The Corruption Diaries is a journey through the eyes of anti-corruption veterans with their unique perspectives on combating one of the most compelling ethical challenges of our time.

In Series Two: Richard Allen's passion was alternative music and he set up in the music business with his own record label, managing and touring with bands like Porcupine Tree. But a tax loophole took all of that away from him and he unexpectedly became a campaigner, taking on tax dodgers and the British authorities from his garden shed. Produced by Leo Schick and hosted by Naomi Fowler of the Tax Justice Network.

Our podcast website is available here where you can also listen to Series One featuring white collar crime lawyer Jack Blum https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/production/the-corruption-diaries/

The Corruption Diaries is available wherever you get your podcasts.

Countries can either capitulate to President Trump's tax bullying. Or come together to fight for the sovereign right to tax multinationals fairly. In this episode host Naomi Fowler explores whether US economic policy is actually good for the US economy and its people. We've done some number crunching looking at what really happened after Trump's 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. It tells us a lot about the state of tax justice, its real effects on people, and the misguided exercise of power.

Transcript of the show: https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Transcript_Taxcast_Nov_25.pdf

Featuring:

The Tax Justice Network's Mark Bou Mansour, Alison Schultz and Sergio Chaparro-Hernandez. Produced and hosted by Naomi Fowler.

Further Reading:

$475bn lost to US-backed global gag order shielding corporate tax cheaters, Tax Justice Network https://taxjustice.net/press/475bn-lost-to-us-backed-global-gag-order-shielding-corporate-tax-cheaters/

UN tax convention: Everything you need to know about current negotiations on the biggest shakeup in history to global tax rules. https://taxjustice.net/topics/un-tax-convention/

Our website with all our podcasts is available here: https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/

Get the Taxcast as soon as it comes out by subscribing by email to [email protected]

When tax officials and law enforcement do manage to recover assets and money from criminals, what happens next? How are those seizures used to benefit taxpayers and society? We think there are lots of missed opportunities here and the Taxcast goes to West Yorkshire in the North of England to see social reuse of seized assets in action. It's pretty heartening.

Plus: President Donald Trump has pardoned convicted money launderer Changpeng Zhao, the billionaire founder of the world's biggest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance. We speak to Scott Greytak of Transparency International US about what this means for the financial integrity of the US financial system and the ramifications for the rest of the world.

A transcript of the show is available here:

https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Taxcast_Transcript_Oct_25.pdf

Produced and hosted by Naomi Fowler and Leo Schick.

Featuring:

Scott Greytak of Transparency International US

Dr. Amber Phillips, University of Bristol, Senior Criminology lecturer

Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire

Alison Lowe, Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime

Tasha Dyson, Fusion Housing

Derek Jones, All Saints Landmark Centre

Tony Macaluso, Chapel FM Art Centre

Nigel Crowther, senior financial investigator, West Yorkshire Police

Alysha, Dance United

Further reading:

Trump's crypto pardon delivers immediate payback: https://popular.info/p/update-trumps-crypto-pardon-delivers

From Crime to Community: The Social Reuse of Confiscated Assets in Italy, Spain and Romania https://www.scena9.ro/en/article/crime-community-social-reuse-confiscated-assets-italy-spain-romania

Website with all our podcasts: https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/production/taxcast/

We look at the outsized influence of a small and secretive Catholic institution, Opus Dei, from Spain's dictator Franco, right up to the present day. And the bank it secretly controlled for sixty years:

"This sounds a bit like a bit of conspiracy theory but trust me, it's very real. It's in almost every major city around the world and it's quite ruthless. It's close to the Trump regime because they share a lot of common ground." ~ Gareth Gore, journalist and author

Plus: in the latest twist in the epic battle to end anonymous ownership in the United States, the US's financial regulator FinCEN has announced that only 'foreign businesses' with 'foreign owners' will now be required to report ownership information to the federal government. It's announced plans to actually delete ownership information that 'US companies' have already submitted. We look at the options to stop the US sliding even further into a corruption abyss:

"The US is making a commitment to stay at the back of the pack compared to the rest of the world." ~ Erica Hanichak, FACT Coalition

Co-produced by host Naomi Fowler and Leo Schick.

