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Speaker 1: Pushkin Just a quick note before we start today's show.

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Speaker 2: Previously on Hot Money, US undercover agents made a connection

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Speaker 2: between money launderers working for European drug traffickers and top

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Speaker 2: level officials in Iran. It was part of a ski

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Speaker 2: to help the regime evade American sanctions and source heavy weapons.

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Speaker 2: This time, a whole new money laundering operation comes into view,

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Speaker 2: invented by the man at the top of the Dubai Supercartel,

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Speaker 2: Daniel Kinahan. Back in episode four, we left him living

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Speaker 2: a life of luxury in Dubai. He just got married

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Speaker 2: and business was booming as the supercartel joined forces to

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Speaker 2: grow their trafficking operations. Across Europe and Daniel his new

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Speaker 2: career as a boxing manager. It was about to take off.

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Speaker 2: Remember back in Spain, he helped open a gym called

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Speaker 2: MTK and signed up and coming boxers from Ireland. In

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Speaker 2: the UK, he set them up in nice villas and

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Speaker 2: hired the best trainers and arranged their fights. Unlike his father,

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Speaker 2: Daniel appeared to like being a public figure to revel

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Speaker 2: in the attention he got. He was living a dual life,

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Speaker 2: enjoying the status of a top drug trafficker and the

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Speaker 2: image of a high flying boxing promoter. It seemed to

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Speaker 2: me that he thought boxing was his path to being

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Speaker 2: accepted as a legitimate businessman, but something inside him meant

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Speaker 2: he just couldn't leave the world of crime behind. Now

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Speaker 2: it's twenty twenty, Daniel kinahans in Dubai and he's taken

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Speaker 2: his boxing promotion business there with him. He's working on

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Speaker 2: the biggest boxing deal of his life and if he

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Speaker 2: pulls it off, it will catapult him to the very

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Speaker 2: top of the sport.

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Speaker 3: Hello there, I'm just after getting off the phone with

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Speaker 3: Daniel Kinahan.

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Speaker 2: That's world famous heavyweight champion Tyson Fury. He's a fast

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Speaker 2: talking shaven headed nineteen stone Man Mountain and on that

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Speaker 2: afternoon he's even more excitable than usual. He posts on

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Speaker 2: social media, He's just informed.

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Speaker 3: Me that the biggest fight in Bridges boxing history has

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Speaker 3: just been agreed.

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Speaker 4: Gear that my boy.

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Speaker 5: Big shout out done.

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Speaker 6: He got this done.

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Speaker 3: Two fight deal Tyson Fury versus Anthony josh next year.

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Speaker 2: The announcement it stuns the world of boxing. After winning

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Speaker 2: a world heavyweight title five years earlier, Fury's career it's

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Speaker 2: been in a slump, but since meeting Daniel Kinahan, he's

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Speaker 2: made an epic comeback. He's beaten the previously undefeated and

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Speaker 2: reigning WBC champion Deonte Wilder in this huge Las Vegas showdown,

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Speaker 2: and that means Fury's upcoming bout against fellow British heavyweight

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Speaker 2: Anthony Joshua. It's immediately billed as one of the biggest

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Speaker 2: fights in the history of the sport. It's going to

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Speaker 2: be an international extravaganza broadcast across the world. Pay per

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Speaker 2: view sales and sponsorship are going to generate hundreds of

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Speaker 2: millions of dollars and Fury he's crediting Daniel Kinahan with

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Speaker 2: pulling the whole thing together, and Daniel's not only organizing

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Speaker 2: these box office prize fights, He's also started to rub

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Speaker 2: shoulders with Royalty. Around the same time that Fury's fights announced,

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Speaker 2: Daniels signed up as a special advisor on combat sports

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Speaker 2: by a company belonging to the Prince of Bahrain. The

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Speaker 2: press release describes him as an international boxing powerbroker. And

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Speaker 2: shortly before that, Daniel shows up with a charity gala

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Speaker 2: in Kazakhstan wearing a tuxedo and sitting next to him

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Speaker 2: is none other than Bob Aarum, one of the most

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Speaker 2: influential figures in boxing history.

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Speaker 1: Aram.

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Speaker 2: He's promoted Muhammad Ali and he's an inductee into the

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Speaker 2: Boxing Hall of Fame.

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Speaker 5: We have great confidence in Kenahan. We think he's very very,

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Speaker 5: very honest, very astute. He has great connections.

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Speaker 2: And now he's singing the praises of Daniel Kinahan.

