The Fraud Archive Dialogues

The Archive Network

The Fraud Archive Dialogues is part of The Archive Network, a collection of podcasts dedicated to the stories that shaped our world. Every episode is a conversation. Aurelius and Malik, curators of The Fraud Archive, take a single case, a Ponzi scheme, an accounting fraud, a crypto collapse, a con that fooled investors, auditors and entire nations, and work through it together from beginning to end. One traces how the scheme was built: the mechanics, the numbers, the machinery of belief that kept it standing. The other presses on what that account leaves out, who actually lost, why intelligent people believed, what the regulators missed, and what the whole affair says about the systems that allowed it. From Charles Ponzi and Bernie Madoff to Enron, Theranos, Wirecard and FTX, these are not summaries. Each episode is one complete story, examined from both sides in a single sitting. The Archive Network is an independent project. Every archive, podcast and documentary is free, no ads, no paywalls. If it's been worth your time, you can help keep it that way: https://thearchivenetwork.com/support Discover more at: https://thefraudarchive.com https://thearchivenetwork.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. 21m ago

    Société Générale and Jérôme Kerviel: The Biggest Rogue Trader Loss

    Imagine a junior trader, barely noticed in a sea of screens, quietly setting in motion a risk so huge it could rattle a nation’s economy. It didn’t start with a grand heist or a dramatic betrayal—just a single decision, hidden deep inside the machinery of a global bank.Before the headlines and staggering losses, Jérôme Kerviel was simply another name in Société Générale’s vast hierarchy. Born in nineteen seventy-seven in Pont-l’Abbé, far from Paris’s financial heart, Kerviel entered banking through the side door—hardworking, not flashy, the kind of employee you trust to follow the rules. At Société Générale, he landed on the Delta One desk. His job was to handle derivatives tied to major stock indexes—work that demanded technical skill, but not bold innovation. In this world, junior traders executed orders, rarely invented new strategies. But sometimes, the space between those roles—the tiny gap between what you’re meant to do and what you can get away with—becomes a dangerous invitation.Aurelius and Malik take on this case in full — 5 chapters, 31 minutes, one complete story.Learn more at: https://thefraudarchive.com/fraud/societe-generale-jerome-kerviel  The Fraud Archive Dialogues is part of The Archive Network by Jonkai Ventures. In every episode, curators Aurelius and Malik take one case of fraud,  deception or financial crime and work through it together — one building the account, the other pressing on what it leaves out.  The Archive Network is an independent project. Everything is free, with no ads and no paywalls. Support doesn't unlock anything; it simply  keeps the work going:  https://thearchivenetwork.com/support  Explore this archive:  https://thefraudarchive.com  Discover more archives and stories:  https://thearchivenetwork.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  2. 1d ago

    PlusToken: The $6 Billion Chinese Crypto Scam

    Imagine opening an app on your phone, seeing your balance climb day after day, and believing you’re part of the next wave of financial innovation. But behind the scenes, your money is already gone—vanished into a system hiding in plain sight.China in twenty eighteen was a place where mobile wallets, crypto speculation, and investment promises collided faster than any regulator could keep up. PlusToken didn’t look like a fraud at first. It looked like a new kind of fintech—an app that let everyday people grow their savings through the magic of digital assets and so-called arbitrage. There were no headlines, no warnings—just an opportunity. So how did it start? Who built the machine that would become the biggest crypto Ponzi scheme the world had seen? The answer begins in the fog of online chat groups and the relentless optimism of a country racing into the digital future.Aurelius and Malik take on this case in full — 5 chapters, 33 minutes, one complete story.Learn more at: https://thefraudarchive.com/fraud/plustoken  The Fraud Archive Dialogues is part of The Archive Network by Jonkai Ventures. In every episode, curators Aurelius and Malik take one case of fraud,  deception or financial crime and work through it together — one building the account, the other pressing on what it leaves out.  The Archive Network is an independent project. Everything is free, with no ads and no paywalls. Support doesn't unlock anything; it simply  keeps the work going:  https://thearchivenetwork.com/support  Explore this archive:  https://thefraudarchive.com  Discover more archives and stories:  https://thearchivenetwork.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  3. 2d ago