Transcript of the show: https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Taxcast_Sept_25_Transcript-1.pdf (may not be 100% accurate)

Further Reading:

Opus: the Cult of Dark Money, Human Trafficking and Right Wing Conspiracy Inside the Catholic Church by Gareth Gore https://bookshop.org/p/books/opus-the-cult-of-dark-money-human-trafficking-and-right-wing-conspiracy-inside-the-catholic-church-gareth-gore/7b5e7a3a10fa7fa5?ean=9781668016169&digital=t

Treasury Reopens the Floodgates to Dirty Money in the U.S., FACT Coalition https://thefactcoalition.org/treasury-reopens-the-floodgates-to-dirty-money-cta/

FinCEN plans to delete data on U.S. companies from beneficial ownership database, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists https://www.icij.org/news/2025/09/fincen-plans-to-delete-data-on-u-s-companies-from-beneficial-ownership-database/

'I became like a slave': why 43 women are suing the secretive Opus Dei Catholic group in Argentina, the Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/apr/14/argentina-human-rights-women-opus-dei-catholic-church-exploitation-abuse-celibacy-trafficking-allegations

Press statement on a judicial process in Argentina, Opus Dei https://opusdei.org/en-uk/article/press-statement-on-a-judicial-process-in-argentina/

Website with more information and more Tax Justice Network podcasts https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/

The persecution of anyone suspected of being an undocumented immigrant in the United States is not only taking the form of armed, masked ICE agents. Tax is being weaponised against them too. An estimated 10.9 million undocumented immigrants are the powerhouse of the United States economy, and also an exploitable workforce with minimal rights. It turns out that they're paying a higher effective tax rate than 55 mega-corporations and several billionaires:

There's something very wrong with our tax system, that people with that much wealth could be paying a lower tax rate than undocumented immigrants who are generally working in low paying jobs.

A nation that's focused on persecuting and purging specific groups of people is not a healthy one. And as people are being ripped out of their communities, we look at the data that show how devastating it is for the economy and public services too.

Plus: bullying at home, bullying abroad: President Trump is deploying tariffs and threats of tariffs against countries who have the audacity to want to tax US multinationals fairly on the business they do in their countries. We look at the options for nations to stand together and resist.

The US administration wants US multinationals to be more able to continue to commit corporate tax abuse than everybody else.

Featuring:

Alex Cobham, Tax Justice Network

Lauren Loricchio, investigations editor, Tax Notes

William Rice, policy consultant, Americans for Tax Fairness

Delia Catalina Ramírez, Congresswoman, Illinois, District 3

Co-produced by host Naomi Fowler and Leo Schick.

Transcript (some is automated and may not be 100% accurate) https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Transcript_July_25.pdf

Further reading:

Information Sharing Deal Complicates Immigrant Return Filing, Lauren Loricchio, Tax Notes https://www.taxnotes.com/featured-news/information-sharing-deal-complicates-immigrant-return-filing/2025/05/28/7sc72

What a 3.5% tax on remittances could do to the developing world, Jesse Chase-Lubitz, Devex https://www.devex.com/news/what-a-3-5-tax-on-remittances-could-do-to-the-developing-world-110206

Undocumented Workers Pay Higher Effective Tax Rate than 55 Mega Corporations and Several Billionaires, Americans for Tax Fairness study https://americansfortaxfairness.org/undocumented-workers-pay-higher-effective-tax-rate-55-mega-corporations-several-billionaires/

Report: Report: How Undocumented Immigrants Contribute to Our Economy & Pay Higher Tax Rates Than Many Major Corporations, Americans for Tax Fairness https://americansfortaxfairness.org/undocumented-immigrants-contribute-economy/

ICE Agents Deserve No Privacy, the Intercept: "Armed gangs of officers, often masked and anonymous" https://theintercept.com/2025/07/01/masked-ice-agents-victimization-accountability/

We're Now at the Stage Where Criminals Are Impersonating ICE Agents, This is what happens when federal authorities are allowed to seize people without identifying themselves, The New Republic https://newrepublic.com/post/196360/man-impersonates-ice-agent-robs-immigrant-pennsylvania

Tax Payments by Undocumented Immigrants, Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy https://itep.org/undocumented-immigrants-taxes-2024/

Our website with all our podcasts is https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/ where you can also subscribe and get an email every time the Taxcast drops!

Millionaires are not fleeing countries to escape taxes. The Tax Justice Network has analysed these claims and found it's questionable data published by a firm that helps the super-rich buy their way out of rules that apply to everybody else. In fact, things are changing for people in the business of helping to sell passports and residency. Some doors are closing... Plus, we look at the latest results from the Financial Secrecy Index - what are the latest global trends and have you heard of an anocracy?!

