Hot Money: Agent of Chaos

Hot Money: Agent of Chaos

In 2020, the Financial Times exposed a €2 billion fraud at Wirecard, a high-flying German fintech. Many thought that was the end of the story. But for reporter Sam Jones, it was just the beginning. This season on Hot Money: Agent of Chaos, Jones investigates Wirecard’s chief operating officer, who vanished just as Wirecard collapsed. And turned out to also be a Russian spy. From an Ibizan sting operation to an attempted takeover of the Austrian intelligence service, his reporting spirals into a world of warlords, espionage, and disinformation. All in an attempt to answer one question: Who is the real Jan Marsalek? And what does his secret life reveal about the powerful forces he serves?

Episodes

May 25, 2022 3 mins

When Financial Times reporter Patricia Nilsson started digging into the porn industry, she made a shocking discovery: Nobody knew who controlled the biggest porn company in the world. Now, Nilsson and her editor, Alex Barker, have figured out who the guy was, and much more. Their reporting reveals a shadowy power structure that includes billionaires, tech geniuses and the most powerful finance companies in the world. Coming June 7t...

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Stoya is a porn star who saw first-hand how a firehose of free porn online transformed the adult industry.

She sends hosts Alex Barker and Patricia Nilsson a quest: Find out who is in charge, and get to the bottom of how the business of porn really works.

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June 7, 2022 32 mins

A decade ago, a computer programmer named Fabian Thylmann began to build one of the biggest porn empires in the world.

How did Fabian do it? He was good with money in a business that was starved of finance. He convinced Wall Street to bankroll his vision to take control of the industry.

If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts be sure to sign up for our email list at Pu...

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June 14, 2022 32 mins

When Fabian Thylmann ran into trouble with the law, a former Goldman Sachs banker swooped in to buy his porn sites. But nobody knew who he was. He managed to keep his identity a secret for years --- until Patricia rumbled his game. 

If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts be sure to sign up for our email list at Pushkin.fm.

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June 21, 2022 39 mins

How is it legal for porn sites to host millions of videos uploaded by users? The answer is in the story of an Ohio family in the early 1990s.

In this episode: a family IT business, an FBI raid and a court case that set the precedent for porn – and for tech giants like Facebook and Twitter. 

If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts be sure to sign up for our email list at Pushkin.fm.

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A billionaire hedge fund manager reads a scathing column about a popular porn site. He sends an angry text to the CEO of MasterCard. Almost overnight, the biggest porn company in the world changes dramatically.

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One of the biggest porn companies in the world was forced to radically change its practices. But another porn giant changed almost nothing.

Patricia travels to the company's Prague headquarters to understand why. 

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July 12, 2022 39 mins

Alex and Patricia track down the family behind OnlyFans, the site that has transformed online porn by shifting power back to performers. But there is a whole other side to the OnlyFans story. 

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July 19, 2022 40 mins

In the season finale, Alex and Patricia discover how Visa and MasterCard became the reluctant rulers of porn. And they figure out what being ruled by credit card companies means for the porn industry today.

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November 21, 2023 2 mins

Hot Money is back with a new season that begins with a mysterious murder in a small town and leads to a cocaine super cartel and a secret proxy war between democracies and dictatorships.

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December 5, 2023 29 mins

When a Dutch crime reporter makes an unbelievable discovery, a small-town murder case begins to look like an international assassination plot.

For more from the FT, sign up for the FT Edit App. To listen to Hot Money ad free, subscribe to Pushkin+.

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December 5, 2023 31 mins

An enterprising Dublin drug dealer makes the most of a revolution sweeping across Europe’s criminal economy.

For more from the FT, sign up for the FT Edit App. To listen to Hot Money ad free, subscribe to Pushkin+.

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December 7, 2023 35 mins

International law enforcement is after the Kinahan cartel, revealing just how big the operation has grown.

For more from the FT, sign up for the FT Edit App. To listen to Hot Money ad free, subscribe to Pushkin+.

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December 11, 2023 34 mins

No longer safe in Europe, the cartel bosses move to a city that is attracting criminals from around the globe.

For more from the FT, sign up for the FT Edit App. To listen to Hot Money ad free, subscribe to Pushkin+.

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December 14, 2023 24 mins

Back in the Netherlands, the high-tech unit of the Dutch police works to crack the murder case.

For more from the FT, sign up for the FT Edit App. To listen to Hot Money ad free, subscribe to Pushkin+.

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December 18, 2023 32 mins

An undercover operation in New York reveals a connection with Tehran.

For more from the FT, sign up for the FT Edit App. To listen to Hot Money ad free, subscribe to Pushkin+.

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December 21, 2023 35 mins

Daniel Kinahan is more influential than ever, but law enforcement may finally be catching up. 

For more from the FT, sign up for the FT Edit App. To listen to Hot Money ad free, subscribe to Pushkin+.

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December 26, 2023 33 mins

Law enforcement cuts off the Kinahan cartel, and a little red notebook in the back of a car might finally reveal who killed the electrician in Almere.

For more from the FT, sign up for the FT Edit App. To listen to Hot Money ad free, subscribe to Pushkin+.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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January 21, 2025 50 mins

To those who believe his story, Paul is the crown prince of Romania, a direct descendant of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Tsar Alexander II of Russia. To those who don’t, he’s Paul Lambrino: a fantasist claiming heirship to a non-existent throne. This is the story of Paul’s fight to win a $1bn inheritance. It features private spy agencies, missing Caravaggios, and a billionaire with an eye for a deal.

T...

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