Seize American Kleptocracy: How The U.S. Created The Worlds Greatest Money Laundering Scheme In History Constructed By Casey Michel Conveyed As Physical Book

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.
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The Los Angeles Books

For years, one country has acted as the greatest offshore haven in the world, attracting hundreds of billions of dollars, and potentially more, in illicit finance tied directly to corrupt regimes, extremist networks, and the worst the world has to offer.
But it hasnt been the sleepy, sandsplattered 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 from modern offshoring 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 United States of America.


From anonymous shell companies and legal inventions like “perpetual trusts” to public relations and lobbying shops willing to do anything they can to camouflage the source of the dirty money, the United States transformation into the center of global offshoring is complete.
And while Donald Trump presented, in many ways, the ultimate culmination of the U, S. s descent, the countrys trajectory has been decades in the making,

American Kleptocracy will examine 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/reformers watched their success usher in a new flood of illicit finance directly into the U.
S. how African despots and postSoviet oligarchs came to dominate American coastlines, American industries, and entire cities and small towns across the American Midwest how Naziera lobbyists birthed an entire industry of spinmen whitewashing transnational 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 frontline are trying to restore America's legacy of anticorruption leadershipand finally end this reign of American kleptocracy.


It will also look at how Trumps presidency accelerated all of the trends already on handand how the Biden administration can, and should, act on this inheritance.
American Kleptocracy by Casey Michel is an interesting and timely book describing who and how money is moved about globally.
What is frustrating and disturbing to learn is although most of the money is not stolen in the US, much of it is transferred into the US where it goes from dirty to clean money legally! Mr.
Michel is an Adjunct Fellow for the Hudson Institutes Kleptocracy Initiative, and has contributed research pertaining to offshoring, illicit finance, and foreign interference to the German Marshall Fund, the Human Rights Foundation, as well as others.

The money flows into the US with the assistance of US lawyers and set up in shell companies mainly in Delaware, South Dakota and Nevada, three states that have made it possible to set up an Anonymous Shell Company in less than one hour.
Some of the people described with vast sums of stolen money meaning overbillion dollars are from Equatorial Guinea and Ukraine.
In the case of Teodore Obiang now VP of Equatorial Guinea who among ways to “wash” his money bought up all the Michael Jackson items including the famous glove.
In this case the harm is mainly to the people of Equatorial Guinea who have lost much of the revenue that could be used to make the country more livable.
In the case of Ukraine, the oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky not only ransacked the Ukraine economy he and his cohorts purchase steel mills and office buildings in middle America which they ran into the ground but as Michel explains the money is now free and beyond the grasp of Ukraine while at the same time causing massive financial pain to hard working middle class Americans.
So the key point is it does impact the US and at this point we do not know how large this problem may be since all the money and who it belongs to is still hidden.

I believe this is an excellent book to begin to understand this issue and problem for America.
It is well written without technical jargon and will make you a bit more informed about an important issue for America.

The use of Blind Trusts, Money Laundering, Golden Visas, and other legal and illegal tools of corruption are expertly covered here weaving in specific examples ranging from a Dictators son to Russian and Ukrainian Oligarchs.
So many facts and passages highlighted, but also follows these specific cases to give a more human element to these abuses.
Excellent piece of reporting.
A great explanation of how kleptocracy has not only pierced the American economy but even goes as far as threatening democracy itself and the risk of turning the West into fascist, authoritative hells like ruzzia and China.
Brilliantly written, with relevant examples and evidence of years of deep research, Especially after this year, this book is particularly symbolic because this is what separates us from places such as ruzzia and China because we are able to talk about deep criticism of our systems openly and thus attempt to do something about it to make sure that democracy surives.
It really gave me a deep sense of appreciation for those who tend to work tirelessly, often without the jazzy headlines that those like Alexandria OcasioCortez, Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders tend to get, in order to make sure that kleptocracy is noted, punished and so that democracy is able to continue existing.
Im incredibly grateful that I know in greater detail now who Senator Carl Levin was and who Paul Massaro is now.


