Episode #196: Casey Michel

In Episode #196, author and journalist Casey Michel joins Osi to discuss the United States' foreign lobbying industry and its growing threat to democracy. In his latest book, Foreign Agents, Casey conducts a stunning investigation into how these lobbyists have not only entrenched dictatorships and fueled kleptocratic networks, but have also quietly shaped U.S. policy without the public’s knowledge. Now, some of these same lobbyists are setting their sights on undermining American democracy itself. Casey Michel is an author, journalist, and director of the Combating Kleptocracy Program with the Human Rights Foundation. He is the author of American Kleptocracy, named by The Economist as one of the "best books to read to understand financial crime." His writing on offshoring, foreign lobbying, authoritarianism, and illicit wealth has appeared in Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Foreign Affairs, and The Washington Post, among other outlets, and he has appeared on NPR, BBC, CNN, and MSNBC, among other stations. He has also testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on the links between illicit financial networks and national security. He received his Master’s degree in Russian, Eurasian, and East European Studies from Columbia University’s Harriman Institute, and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in northern Kazakhstan. Foreign Agents is his second book.