    The Black Church Investment Fraud Epidemic

    What if the safest place in the neighborhood was also the easiest place to exploit? In church basements, fellowship halls, and after-service conversations, trust was quietly turned into cash. And once that first check moved, a small lie began to grow into something much larger.The frauds that haunt Black churches do not start with spreadsheets. They start with history. Black communities were often barred from banks, shut out of brokerage culture, and left to build wealth with fewer protections than anyone should have to accept. That history created vulnerability, but it also created trust networks. Those networks were supposed to be a shield. In too many cases, they became the entry point.One of the clearest modern examples came into public view in federal court papers filed in Dallas in two thousand nine, when the Securities and Exchange Commission sued Woodbridge Church Investments and related actors over a private placement offered through church connections in Texas. The lesson was bigger than one case.Aurelius and Malik take on this case in full — 5 chapters, 32 minutes, one complete story.Learn more at: https://thefraudarchive.com/fraud/black-church-investment-fraud  The Fraud Archive Dialogues is part of The Archive Network by Jonkai Ventures. In every episode, curators Aurelius and Malik take one case of fraud,  deception or financial crime and work through it together — one building the account, the other pressing on what it leaves out.  The Archive Network is an independent project. Everything is free, with no ads and no paywalls. Support doesn't unlock anything; it simply  keeps the work going:  https://thearchivenetwork.com/support  Explore this archive:  https://thefraudarchive.com  Discover more archives and stories:  https://thearchivenetwork.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  4. 3d ago

    Malta's Pilatus Bank: Money Laundering in an EU Member State

    You pass an ordinary office on a sunny Maltese street, its sign polished, its paperwork impeccable. Behind that glass, a private bank is quietly assembling something far more dangerous than it appears—a system that would one day ripple across continents.In the early two thousand tens, Malta was eager to remake itself. The country wore its European Union membership as a badge, signaling modernity, stability, and access to the financial world’s inner circles. Here, in this climate of ambition, Pilatus Bank materialized not as a scandal, but as an idea: a private bank on a small island, plugged into the eurozone, ready to collect the benefits of looking sophisticated. It started with paperwork. Malta’s regulators were small, the market was hungry, and polished applicants were welcomed. Each form, each registration, and each compliance process was a brick in a wall that suggested legitimacy. But what really matters is what hides behind that wall. Pilatus was shaped in these quiet, unnoticed routines—long before headlines or investigations.Aurelius and Malik take on this case in full — 5 chapters, 31 minutes, one complete story.Learn more at: https://thefraudarchive.com/fraud/pilatus-bank  The Fraud Archive Dialogues is part of The Archive Network by Jonkai Ventures. In every episode, curators Aurelius and Malik take one case of fraud,  deception or financial crime and work through it together — one building the account, the other pressing on what it leaves out.  The Archive Network is an independent project. Everything is free, with no ads and no paywalls. Support doesn't unlock anything; it simply  keeps the work going:  https://thearchivenetwork.com/support  Explore this archive:  https://thefraudarchive.com  Discover more archives and stories:  https://thearchivenetwork.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  5. 4d ago

    The Stanford Financial CDs: Why Offshore Means Unregulated

    Imagine a bank that looked safe, sounded sophisticated, and promised you more than your local branch ever could. But behind the palm trees and the polished brochures, something was off. This is the story of how a Texas salesman turned Caribbean banking into the perfect stage for deception.Before Allen Stanford became infamous, he understood one simple rule: people trust confidence, not credentials. He started not as a banker but as a promoter—out of Texas, with roots in real estate and insurance. His genius wasn’t in finance. It was in performance. The show began with a handshake, a brochure, and a story that always sounded just believable enough.Aurelius and Malik take on this case in full — 5 chapters, 32 minutes, one complete story.Learn more at: https://thefraudarchive.com/fraud/stanford-international-bank  The Fraud Archive Dialogues is part of The Archive Network by Jonkai Ventures. In every episode, curators Aurelius and Malik take one case of fraud,  deception or financial crime and work through it together — one building the account, the other pressing on what it leaves out.  The Archive Network is an independent project. Everything is free, with no ads and no paywalls. Support doesn't unlock anything; it simply  keeps the work going:  https://thearchivenetwork.com/support  Explore this archive:  https://thefraudarchive.com  Discover more archives and stories:  https://thearchivenetwork.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  6. 5d ago

    The Armenian Investment Fund Fraud: Diaspora Targeting

    The fraud did not begin with a ledger. It began with belonging. In Armenian-American neighborhoods, trust moved faster than paperwork, and that made the first lie almost invisible.To understand how this happened, you have to picture the world around it. Churches, language schools, markets, and family businesses formed a dense social web. That closeness helped people survive. But it also made them vulnerable to a man who looked familiar before anyone asked for proof.Aurelius and Malik take on this case in full — 5 chapters, 31 minutes, one complete story.Learn more at: https://thefraudarchive.com/fraud/armenian-diaspora-fraud  The Fraud Archive Dialogues is part of The Archive Network by Jonkai Ventures. In every episode, curators Aurelius and Malik take one case of fraud,  deception or financial crime and work through it together — one building the account, the other pressing on what it leaves out.  The Archive Network is an independent project. Everything is free, with no ads and no paywalls. Support doesn't unlock anything; it simply  keeps the work going:  https://thearchivenetwork.com/support  Explore this archive:  https://thefraudarchive.com  Discover more archives and stories:  https://thearchivenetwork.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  7. 6d ago