One star taken off forreasons I wouldve assumed that some of the biggest examples of threats to democracy ruzzians, Chinese CCP party officals, sanctioned Iranian Revolution leaders wouldve been the majority of the case studies here.
Instead its mostly examples of Ukrainian oligarchs and a deep focus on one dictator family member from the Equatorial Guinea who make up the majority of case studies in the book with only a handful of light mentions of ruzzian oligarchs and barely anyone from China personally.
Even though the author constantly mentions ruzzian oligarchs amp Chinese billionaires as being the threats to American democracy through their kleptocratic behaviour and to be honest, its just common sense at this point there isnt a single deep case study of any of them personally Furthermore after mentioning a bunch of Ukrainian case studies in money laundering throughout the book, in the acknowledgement section, the author notesof the people he relied on for information: Christopher Miller and Ben Judah.
To say that Ukrainians are not a fan of them and that they are dubious sources at best, would be an understatement, which really makes me question the authenticity of the information in this book.
We Americans can be funny when it comes to thinking about our role in global finance.
Thanks to movies, TV and other pop culture, everybody more or less knows that there is vast criminal activity going on just think of how many movies or TV shows rely on the infamous "briefcase filled withbills" trope.
And it's not like writers are afraid of the 'money laundering' plot line, either just imagine how many lawyers and bankers the drug cartels keep in business.


And yet, that awareness of financial criminality never seems to result in any stigma that we as Americans are actively engaged in it.
Rather, it's something that 'other people do, ' But, as Casey Michel extensively documents in "American Kleptocracy," America is actually now a tax haven in the very literal sense of the word.


The fact is that the world is rife with criminal activity, often at a grand scale.
Families of corrupt dictators are one such

colorful example, as Michel documents, but there are also drug cartels and other organized crime syndicates with their own illicit fortunes.
These uberrich criminals need to be able to use their illgotten gains, so how do they make the money appear to be clean They launder it, through means both Byzantine and deceptively simple.


This book is an excellent if occasionally dry primer in how certain American legal realities have created tax havens inside the U.
S. perfectly tailored for money laundering, Whether it's Delaware corporate law, or Wyoming's creation of the limited liability company, or South Dakota's forgiving trust regime, there are lots of legal structures and systems within the U.
S. that create opportunities for criminals to engage in vast financial crimes,

These systems have legitimate uses, as Michel points out over and over but that must not obscure the fact that they are also being abused on a grand scale.
Opportunities for skullduggery generally revolve around anonymity corporations, LLCs, and trusts organized in certain states do not require public disclosure of their owners or the sources of their funds/capital.
This can be nice for anyone, For example, if you are starting a family restaurant and you don't want to disclose that your rich parents are your 'silent partners,' state law does not require that information be made public.
But that also extends to if instead of your rich parents your silent partner is engaged in criminal activity, such as a drug cartel or corrupt dictator.


The book builds to the Trump Administration certainly not a 'dry' portion of the book where Michel documents in considerable detail how our former President and his administration undermined what little efforts the U.
S. government had taken to combat the rampant moneylaundering in the U, S. former U. S. Senator Carl Levin emerges as a force for good here, But Trump had learned the key role that U, S. real estate investment plays for certain moneylaunderers those with the resources to play a longer game.
If you havemillion in illgotten gains, you can parkmillion or so in U, S. real estate one of the more stable investment classes out there with few questions asked, You can keepmillion as 'play money' and reap the benefits, Trump's connections with dirty money are there for all to see, which explains several of his decisions to cause the U.
S. to backslide on its anticorruption efforts,

This is a fun read and an entertaining one, It lacks the personal angle of some of the best writing about financial skullduggery, such as Bill Browder's "Freezing Order," so it's not quite a fivestar read.
But it's close highly recommended, .