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Speaker 5: You know, I like to deal with guys, no nonsense,

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Speaker 5: people whose word is their bond, and that's what it's

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Speaker 5: been with Daniel.

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Speaker 2: But just as Daniel Kinahan's reputation as a boxing magnate

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Speaker 2: starts to soar, some people are starting to look more

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Speaker 2: closely at the source of his fortune. I'm Miles Johnson

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Speaker 2: and from the Financial Times and Pushkin Industries. This is

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Speaker 2: Hot Money, season two, the New Narcos, episode seven, Against

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Speaker 2: the Ropes. The thing that first pulled me into this

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Speaker 2: story was when a source told me, if you really

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Speaker 2: want to understand the exploding European cocaine trade, you need

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Speaker 2: to take a close look at a murder in a

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Speaker 2: small Dutch town. And that led me to an Amsterdam

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Speaker 2: murder broker, a Dublin safehouse, the Kinnahans, and then the

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Speaker 2: Iranian government. For a while, the way this connection worked,

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Speaker 2: it just wasn't clear, and then we found something. The

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Speaker 2: thing that links these unlikely characters together is the mechanics

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Speaker 2: of sanctions of Asian and money laundering. But if anyone

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Speaker 2: can help me really understand how all of this works,

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Speaker 2: it's a guy called Quentin mug.

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Speaker 7: I'm a French police commander. I am currently working in

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Speaker 7: the EUROPEOL which he's the European agency for criminal police.

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Speaker 2: I first met Quentin after other police contacts told me

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Speaker 2: that he was one of the best in the world

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Speaker 2: at complex money laundering cases. He's got dark, floppy hair,

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Speaker 2: a stubbly beard, and he talks with the unassuming calmness

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Speaker 2: of a gallic colombo. He doesn't miss a trick if

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Speaker 2: you're trying to launder your drugs money in a shipman

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Speaker 2: of seafood. He's the sort of guy who'll swivel around

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Speaker 2: at the last minute and say just one more thing.

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Speaker 7: You know, instinct kicks in. You tell me is that

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Speaker 7: you imported a hundred thousand euros worth of shrimps. But

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Speaker 7: what shrimp was at a frozen shrimp big streams? But

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Speaker 7: I guess cash scrips? Then what was exactly in the continue?

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Speaker 7: You don't know. That's that's how it.

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Speaker 2: Works, Quentin. He lives and breathes this sort of stuff,

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Speaker 2: and he's actually written a book about it. It's called

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Speaker 2: gen Salle or Dirty Money.

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Speaker 7: So I started to pick up on these aspects of

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Speaker 7: the job because essentially everybody wakes up for money, including

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Speaker 7: the criminals, and I really started to enjoy it.

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Speaker 2: Quentin actually worked on part of the DEA's investigation into

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Speaker 2: Iman Kobesi and ended up arresting a French associate of hers.

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Speaker 2: He says there's one important reason why drug traffickers might

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Speaker 2: end up working with someone like Kobesi. Criminals and sanctioned governments.

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Speaker 2: They've got a problem in common. They can't just freely

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Speaker 2: move money around the international banking system, so both need

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Speaker 2: to find more creative methods, methods that law enforcement agencies

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Speaker 2: can't track.

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Speaker 7: And that is the beauty of it, to be honest,

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Speaker 7: because basically this appeal for and a NIMI is something

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Speaker 7: that the wood underworld has in common.

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Speaker 2: As a cocaine market in Europe has boomed, massive amounts

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Speaker 2: of dirty cash are started to pile up and to

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Speaker 2: make their businesses work to pay suppliers in Latin America,

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Speaker 2: pay henchmen, or buy a mansion in Dubai. The car

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Speaker 2: tells they need to keep that money from getting stuck.

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Speaker 2: It's a critical logistical headache of being a drug trafficker

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Speaker 2: but moving billions secretly around the world. It's actually quite hard.

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Speaker 2: Imagine a drug trafficker has say ten million dollars in

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Speaker 2: the Netherlands and.

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Speaker 7: You would like that to be in Dubai. So now

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Speaker 7: he's got a number of options. You could move it himself,

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Speaker 7: as that's been setting some cash careers, taking zerisk of

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Speaker 7: being spudied at the airport. He could try to transform

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Speaker 7: it into something else, maybe jewelry, wa cheese, whatever. But

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Speaker 7: again you need to transport it. You could try to

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Speaker 7: hide these tracks by converting that money into other goods

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Speaker 7: such as cars, and then ship them away, get the

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Speaker 7: cars somewhere in another country, sell them, justify the profit

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Speaker 7: and take it away. But then you need companies, you

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Speaker 7: need important But it's complete lydy. Oh, you can just

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Speaker 7: pick up your phone.

