6 episodes

Pineapple Street Studios and BuzzFeed News bring you this five-part series investigating how the most powerful banks in the world can facilitate the worst of humanity – terrorism, human trafficking, the drug trade – all in plain sight of the government.

Suspicious Activity: Inside the FinCEN Files Pineapple Street Studios, BuzzFeed News

    • News
    • 3.7 • 801 Ratings

Pineapple Street Studios and BuzzFeed News bring you this five-part series investigating how the most powerful banks in the world can facilitate the worst of humanity – terrorism, human trafficking, the drug trade – all in plain sight of the government.

    Episode Five: Political Will

    Episode Five: Political Will

    Throughout this reporting project, Jason Leopold and Anthony Cormier wanted to talk to someone who was the subject of a suspicious activity report to ask, “Why did the bank flag you?” Only one person was willing to talk: real estate developer and former associate of President Trump, Felix Sater. And Senator Ron Wyden and a former DOJ prosecutor tell us what they think needs to be done to stem the flow of dirty money in our banking system.

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    • 35 min
    Episode Four: See Something, Say Something

    Episode Four: See Something, Say Something

    Two former employees of Standard Chartered say they were ignored and eventually fired when they reported accounts at the bank that looked fishy to them – accounts they suspected were violating U.S. sanctions against Iran. But as BuzzFeed News reporter Richard Holmes explains, there was someone else who thought many of the accounts were suspect enough to report to FinCEN: the bank itself. 

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    • 28 min
    Episode Three: Know Your Customer

    Episode Three: Know Your Customer

    Even in the finance world, Deutsche Bank has a troubled reputation. One of its darkest and most mysterious chapters happened when it facilitated the laundering of $10 billion dollars for anonymous shell companies around the world. But BuzzFeed News reporter Tom Warren has now discovered whose money the bank moved and how far up knowledge of the problem went.

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    • 30 min
    Episode Two: Permission Slip

    Episode Two: Permission Slip

    HSBC was the poster child of a bad bank. In 2012 the bank was slapped with a 1.9 billion dollar fine and told it needed to clean up its act, or face prosecution. Digging into the FinCEN Files, BuzzFeed News reporters Anthony Cormier and Jason Leopold found out what really happened with the bank. Plus, how over 400 reporters around the world are collaborating on this massive reporting project.

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    • 36 min
    Episode One: The Documents

    Episode One: The Documents

    A trove of secret documents received by BuzzFeed News reveals how banks profit off terror and organized crime — and the ways that governments fail to stop it.

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    • 29 min
    Coming 9/20: Something Big

    Coming 9/20: Something Big

    We can’t tell you much yet. Sorry! But we can tell you that it’s big. Possibly the biggest reporting project ever. And that it’s coming on Sept. 20.

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    • 2 min

Customer Reviews

3.7 out of 5
801 Ratings

801 Ratings

lmc7960 ,

Great show, whining guitar is AWFUL

Love the show but the guitar accents make it sound cheesy.

Callie Zowie ,

This podcast isn’t really about banks.

It’s about a worldwide system that is so reliant on dark money that it neglects accountability. As far as banks are concerned… there’s a big difference between doing what’s legal/required and doing what’s ethical. Most big banks have been milking the middle class for years on top of questionable business practices. Sorry, but zero sympathy here.

All Is On PDX ,

Awesome Show

I don’t understand the low stars for this podcast. It is one of the better ones I have listened to. The reporting is well explained and seems to have been verified prior to airing. The narration is excellent and there is nothing annoying or obnoxious or cheesy about anything in this podcast. It explains the horrible corruption that goes on daily with banks and our government on an international level and once again bank executives and various agencies within our government are not held accountable. It is without a doubt very much deserving of five stars.

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