Grubstakers

A podcast about billionaires.

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Research for Episode 44 - Ananda Krishnan

Soundcloud: Episode 44 - Ananda Krishnan

The book “Asian Godfathers: Money and Power in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia” was a major source for this episode. It includes the story of the kickbacks involved in Ananda Krishnan’s construction of the petronas towers (he was able to purchase public land at 1/3rd of the market price).

Sunday Times article including some early biography information on Ananda Krishnan

More early biography

Article on a business dispute Ananda Krishnan was involved in where there were accusations of bribery.

A reuters article on Ananda Krishnan

Quora explanation of the Aircel-Maxis case, a bribery case involving the cellular market in India for which India has issued an arrest warrant for Ananda Krishnan.

The above mentioned arrest warrant.

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Research for Episode 43 - Jho Low

Soundcloud: Episode 43 - Jho Low

The book “Billion Dollar Whale” was our primary source for this episode.

Goldman Sachs’ outgoing CEO Lloyd Blankfein met Jho Low at least 3 times. He has lied about his knowledge of the scandal. Goldman Sachs made $600 million helping 1MDB make 3 fraudulent bond raises.

Former Goldman President Gary Cohn steered the 1MDB bond raises through at least 5 committees within Goldman Sachs.

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Research for Episode 42 - Dark Side of the Met feat. Veronica Coen

Soundcloud: Episode 42 - Dark Side of the Met feat. Veronica Coen

The book “Rogue’s Gallery” provides an excellent and interesting early history of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

Article discussing how the Met’s first director looted tens of thousands of artifacts from Cyprus

NYT article on money laundering and art sales.

NY Post article on how shitty the Met Gala is.

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Research for Episode 41 - Rupert Murdoch feat. Aimee Terese

Soundcloud: Episode 41 - Rupert Murdoch feat. Aimee Terese

The book “The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch” was a major source for this episode.

A frontline documentary that covers the Murdoch phone hacking scandal very well.

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Research for Episode 40 - 2018 Election Special Episode!

Soundcloud: Episode 40 - 2018 Election Special Episode!

We mostly just read some now out of date primary sources on the elections.

NY Times 2018 election guide

Joe Manchin’s now defeated opponent in West Virginia was a lobbyist for the opiate pill pushers along with his wife. No state has been hit harder by the heroin/opiate pill epidemic than West Virginia.

Senator-elect Mike Braun in Indiana abused his workers, forcing his truck drivers to work vast amounts of overtime under threat of termination if they didn’t comply.

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Research for Episodes 38 and 39 - The Walton Family

Soundcloud: Episode 38 - The Walton Family (Part 1)

Soundcloud: Episode 39 - The Walton Family (Part 2)

A Frontline documentary on Wal-Mart. The documentary “Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices” was another major source for this episode.

The author of “In Sam We Trust” Bob Ortega discusses his book and Sam Walton’s early life as well as some of Wal-Mart’s abusive labor practices.

Dean Baker showing how China’s admission to the WTO destroyed manufacturing jobs in the USA. Wal-Mart was a major outsourcer of manufacturing to China in the 90s and early 2000s.

Bloomberg article on the problem of monopsony in labor and how the power of Wal-Mart has a depressing effect on wages in the USA.

The book “The Retail Revolution: How Wal-Mart Created a Brave New World of Business” was a major source for Part 1. Here’s an excerpt that covers how Sam Walton illegally cheated early minimum wage laws in building his business empire.

Article on the Wal-Mart data center that may or may not be a bug out shelter for the Walton family.

NY Times article on Wal-Mart’s role in ignoring safety lapses that led to the deadly Dhaka fire in Bangladesh in 2012.

Guardian article on Wal-Mart’s role in the even more deadly Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh in 2013. Wal-Mart refused to enter into a binding agreement with labor unions to improve worker safety after more than 1,000 people were killed. Instead they set up a PR campaign that made no meaningful changes.

On Wal-Mart and the GAP’s fake Bangladeshi worker safety PR initiative.

Intercept on some of the public subsidies Wal-Mart receives.

Wal-Mart subsidy watch

Alice Walton has a lot of DWIs, she also killed a woman with her car in 1989

The Walton family have donated .04% of their wealth to charity, equivalent to 1/3rd of Alice Walton’s blood-alcohol level.

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Research for Episode 37 - Julio Ponce Lerou (Pinochet's son in law) feat. Jake Flores

Soundcloud: Episode 37 - Julio Ponce Lerou (Pinochet's son in law) feat. Jake Flores

There has been major controversy regarding Julio Ponce Lerou’s role in the Lithium mining company SQM.

His role in SQM was originally bestowed by Augusto Pinochet and wasn’t seriously investigated after Pinochet stepped down. The government of Chile has made more of an effort to separate him from SQM since the so called “waterfalls” scandal but he is still the major shareholder.

One article on the “waterfalls” insider trading scandal.

Another explanation of the scandal.

Lerou was heavily fined as a result of the scandal.

A Chinese state company is attempting to buy a large stake of SQM but Lerou is suing to prevent it.

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Research for Episode 36 - David A. Siegel

Soundcloud: Episode 36 - David A. Siegel

The documentary “The Queen of Versailles” was a major source for this episode.