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Speaker 2: Pick up your phone and call a money broker. They're

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Speaker 2: specialists to operate in a huge underground banking system and

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Speaker 2: it's critical infrastructure for the underworld.

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Speaker 7: So I would simply contact the money brokers. The money

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Speaker 7: broker would send me a money collector. That money collector

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Speaker 7: will come to me, usually with a banknote.

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Speaker 2: It's pretty hard to feel comfortable handing over massive suitcases

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Speaker 2: of cash to a stranger, so they've come up with

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Speaker 2: a sort of verification system. The person picking up the

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Speaker 2: cash they have to show a serial number of a

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Speaker 2: specific banknote to prove their identity.

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Speaker 7: And it was in two three days, I would have

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Speaker 7: an equivalent talment of money in the country I want.

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Speaker 2: So it's sort of like a secret currency exchange service,

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Speaker 2: but for major criminals. But the concept that took me

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Speaker 2: a little while to get my head around is that

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Speaker 2: the actual physical cash it doesn't ever move. It stays

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Speaker 2: in the same place. The networks have supplies of cash

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Speaker 2: in different countries, in places like warehouses, and instead of

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Speaker 2: moving it, they simply pay you out from the supply

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Speaker 2: they have in the place you need it, minus a commission.

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Speaker 2: Of course, this works because people doing the reverse trade

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Speaker 2: to you, customers moving money in the other direction, they

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Speaker 2: will replenish the supply of cash from where you collected

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Speaker 2: it at one of the networks to facto offices around

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Speaker 2: the world.

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Speaker 7: The most basic often comes in the form of a

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Speaker 7: little shop grocery stores that opens late and so very

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Speaker 7: expensive apples, and then everybody goes. But how is it

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Speaker 7: possible that it is still open where.

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Speaker 6: There's a lot of that.

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Speaker 2: Before I'd heard about this, I'd assumed that modern money

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Speaker 2: laundering was high tech, using things like cryptocurrencies or complex

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Speaker 2: financial instruments. Actually really surprised to learn that it's pretty

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Speaker 2: old school. Quentin says that this modern shadow banking system,

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Speaker 2: it's similar to the principles of hawala networks that were

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Speaker 2: used by Eastern traders from the fourteenth century.

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Speaker 7: So the Hawala system is basically a very ancient system

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Speaker 7: that consisting is based on trust and it's based on

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Speaker 7: a network of Hawala dhas before running this kind of

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Speaker 7: informal network. It was used a long time ago, even

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Speaker 7: in the Middle Aged when you were traveling, you didn't

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Speaker 7: want to, you know, wander around the roads with golden use.

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Speaker 7: So what you would do you would make a deposits

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Speaker 7: in the merchant who has an agreement with his suppliers.

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Speaker 7: Let's say I don't know it's the Middle East, and

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Speaker 7: then when you would arrive there, you would choose a

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Speaker 7: note and somebody would give you an equivalent amount of

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Speaker 7: money based on trust.

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Speaker 2: I'm also just interested in the capacity of his systems

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Speaker 2: because we're talking hundreds of millions of not billions potentially

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Speaker 2: of money. The liquidity that deep that you can move

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Speaker 2: that much money through this.

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Speaker 7: Start it's going to be a short term swer it yes, wow,

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Speaker 7: it is.

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Speaker 2: So there are billions of dollars circulating through these black

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Speaker 2: market brokers, and it's not just drug barons who are

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Speaker 2: using them. There are tax evaders, human traffickers, warlords, terrorist groups,

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Speaker 2: and people moving money for sanctioned governments. There's this strange

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Speaker 2: thing in Europe and it's that the number of physical

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Speaker 2: banknotes in circulation over the last decade, it's actually gone up,

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Speaker 2: but the number of people paying for stuff with cash,

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Speaker 2: it's gone down. And central banks they can have a

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Speaker 2: pretty hard time knowing where all of that physical cash

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Speaker 2: has gone. In the UK alone, the Bank of England,

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Speaker 2: it believes that there's about fifty billion pounds in cash

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Speaker 2: in circulation, but it just can't be accounted for. No

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Speaker 2: one knows where it is. And meanwhile, Quentin's seeing signs

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Speaker 2: that the number of money brokers is going on.

