Trailer: White Collars, Dirty Hands

Madrid, March 2017. A Swiss banker, an oil executive from PDVSA—Venezuela's state oil company—and three financial advisors meet to discuss business. They seek to move millions in corrupt funds without anyone noticing. But one of them is wearing a hidden microphone and records this conversation, in which a money laundering operation is structured, part of a scheme that diverted at least $600 million in Venezuelan public funds.From OCCRP and the Colombian production company La No Ficción, this investigative series follows exiled Venezuelan journalist Laura Weffer as she tracks down Carmelo Urdaneta, a former high-level official in Venezuela's oil ministry who sits at the heart of a billion-dollar money laundering conspiracy.Over five episodes, the podcast unspools how millions of dollars were embezzled from the state oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA), between 2014 and 2018 by a circle of insiders who spent the cash on real estate, yachts, and other luxury assets.Behind these financial tricks lies immense personal suffering; The series also traces the human cost of this corruption, including Laura’s own journey into exile and the voices of other Venezuelans who were battling a severe economic crisis at the same time that their oil money was being “cleaned” by professionals abroad.This podcast was originally produced in Spanish. Following recent events in Venezuela, we are sharing it with a wider audience through this human-reviewed AI translation. This is an experiment, so minor imperfections may be present. Original Spanish podcast below:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5inyH4WRo1H82KgvmnmUHhApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cuello-blanco-manos-sucias/id1872501127We welcome your feedback on this experiment at occrp.org/podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.