Transcript of the show: https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/June-2025-Taxcast-script_-millionaire-exodus-myth.pdf

Further reading:

Millionaire exodus did not occur, study reveals, Tax Justice Network https://taxjustice.net/press/millionaire-exodus-did-not-occur-study-reveals/

Millionaire "exodus" claim backtracked but media re-run story anyway, Tax Justice Network https://taxjustice.net/press/millionaire-exodus-claim-backtracked-but-media-re-run-story-anyway/

The 'Millionaire Exodus' the UK Media Told You About Never Actually Happened, Byline Times https://bylinetimes.com/2025/06/10/the-millionaire-exodus-the-uk-media-told-you-about-never-actually-happened/

Citizenship must not be up for sale, speech by the Vice-President of the European Commission, EU Justice Commissioner https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/SPEECH_14_18

EU Court Rules Malta's Golden Passport Program is Illegal, OCCRP https://www.occrp.org/en/news/eu-court-rules-maltas-golden-passport-program-is-illegal

Influencer Andrew Tate got Vanuatu Passport Around Time of Arrest on Rape Charges https://www.occrp.org/en/news/exclusive-alleged-rapist-influencer-andrew-tate-got-vanuatu-passport-around-time-of-2022-arrest

Vanuatu: Council of the EU ends visa exemption https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2024/12/12/vanuatu-council-ends-visa-exemption/

Logged Pushbacks to Libya from Malta's SAR Zone Triple Since 2020, Over 5,000 People Forced Back https://www.amphora.media/2025/06/logged-pushbacks-to-libya-from-maltas-sar-zone-triple-since-2020-over-5000-people-forced-back

Malta Migration Archive https://maltamigrationarchive.org/

Times of Malta Editorial: A shameful abdication of duty https://timesofmalta.com/article/editorial-a-shameful-abdication-duty.1107005

£160 billion could have been raised for the UK's public finances over the past three decades if UK tax residents on the annual rich lists had been asked to pay a two per cent wealth tax on their assets over £10 million - equivalent to the cost of building 80 new hospitals in that period. (Patriotic Millionaires UK) https://patrioticmillionaires.uk/latest-news/special-report-on-the-sunday-times-rich-list-the-missing-billions?mc_cid=2f5977ff81

Family statement: Robert Agius and Jamie Vella sentenced. Despite her murderers' attempts to silence her, Daphne's legacy endures. (Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation) https://www.daphne.foundation/en/2025/06/10/sentence-complicity

Vanuatu, Financial Secrecy Index country profile, Tax Justice Network https://fsi.taxjustice.net/country-detail/#jurisdiction_id=VU&scoring_id=268

Reporting from the Passport Papers, Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation https://www.daphne.foundation/passport-papers/

Passport Papers: Henley and Partners' leaked documents show most applicants are from countries where dual citizenship is not permitted https://theshiftnews.com/2021/04/22/passport-papers-henley-and-partners-leaked-documents-show-most-applicants-are-from-countries-where-dual-citizenship-is-not-permitted/

The Passport King who Markets Citizenship for Cash, a Daphne Project investigation, OCCRP https://www.occrp.org/en/project/the-daphne-project/the-passport-king-who-markets-citizenship-for-cash

Why rich foreigners may not rush to buy Trump's $5 million 'gold card' visas, Business Insider https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-gold-card-visa-demand-rich-immigrants-green-card-lutnick-2025-5

The Taxcast website with all the Tax Justice Network podcasts in five different languages are available at https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/

The life-changing, life-saving, transformational nature of tax - for people and planet. Ireland's got a tax windfall of about €14 billion - that's roughly $15 billion. What are they going to do with it..?

"This is the kind of moment that doesn't come around often and we really need to seize it. Or if we let the opportunity slip through our fingers, it's going to have impacts for future generations." ~ Mansi Rawat, Social Justice Ireland

We don't do enough about blue sky thinking on how tax can transform our lives. This is our chance to unlock our imaginations. It's also time for Ireland to rethink its tax haven model and for many countries, not just Ireland, to ask who its economy is serving.

The Taxcast is produced by Naomi Fowler and Leo Schick of the Tax Justice Network.