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Speaker 7: I've seen the commission drop. It's not a good sign

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Speaker 7: because they're asking for less and less money. Zans that

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Speaker 7: there are more and more competitors and there is more

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Speaker 7: and more money out there.

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Speaker 2: Like Quentin said at the start, everybody in the world

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Speaker 2: a crime. They wake up for money. And over in

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Speaker 2: the United States, one lawyer is starting to dig deeper

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Speaker 2: into the Kinahan money machine.

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Speaker 4: In the Middle East, Daniel Kinahan is living in Dubai.

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Speaker 4: They're having a party in Dubai. They're getting away with,

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Speaker 4: you know, a lot of stuff. It seems to be

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Speaker 4: in Dubai and he felt, I think untouchable.

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Speaker 2: Eric Montalvo is an attorney in Washington, DC and before

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Speaker 2: getting into law, he served for twenty one years as

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Speaker 2: an active duty marine in the US military in the

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Speaker 2: First Golf War in Iraq and in Afghanistan.

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Speaker 4: When I transitioned into the civilian community, I eventually started

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Speaker 4: my firm in twenty eleven and I practice national international law.

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Speaker 2: And then one day in twenty twenty, Eric got a

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Speaker 2: call from a boxing promoter who was furious one of

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Speaker 2: the promoters most successful fighters was leaving. He'd switch to

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Speaker 2: another promotion company, one called MTK. It's the company that

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Speaker 2: Daniel Kinahan co founded back in Spain, and by twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty one, MTK Global, like Daniel, is based in Dubai.

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Speaker 2: MTK has become a major player in the boxing world

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Speaker 2: and this fighter he wants to move over to them,

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Speaker 2: but he's still under contract, so there's a dispute, and

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Speaker 2: the current promoter asked Eric to take on his case.

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Speaker 4: Before this, I was not really a boxing litigator, if

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Speaker 4: you will, like the boxing profession was not something that

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Speaker 4: I was intimately familiar with in terms of the business side. Right,

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Speaker 4: you know, I'm a fan and I would watch a fight,

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Speaker 4: you know what have you, But I really had never

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Speaker 4: got from a litigation standpoint into the back end of

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Speaker 4: what was going on, so I really was in a

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Speaker 4: learning curve on this.

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Speaker 2: Eric's not studying the contracts, and MTK looks just like

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Speaker 2: any other multinational company.

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Speaker 4: On its face, it looked very legitimate and very powerful

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Speaker 4: compared to even any US company. No one could really

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Speaker 4: compete with them, and they had endorsements from high level

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Speaker 4: boxing professionals, right Bob aram So my first review of

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Speaker 4: them was that they were a big professional boxing corporation

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Speaker 4: international and that I just had to hold them accountable

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Speaker 4: for contract issues.

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Speaker 2: But then Eric comes across the name Daniel Kinahan. At

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Speaker 2: the time, back in twenty twenty one, most of the

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Speaker 2: boxing world had embraced Kinahan as a legitimate businessman, Eric's

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Speaker 2: or something else.

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Speaker 4: When I focused in on him, obviously, I'm a former prosecutor,

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Speaker 4: so you know that got my eyebrows raised.

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Speaker 2: Now, there's a long history in boxing of people with

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Speaker 2: let's say, a colorful past, and initially Eric thought that

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Speaker 2: the rumors around Daniel Kinahan would have no bearing on

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Speaker 2: the contractual dispute. But as Eric started to look at

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Speaker 2: MTK's business model, it seemed strange. One of the ways

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Speaker 2: that the company was able to recruit so many fighters

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Speaker 2: to its roster was by offering them hugely favorable terms,

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Speaker 2: terms that seemed to defy financial logic.

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Speaker 4: When I started trying to understand the financials of what

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Speaker 4: was happening, nothing made sense. No business can spend the

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Speaker 4: amount of money in litigation, you know, fighter bonuses, all

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Speaker 4: of these things when that money is not coming from fights.

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Speaker 2: For example, you could have a situation where a boxer makes,

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Speaker 2: say five hundred thousand dollars in a fire, but the

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Speaker 2: boxing company promoting them pays them seven hundred thousand dollars.

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Speaker 4: Where's that money coming from.

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Speaker 2: Daniel Kinahan had officially parted ways with MTK back in

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Speaker 2: twenty seventeen. His links to organized crime had made it

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Speaker 2: difficult to be the public face of the company.

