1154: Sean Williams | The North Korea-China-Drug Cartel Connection

Sean Williams gives us a peek beneath a global shadow economy that thrives as countries like North Korea and China operate like criminal enterprises.

Jordan's must reads (including books from this episode): AcceleratEd

Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/1154

What We Discuss with Sean Williams:

• North Korea operates as a massive organized crime outfit, generating revenue through forced labor, human trafficking, drug production/trafficking, and cybercrime to fund the regime's survival.
• North Korean hackers (Lazarus Group) have become sophisticated cybercriminals, stealing $1.5 billion in cryptocurrency from ByBit exchange in February 2025.
• Chinese "flying money" (Fei Chen) operates as an ancient, untraceable money transfer system now widely used by drug cartels and for capital flight from China, possibly totaling $2 trillion annually.
• Chinese money laundering has had a visible impact on real estate markets in Vancouver, Toronto, Sydney, and Los Angeles, where properties purchased with laundered funds remain unfinished or abandoned.
• Despite public diplomatic cooperation between US and China on financial crimes, both countries have conflicting incentives — China benefits from US drug chaos while the US benefits from Chinese capital flight.
• And much more...

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