Further reading:

Here's the transcript of the show (some is automated and may not be 100% accurate:

https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Taxcast-May-2025-Transcript.pdf

Pope Francis, 1936-2025 (Tax Justice Network) https://taxjustice.net/2025/04/24/pope-francis-1936-2025/

Top EU court rules Apple owes Ireland over $14B in back taxes https://www.icij.org/investigations/paradise-papers/top-eu-court-rules-apple-owes-ireland-over-14b-in-back-taxes/

EU's Apple 'victory' highlights the failure of international tax rules (Tax Justice Network) https://taxjustice.net/press/eus-apple-victory-highlights-the-failure-of-international-tax-rules/

A response to the European court's bad Apple ruling, (Alex Cobham, Tax Justice Network) https://taxjustice.net/2020/07/15/a-response-to-the-european-courts-bad-apple-ruling/

Tax Haven Ireland, a book by Brian O'Boyle and Kieran Allen https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745345314/tax-haven-ireland/

Previous Taxcast episode featuring Brian O'Boyle and Kieran Allen talking about their book Tax Haven Ireland. https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/episode/116-tax-haven-ireland/

Budget Analysis by Social Justice Ireland (they have also written about managing the windfall gains) https://www.socialjustice.ie/system/files/file-uploads/2024-10/Budget%202025%20Analysis%20and%20Critique%20%281%29.pdf

People Before Profit calls for Apple taxes to fund State construction firm, RTE https://www.rte.ie/news/politics/2024/1104/1479063-pbp-state-construction/

Our podcast website with all our podcasts: https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/

The Taxcast looks at the battle for freedom of the press in Switzerland and the implications for the rest of the world. Investigative journalists like Bastian Obermayer risks arrest, fines and imprisonment if he sets foot in Switzerland again, and Swiss journalists are having to turn away strong public interest stories - for fear of not just rich and powerful people coming after them, but also the Swiss state. Switzerland's always been famous for its banking secrecy laws and it's never been the friendliest place for investigative journalists. Now the situation threatens to get even worse.

Featuring:

• Bastian Obermayer, one of the Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalists who broke the Panama Papers story and many other groundbreaking scandals.
• Swiss investigative journalist, Oliver Zihlmann, co-head of the Investigative Unit at Tamedia, the leading publishing and broadcast media company in Switzerland.
• Policy and advocacy manager at Reporters Without Borders Switzerland, Valentin Rubin
• Hosted by Naomi Fowler and co-produced with Leo Schick.

Transcript of the show available here: https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Criminalising-Journalists_-Script.pdf

Further reading:

Suisse Secrets https://www.occrp.org/en/project/suisse-secrets

Bastian Obermayer: 'In Switzerland, I face prison – for exposing wrongdoing.' https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bastian-obermayer-9ba8805b_we-investigate-corruption-swiss-law-calls-activity-7316409781127159808-EgfS/

US overtakes Switzerland in global ranking of financial secrecy hotbeds https://taxjustice.net/press/financial-secrecy-index-2020-reports-progress-on-global-transparency-but-backsliding-from-us-cayman-and-uk-prompts-call-for-sanctions/

Tax Justice Network's Financial Secrecy Index https://fsi.taxjustice.net/

Swiss Government Motions for Press Freedom in Country's Finance Sector https://www.occrp.org/en/news/swiss-government-motions-for-press-freedom-in-countrys-finance-sector

Swiss parliamentarians refuse to overhaul banking secrecy laws https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/swiss-banking-secrecy-law-clashes-with-freedom-of-speech/47365724

How easy is it to get filthy rich selling arms to anyone who'll pay? There may be sanctions, there may be laws, but even though he's the FBI's most wanted fugitive, a Chinese arms dealer and manufacturer has evaded arrest for two decades. Who could be better to investigate one of the world's most dangerous men and tell this story than Panama Papers journalists? Taxcast host Naomi Fowler speaks to Frederik Obermaier about the book The Chinese Phantom: the Hunt for the World's most Dangerous Arms Dealer. What does it tell us about sanctions and financial secrecy at a time of rising autocracy and global insecurity? Also in this episode: the latest on efforts by powerful people to block the US's Corporate Transparency Act which was supposed to set up a register of the real owners of companies; And, in the UK - a new whistleblower incentive scheme - the tax authority HMRC will give whistleblowers who bring actionable information a cut of between 10 and 25% of any fine that HMRC imposes. Also, as the British government announces welfare cuts affecting the poorest people in the country, there are calls for a windfall tax on banks and a 2% wealth tax on assets above £10 million instead. Featuring: Panama Papers journalist Frederik Obermaier, Whistleblower lawyer Mary Inman, Erica Hanichak of the FACT Coalition, Hannah Dewhirst of Positive Money, Professor Prem Sikka. Produced by Naomi Fowler and Leo Schick of the Tax Justice Network. Transcript of the show: (some may be automated) https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/March_25_Transcript-1.pdf Further reading: The Chinese Phantom, the Hunt for the World's Most Dangerous Arms Dealer. (Available in English and in German) https://www.kiwi-verlag.de/verlag/rights/book/bastian-obermayer-frederik-obermaier-die-jagd-auf-das-chinesische-phantom-9783462001396 Also available here but please try to use a local bookshop! https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chinese-Phantom-worlds-dangerous-dealer/dp/1915590698 Tax abuse whistleblowers will earn a share of HMRC proceeds, says UK Finance Minister https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/mar/26/tax-avoidance-whistleblowers-will-earn-share-of-any-hmrc-proceeds-rachel-reeves-confirms Windfall tax on bank profits in the UK could raise £15bn https://positivemoney.org/press-release/windfall-tax-on-bank-profits-could-raise-ps15bn/ How to raise £60 billion for public services: ten tax reforms from Tax Justice UK https://taxjustice.uk/blog/how-to-raise-60-billion-for-public-services-our-ten-tax-reforms/ Millionaires urge MPs "tax us, the super-rich" to avoid cuts and invest in Britain https://patrioticmillionaires.uk/latest-news/millionaires-urge-mps-tax-us-the-super-rich-to-avoid-cuts-and-invest-in-britain All our podcasts are available on our podcast website https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/