    Ivar Kreuger: The Match King's Global Ponzi Empire

    Imagine a world where a simple box of matches could be the foundation for a financial empire—and for a lie that would stretch across continents. In the aftermath of the First World War, trust was in short supply, but one Swedish businessman promised stability to governments desperate for cash. His name was Ivar Kreuger, and his story begins with a matchstick but ends with a global crisis.In the years that followed the war, Europe was split and battered. Money was tight, governments were hungry for loans, and the rules of finance were as flexible as the needs of the moment. Ivar Kreuger was born into a Swedish industrial family, but he was no ordinary businessman. By the nineteen twenties, he had transformed a humble match company into Kreuger & Toll—a multinational operation that moved through boardrooms with an air of inevitability. Kreuger’s genius was not just in matches but in the art of organization. He saw that monopoly contracts and cross-border finance could make a company appear almost as powerful as a government itself. Stockholm gave the operation a respectable home, but Kreuger’s real power came from abroad. He courted bankers, earned the trust of governments, and positioned himself as a rescuer in a world desperate for liquidity. In an era with little oversight and few disclosure rules, the gap between what a company looked like on paper and what it actually owned could be enormous. Kreuger turned that gap into his private workshop.Aurelius and Malik take on this case in full — 5 chapters, 30 minutes, one complete story.Learn more at: https://thefraudarchive.com/fraud/kreuger-and-toll  The Fraud Archive Dialogues is part of The Archive Network by Jonkai Ventures. In every episode, curators Aurelius and Malik take one case of fraud,  deception or financial crime and work through it together — one building the account, the other pressing on what it leaves out.  The Archive Network is an independent project. Everything is free, with no ads and no paywalls. Support doesn't unlock anything; it simply  keeps the work going:  https://thearchivenetwork.com/support  Explore this archive:  https://thefraudarchive.com  Discover more archives and stories:  https://thearchivenetwork.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  8. Oct 18

    TelexFree: The $1.76 Billion Pyramid Hidden in a VOIP Business

    Picture this: you walk into a room full of hopeful faces, each believing they’re on the ground floor of the next big thing. But behind the sales pitch, something far bigger—and far more dangerous—is quietly taking shape.What does it take to turn an ordinary product into the engine of a billion-dollar fraud? Before TelexFree became a name whispered in courtrooms and splashed across headlines, it started as an idea—a way to transform the act of joining into proof that the system was real. The world after the two thousand eight financial crisis was hungry for new opportunity. Trust in banks was low, and people were looking for something that felt safer, more direct, more modern. Into that gap stepped TelexFree, a Florida-based company with a story just plausible enough to catch fire, especially in Brazil’s fast-growing market for internet telephony.Aurelius and Malik take on this case in full — 5 chapters, 31 minutes, one complete story.Learn more at: https://thefraudarchive.com/fraud/telexfree  The Fraud Archive Dialogues is part of The Archive Network by Jonkai Ventures. In every episode, curators Aurelius and Malik take one case of fraud,  deception or financial crime and work through it together — one building the account, the other pressing on what it leaves out.  The Archive Network is an independent project. Everything is free, with no ads and no paywalls. Support doesn't unlock anything; it simply  keeps the work going:  https://thearchivenetwork.com/support  Explore this archive:  https://thefraudarchive.com  Discover more archives and stories:  https://thearchivenetwork.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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About

The Fraud Archive Dialogues is part of The Archive Network, a collection of podcasts dedicated to the stories that shaped our world. Every episode is a conversation. Aurelius and Malik, curators of The Fraud Archive, take a single case, a Ponzi scheme, an accounting fraud, a crypto collapse, a con that fooled investors, auditors and entire nations, and work through it together from beginning to end. One traces how the scheme was built: the mechanics, the numbers, the machinery of belief that kept it standing. The other presses on what that account leaves out, who actually lost, why intelligent people believed, what the regulators missed, and what the whole affair says about the systems that allowed it. From Charles Ponzi and Bernie Madoff to Enron, Theranos, Wirecard and FTX, these are not summaries. Each episode is one complete story, examined from both sides in a single sitting. The Archive Network is an independent project. Every archive, podcast and documentary is free, no ads, no paywalls. If it's been worth your time, you can help keep it that way: https://thearchivenetwork.com/support Discover more at: https://thefraudarchive.com https://thearchivenetwork.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Information

  • Creator
    The Archive Network
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    83
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Jonkai Ventures OÜ / The Archive Network
  • Show Website
    The Fraud Archive Dialogues