofspark.com
Lebanon, 1990 to 2026. In 2022 depositors held up their own banks to get their own money, three years after the banks shut and a country's savings vanished into a central bank that owed far more than it held. This book follows where the money went: commissions of three-eighths of one percent that investigators say went to a company in the Virgin Islands, used cars shipped to West Africa, checks leaving a collapsing bank, subsidized fuel carried over the mountains, Paris apartments and Cayman companies, and a port where 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate sat for six years. Covers Riad Salameh and the Banque du Liban, Raja Salameh and Forry Associates, Samir Hanna and Bank Audi, Rana Koleilat and Bank al-Madina, and Ayman Joumaa and the Lebanese Canadian Bank. Narrated with a synthetic voice. If you like stories of money and power, try our sister podcast, Immersive Business, from the Ministry of Spark: https://ministryofspark.com
Lebanon, 1990 to 2026. In 2022 depositors held up their own banks to get their own money, three years after the banks shut and a country's savings vanished into a central bank that owed far more than it held. This book follows where the money went: commissions of three-eighths of one percent that investigators say went to a company in the Virgin Islands, used cars shipped to West Africa, checks leaving a collapsing bank, subsidized fuel carried over the mountains, Paris apartments and Cayman companies, and a port where 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate sat for six years. Covers Riad Salameh and the Banque du Liban, Raja Salameh and Forry Associates, Samir Hanna and Bank Audi, Rana Koleilat and Bank al-Madina, and Ayman Joumaa and the Lebanese Canadian Bank. Narrated with a synthetic voice. If you like stories of money and power, try our sister podcast, Immersive Business, from the Ministry of Spark: https://ministryofspark.com
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Observed November 4, 2026.
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