The Looting Machine

'Stand by for fireworks as it hits the shelves' SUNDAY TIMES'If Orwell were with us today, he'd be writing books like this' PATRICK RADDEN KEEFE'Breath-taking and jaw-dropping' PETER FRANKOPAN'A true-life thriller' ANNE APPLEBAUMFrom the bestselling author of Kleptopia comes a true story about Cuckooland - a world where the rich can buy everything - including the truth.Everywhere, the powerful are making a renewed claim to the greatest prize of all: to own the truth. The power to choose what you want reality to be and impose that reality on the world.For three years, Tom Burgis followed a lead that took him deeper and deeper into Cuckooland - the place where the rich own the truth. The trail snaked from the Kremlin to Kathmandu, Stockholm to the Steppe, from a blood-soaked town square in Uzbekistan to a royal retreat in Scotland. Burgis hunted down oligarchs, developed secret sources and traced vast sums of money flowing between multinational corporations, ex-Soviet dictators and the west's ruling elites. And he found one man who wanted the power to bend reality to his will.This book tells an astonishing story: a tale of secrets and lies that reveals how fragile that truth can be. Whether it's in Kazakh torture chambers or the UK's High Court, the lords of Cuckooland are seizing control of the truth. They decree what stories may be told about war and money and power, what we are permitted to know - and more importantly, what we are not.From the bestselling author of Kleptopia, Cuckooland is a deeply reported work of non-fiction that reads like a thriller. It is a story of how globalisation and technological revolution have combined to imperil the foundation of free societies: that the truth belongs to the many, not the few.

Mord, Korruption, schmutziges Geld - Tom Burgis, preisgekrönter Enthüllungsjournalist, recherchierte in dieser einmaligen Dokumentation die unfassbaren Dimensionen politischer und wirtschaftlicher Verbrechen. Nie vorher wurden so eindrücklichund tiefenscharf die tödlichen, missbräuchlichen und gewissenslosen Machenschaften von Banken, Geheimdiensten und Milliardären aufgedeckt und analysiert. Durch dieses Buch wird erstmals das unglaubliche, tatsächliche Ausmaß der uns täglich umgebenden und vor nichts haltmachenden Kriminalität sichtbar. Tom Burgis entlarvt ein globales Netzwerk, das strikt im Geheimen agiert, in das auch die vermeintlich unbestechlichen westlichen Regierungen verstrickt sind. Ein unfassbarer Bericht, der einem der Atem verschlägt. 'Spannend wie ein Thriller' wäre untertrieben.

SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'If you think the UK isn't corrupt, you haven't looked hard enough ... This terrifying book follows a global current of dirty money, and the murders and kidnappings required to sustain it' GEORGE MONBIOT, GUARDIANAN ECONOMIST AND WASHINGTON POST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020'When you pick this book up, you won't be able to put it down' MISHA GLENNY, author of MCMAFIA'Gripping, disturbing and deeply reported' BEN RHODES, bestselling author of THE WORLD AS IT ISIn this real-life thriller packed with jaw-dropping revelations, award-winning investigative journalist Tom Burgis reveals a terrifying global web of kleptocracy and corruption.Kleptopia follows the dirty money that is flooding the global economy, emboldening dictators, enriching oligarchs and poisoning democracies. From the Kremlin to Beijing, Harare to Riyadh, London to the Trump White House, it shows how the thieves are uniting - and the terrible human cost.A body in a burned-out Audi. Workers riddled with bullets in the Kazakh desert. A rigged election in Zimbabwe. A British banker silenced and humiliated for trying to expose the truth about the City of London - the world's piggy bank for blood money.Riveting, horrifying and written like fiction, this book shows that while we are looking the other way, all that we hold most dear is being stolen.

'Stand by for fireworks as it hits the shelves' SUNDAY TIMES'If Orwell were with us today, he'd be writing books like this' PATRICK RADDEN KEEFE'Breath-taking and jaw-dropping' PETER FRANKOPAN'A true-life thriller' ANNE APPLEBAUMFrom the bestselling author of Kleptopia comes a true story about Cuckooland - a world where the rich can buy everything - including the truth.Everywhere, the powerful are making a renewed claim to the greatest prize of all: to own the truth. The power to choose what you want reality to be and impose that reality on the world.For three years, Tom Burgis followed a lead that took him deeper and deeper into Cuckooland - the place where the rich own the truth. The trail snaked from the Kremlin to Kathmandu, Stockholm to the Steppe, from a blood-soaked town square in Uzbekistan to a royal retreat in Scotland. Burgis hunted down oligarchs, developed secret sources and traced vast sums of money flowing between multinational corporations, ex-Soviet dictators and the west's ruling elites. And he found one man who wanted the power to bend reality to his will.This book tells an astonishing story: a tale of secrets and lies that reveals how fragile that truth can be. Whether it's in Kazakh torture chambers or the UK's High Court, the lords of Cuckooland are seizing control of the truth. They decree what stories may be told about war and money and power, what we are permitted to know - and more importantly, what we are not.From the bestselling author of Kleptopia, Cuckooland is a deeply reported work of non-fiction that reads like a thriller. It is a story of how globalisation and technological revolution have combined to imperil the foundation of free societies: that the truth belongs to the many, not the few.

A Washington Post Notable Book of the Year • An Economist Book of the Year“A must-read for anyone wanting to better understand whathas already happened here in America and what lies ahead if Trump is reelectedin November…. A magisterial account of the money and violence behind theworld’s most powerful dictatorships.” –Washington PostIn this shocking, meticulously reported work of narrative nonfiction, an award-winning investigative journalist exposes “capitalism’s monster”—global kleptocracy—and reveals how it is corrupting the world around us.They are everywhere, the thieves and their people. Mastersof secrecy. Until now we have detected their presence only by what they leavebehind. A body in a burned-out Audi. Workers riddled with bullets in the KazakhDesert. A rigged election in Zimbabwe. A British banker silenced and humiliatedfor trying to expose the truth about the City of London.They have amassed more money than most countries. But whatthey are really stealing is power.In this real-life thriller packed with jaw-droppingrevelations, award-winning investigative journalist Tom Burgis weaves togetherfour stories that reveal a terrifying global web of corruption: thetroublemaker from Basingstoke who stumbles on the secrets of a Swiss bank, theex-Soviet billionaire constructing a private empire, the righteous Canadianlawyer with a mysterious client, and the Brooklyn crook protected by the CIA.Glimpses of this shadowy world have emerged over the years.In Kleptopia, Burgis connects the dots. He follows the dirty money thatis flooding the global economy, emboldening dictators, and poisoningdemocracies. From the Kremlin to Beijing, Harare to Riyadh, Paris to the WhiteHouse, the trail shows something even more sinister: the thieves are uniting.And the human cost will be great.