David Siegel’s company Westgate is being sued for defrauding timeshare investors.

The CFPB was investigating Westgate but the investigation was shut down shortly after Trump took office. David Siegel is a friend of Donald Trump’s and has been seen front row at Trump rallies.

Westgate was accused of deceiving buyers who didn’t speak English.

Westgate has been forced to pay out for illegal sales tactics.

Westgate was sued by 350 commission salespeople for wage theft and cheating them out of their commissions.

Profiles of David Siegel in OK magazine and hotel-online seen to have gone down since our episode. 

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Research for Episode 35 - Money, Modern Monetary Theory, & Why the Rent is Too Damn High

Soundcloud: Episode 35: Money, Modern Monetary Theory, & Why the Rent is Too Damn High

Short investopedia article on stagflation in the US in the 1970s

St. Louis Fed on hyperinflation in Venezuela including the official definition of hyperinflation, 50% or higher inflation per month.

BBC on the hyperinflation in Venezuela

The Fed created at least $4.5 trillion for QE with no resultant inflation.

Another $9 trillion in below market rate loans was given through the discount window just from 2008-2010.

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Research for Episode 34 - Hank Paulson and the 2008 Financial Crisis

Soundcloud: Episode 34 - Hank Paulson and the 2008 Financial Crisis

Hank Paulson, Tim Geithner, and Ben Bernanke have repeatedly lied about not having legal authority to intervene in the Lehman crash and about their reasons for not doing so

Some of the many goldman sachs scandals

Fortune article on some of the fraudulent mortgage backed securities Hank Paulson was hawking as CEO of Goldman

Hank Paulson had secret meeting with Goldman board right before 2008 crisis hit.

Hank Paulson revealed inside information to hedge funds while saying different things to Congress and the public

Goldman Sachs people were put in charge of AIG by Hank Paulson despite the massive debts AIG owed to Goldman for “insurance” on their toxic mortgage backed securities. The goldman appointees paid back goldman at 100 cents on the dollar with taxpayer money, not even attempting to renegotiate the debt or take a haircut.

Huff Po story on Goldman/Hank Paulson’s role in AIG bailout

In total Goldman Sachs received $13 billion in taxpayer money from AIG in addition to the publicly declared bailout funds

Vanity Fair excerpt of a book detailing Hank’s rise at Goldman Sachs

Hank Paulson’s role in pushing for the very deregulation that created the 2008 crisis while he was CEO of Goldman

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Research for Episode 33 - George Soros

Soundcloud: Episode 33 - George Soros

The primary source for this episode was the biography “Soros: The Life, Ideas, and Impact of the World's Most Influential Investor”

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Research for Episode 32 - Richard Branson

Souncloud: Episode 32 - Richard Branson

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Research for Episode 31 - Erik Prince feat. Gabriel Pacheco

Soundcloud: Episode 31 - Erik Prince feat. Gabriel Pacheco

The book “Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army” was a major source for this episode.

Jeremy Scahill article in the Nation including the sworn testimony of two former blackwater employees that Erik Prince either personally carried out or ordered the murder of a government witness against him, that Blackwater regularly murdered civilians in Iraq, smuggled weapons to militias, etc.

Another Scahill article, this one about Erik Prince working with Chinese intelligence officials and using the cover of a logistics company to run weapons and contract out his mercenaries.

Blackwater mercs engaged in “Night Hunting” in Iraq: flying out on helicopters at night and shooting any civilians they came upon.

A documentary that covers how Blackwater greed and cost cutting got 4 of their mercs killed in Falluejah and how Blackwater successfully lobbied the US government to actually increase their funding as a result of this.

The deferred prosecution agreement with Blackwater (now called “Academi”) where they admit to selling weapons to militias in Iraq and Afghanistan. A pretty weak slap on the wrist.

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Research for Episode 30 - Jerry Seinfeld

Soundcloud: Episode 30 - Jerry Seinfeld

This episode was primarily based on the biography “Seinfeld: The Making of an American Icon”

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Research for Episode 29 - Carl Icahn feat. Jay Welch

Soundcloud: Episode 29 - Carl Icahn feat. Jay Welch

The biography “King Icahn” was an important source for this episode

New Yorker long piece on Carl Icahn’s extraordinary sway over the hiring process in the Trump White House and on how he possibly traded on inside information while there.

Hedge Clippers run down on the thousands of jobs, pensions, and other worker benefits that have been destroyed by Carl Icahn. See episode 27 for an explanation of how leveraged buy outs from people like him typically do not create value and instead transfer it from workers to large shareholders.

Icahn doing stand up comedy at Carolines

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Research for Episode 28 - Baba Ramdev

Soundcloud: Episode 28 - Baba Ramdev

NY Times long piece about Baba Ramdev, his secret fortune, and his role in Modi’s rise.

Bloomberg long profile of Baba Ramdev

First post article about possible money laundering or other suspicious transactions by Modi’s companies.

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Research for Episode 27 - Private Equity and the Death of Toys R Us feat. Josh Kosman

Soundcloud: Episode 27: Private Equity and the Death of Toys R Us feat. Josh Kosman

Research was primarily based on Josh Kosman’s excellent book “The Buyout of America”