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Author

Casey Michel

Casey Michel is the author of Foreign Agents: How American Lobbyists and Lawmakers Threaten Democracy Around the World. Previous work includes his book American Kleptocracy, and his writing has appeared in Foreign Affairs, ThinkProgress, The Atlantic, Politico, and The Washington Post, among others.

All Articles
November 6, 2024
Casey Michel
Where the Rich Can Buy Secrecy, Evade Laws, and Claim a Slice of Space
From Switzerland to Qatar to Kazakhstan, the countries clamoring to entice the ultrawealthy with a suite of new privileges.
September 25, 2024
Casey Michel
How Sue Mi Terry Became the Poster Child for Think-Tank Corruption
Her malfeasances may not be the most egregious, but they should provoke serious reform. No wonder Washington’s influence peddlers are circling the wagons.
August 27, 2024
Casey Michel
One Swamp That Kamala Harris Should Drain in Washington
Washington is crawling with lobbyists for dictators and other unsavory foreign leaders. Harris should promise to rid the capital of them.
April 25, 2024
Casey Michel
How Paul Manafort Turned Trump Against Ukraine
Amid rumors that the oft-disgraced fixer might be making a return to Trump's orbit, it's worth revisiting his role in fostering the former president's animus toward the war-torn nation.
March 15, 2024
Casey Michel
How Viktor Orbán Conquered the Heritage Foundation
Once the redoubt of Reaganism, the think tank has taken to promoting Trump’s favorite strongman.
February 13, 2024
Casey Michel
The American Consulting Firms That Live in Fear of Their Murderous Clients
What keeps companies like McKinsey in the business of whitewashing the regimes of bloodthirsty dictators? Increasingly, it’s the consequences of crossing them.
November 14, 2023
Casey Michel
Eric Adams’s Entanglements With Turkey Mark a New Level of Kleptocracy
Are foreign influence peddlers developing a taste for local and municipal politicians?
May 12, 2023
Casey Michel
Biden Is Letting Think Tanks and Dodgy Foreign Funders Get Cozy Again
One of the only good transparency innovations of the Trump era has come to a quiet end.
March 2, 2023
Casey Michel
Alexei Navalny’s Big Shift on Crimea Is a Blow to Putin’s Imperial Designs
For the first time, liberal opposition to the Ukraine invasion is beginning to reckon with Russia’s tattered empire—and a future without it.
December 26, 2022
Casey Michel
Kleptocrat of the Year: Mohammed bin Salman
This was the year the Saudi strongman was supposed to become a pariah. Instead, he’s gotten away with murder.
December 16, 2022
Casey Michel
Russia’s Colonized Populations Can Do Without All the “Westsplaining”
Any discussion of the region’s future shouldn’t give short shrift to the possibility of new nations emerging from under Putin’s yoke.
October 4, 2022
Casey Michel
Alexei Navalny Has a Crimea Problem
Putin’s most courageous and dogged opponent has been coy about whether the disputed region is part of Ukraine or Russia—and Ukrainians have taken note.
September 16, 2022
Casey Michel
The West May Get a Second Chance to Nurture a New Russia
With Ukraine seizing momentum in the war, the time is ripe for Western political leaders to ponder a post-Putin future—and how to avoid the mistakes that ushered in his dictatorship.
August 31, 2022
Casey Michel
The Failed Dream of Mikhail Gorbachev
The late Soviet premier is popularly regarded as a leader who ushered in a new era. The more complicated truth is that he failed to fully extricate himself from the old one.
August 4, 2022
Casey Michel
The Kleptocrat Who Bankrolled Rudy Guiliani’s Dive for Dirt on Biden
Fresh reporting illuminates the role that Dmitro Firtash played in funding the operation that would end in Trump's first impeachment.
July 18, 2022
Casey Michel
The One Issue That Unites Washington
Democrats and Republicans alike are finally putting the screws to kleptocrats—and their American enablers.
June 27, 2022
Casey Michel
Congress Takes Aim at Think Tanks and Their Corrupt Money
A new piece of bipartisan legislation seeks to purge This Town of foreign influence peddling—all of it.
May 12, 2022
Casey Michel
Ukraine’s Corrupt Oligarchs Are Looking Toward the West to Rehab Their Reputations
Some of the grifters who paved the way for the Russian invasion of Ukraine want to be seen as being on the right side of the war.
April 27, 2022
Casey Michel
Representative Steve Cohen Wants to Build a New Weapon to Fight Kleptocrats
British lawyers have long helped corrupt oligarchs protect their ill-gotten loot. The Tennessee Democrat wants to hold these enablers to account.
April 20, 2022
Casey Michel
Jared Kushner’s Saudi Scam Is the Swampiest Thing He’s Ever Done
Trump’s son-in-law may be the hot new player in Washington’s seamy influence-peddling game, but he’s following in the footsteps of many of the Beltway’s major players.

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