Kleptopia cover art

Kleptopia

How Dirty Money Is Conquering the World

Preview
Try Premium Plus free
1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Access to thousands of additional audiobooks and Originals from the Plus Catalogue.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Kleptopia

By: Tom Burgis
Narrated by: Tom Burgis
Try Premium Plus free

$16.45 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $26.99

Buy Now for $26.99

About this listen

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, GUARDIAN AN 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 IS

In 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.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2020 Tom Burgis (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers Limited
Corruption & Misconduct Organised Crime Politics & Government True Crime Russia Africa Exciting Imperialism Banking

Critic Reviews

"When you pick this book up, you won’t be able to put it down." (Misha Glenny, author of McMafia)

"A powerful, appalling, and stunningly reported exposé.... It reads like fiction, but unfortunately is all too true." (Jane Mayer, author of Dark Money)

"Read Kleptopia now." (Roberto Saviano, best-selling author of Gomorrah)

All stars
Most relevant  
Interesting book, could not get the last chapter to play. ? Otherwise a well told story

Chapter 41 did not play

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

A fascinating rabbit warren story that shines a bright light on just how much high level corruption surrounds us, dressed up as ‘OK’ by powerful people. Tony Blair surprised me, Trump didn’t - using their networks and knowledge to turn a blind eye to murderous regimes washing billions of stolen money - getting rich themselves in the process. Great read.

How morally corrupt powerful people can become

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

It has for a long time been evident that there is a lot of corruption in the world but this is eye watering. A lots of moving parts and hard to follow all the threads but there was clearly a lot to cover. I should have got out pen and paper to make a spider graph. Well done Tom

What to say

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

It's a truly incredible story that is mostly hard to follow but the gist of which is clear from the outset.

We live in a world ruled by Kleptocrats and they've discovered a self-enforcing model to keep themselves in power.

Fascinating but depressing.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.