Listen to the Taxcast wherever you get your podcasts. You can subscribe by email and get lots of resources and further reading on our website here: https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/production/taxcast/

The Tax Justice Network has monthly podcasts in different languages focused on different regions of the world, all available here https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/ Also available there is our series The Corruption Diaries; a journey through the eyes of anti-corruption veterans, with unique perspectives on combating some of the most compelling ethical challenges of our time.

The rollercoaster story of the battle in the US (the world's biggest global financial secrecy offender) over the implementation of a beneficial ownership register, the attempts to stop it and the (many) lessons learned from the UK's registers. The US's Corporate Transparency Act seemed to be on track. Until it wasn't... "Everything is bigger in Texas, that's what they like to say! And as we've learned, even court orders are bigger in Texas."

Meanwhile, we take a look at UK company registration progress, since the days when "you could just set up a company for 12 pounds and say you were Mickey Mouse with a shareholder Donald Duck and no one asked any questions." (Spoiler alert: there's still a long way to go)

Guests include: Zorka Milin and Ian Gary of the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency Coalition, Cynthia O'Murchu Financial Times Investigative Reporter, Graham Barrow, financial crime sleuth and podcaster, the Dark Money Files, campaigner and author Oliver Bullough

Hosted and produced by Naomi Fowler, co-produced by Leo Schick.

Transcript of this episode: https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Transcript_Feb_25.pdf

Further reading:

What is beneficial ownership? https://taxjustice.net/faq/what-is-beneficial-ownership/

How to fix beneficial ownership frameworks, so they actually work https://taxjustice.net/2023/12/20/new-report-on-how-to-fix-beneficial-ownership-frameworks-so-they-actually-work/

Ownership Transparency https://thefactcoalition.org/issues/ownership-transparency/

Beneficial ownership registration around the world, 2022: https://taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/State-of-Play-of-Beneficial-Ownership-2022-Tax-Justice-Network.pdf

US Judge Lifts Last Beneficial Ownership Roadblock https://lnkd.in/gNYN6nrg

Biden's DOJ just asked the Supreme Court to do a huge favor for Donald Trump https://www.vox.com/scotus/393540/supreme-court-garland-texas-top-cop-shop-nationwide-injunction

Supreme Court Allows Enforcement of Major Anti-Corruption Law to Resume, FACT Coalition: https://thefactcoalition.org/supreme-court-allows-enforcement-of-major-anti-corruption-law-to-resume/

US company database remains on hold, despite Supreme Court decision https://www.icij.org/investigations/fincen-files/us-company-database-remains-on-hold-despite-supreme-court-decision/

Supreme Mess: The Beneficial Ownership Interest Reporting Controversy Lands At The U.S. Supreme Court https://www.forbes.com/sites/jayadkisson/2025/01/15/supreme-mess-the-beneficial-owne[…]interest-reporting-controversy-lands-at-the-us-supreme-court/

The Corporate Transparency Act is Constitutional, Government and "Friend of the Court" Briefs Make Clear https://thefactcoalition.org/the-corporate-transparency-act-is-constitutional/

How overseas territories are being used to bypass UK transparency rules https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/how-overseas-territories-are-being-used-to-bypass-uk-transparency-rules/

Owners of 53,000 properties still unknown https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/owners-of-53000-properties-still-unknown/5115054.article

Who paid £139 million for a Regent's Park mansion? Nobody knows. https://www.the-londoner.co.uk/the-regents-park-mansion-mystery/

How Do Judges Become Judges? Here Are Five Main Ways (US) https://www.democracydocket.com/analysis/how-judges-become-judges/