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Speaker 4: Everyone's paying attention to you, probably for a good reason,

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Speaker 4: so you know, take a back seat and you're no

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Speaker 4: longer part of MTK. The problem is is that mister

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Speaker 4: Kinahan wasn't able to do that. He either loved the

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Speaker 4: boxing game, loved the limelight whatever it was, but he

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Speaker 4: could not help himself, and so he was publicly coming

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Speaker 4: out over and over again and participating in the fighting arena.

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Speaker 2: And as Eric digs deeper into MTK's finances, he discovers

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Speaker 2: that the company seems to have found an innovative way

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Speaker 2: of moving money around the globe.

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Speaker 4: It became clear to me as a prosecutor that what

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Speaker 4: they were doing is they were using the fighters as

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Speaker 4: a way to move money through the system. And so preliminarily,

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Speaker 4: what I see is that let's say they put a

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Speaker 4: million dollars in the fighter's account that wasn't for the

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Speaker 4: fighter to keep. What it was was they would then

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Speaker 4: take that money out a month or two later, and

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Speaker 4: then it would go to a property or go to

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Speaker 4: some other venture from the fighter's account. And these were

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Speaker 4: typically new accounts, so the fighter would set up a

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Speaker 4: new account, there would be a very significant amount of

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Speaker 4: money coming in to the account, and then that money

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Speaker 4: would leave shortly thereafter, and you go to pay for

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Speaker 4: some other thing that's unrelated to the fighter or anything else.

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Speaker 4: So that is money laundering.

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Speaker 2: Let's stop here for a moment, because what Eric claims

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Speaker 2: is happening using boxing to launder money. It's a pretty

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Speaker 2: serious allegation. Up until now, most people have seen Daniel

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Speaker 2: Kinahan's rise in boxing as an attempt to clean up

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Speaker 2: his reputation. But maybe, if Eric's right, it was more

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Speaker 2: than that. The boxing and the crime, they weren't two

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Speaker 2: different worlds, they were part of the same thing. Eric's

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Speaker 2: next move is to file a legal case in California

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Speaker 2: for his client. It says MTK is quote overseen by

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Speaker 2: mister Daniel Kinahan, and that Kinnahan started MTK to quote

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Speaker 2: laun the ill gotten gains from drug trafficking. It was

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Speaker 2: part of a civil claim seeking compensation from MTK. MTK

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Speaker 2: responds it strongly denies what it called wild allegations, and

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Speaker 2: it says MTK Global is not a front for a

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Speaker 2: European drug cartel, does not engage in money laundering, and

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Speaker 2: does not make money from the sale of illicit drugs.

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Speaker 2: It also denied having any ongoing ties to Daniel Kinahan.

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Speaker 2: We should also be clear that there's no suggestion that

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Speaker 2: the boxers associated with MTK were involved in any criminal activity.

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Speaker 2: At the time Eric's theory, it wasn't a popular one.

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Speaker 4: Most of the people that were around me that knew

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Speaker 4: what I was doing thought I was a little bit

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Speaker 4: of a crackpot, right like you know, what are you

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Speaker 4: talking about. Like, first of all, MTK's legitimate, you know organization.

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Speaker 4: I mean, people were saying as Bob Aaron was saying it,

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Speaker 4: the California Commissioner was saying it. Everybody was like, you know,

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Speaker 4: this Montavo guy is crazy and all of the stuff.

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Speaker 8: You're going up in this instance against people who at.

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Speaker 5: The time.

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Speaker 8: Are seen as extremely dangerous, you know, like some of

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Speaker 8: the most dangerous criminals in the whole world, people who

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Speaker 8: are linked to multiple, multiple homicides. And I was just

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Speaker 8: wondering what you were sort of thinking at the time

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Speaker 8: about that part of it.

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Speaker 4: I mean, in terms of my own personal safety or.

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Speaker 8: In terms of your own personal safety.

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Speaker 4: Maybe I'm not, you know, the most normal person in

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Speaker 4: the world, but I mean, you know, I went to

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Speaker 4: war at twenty right, I'm not gonna not do what

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Speaker 4: I have to do because I'm afraid that's somehow shape

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Speaker 4: or form, someone's gonna want me dead because I'm complaining

355
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Speaker 4: about what they're doing.

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Speaker 9: You know.

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Speaker 4: I just if that's the case, I shouldn't be an

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Speaker 4: attorney right.

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Speaker 2: To start the US legal case against Kinahan. They're going

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Speaker 2: to have to find him so they can serve him

361
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Speaker 2: the papers and finding a man who's been busy evading

362
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Speaker 2: law enforcement agencies for years. It might sound a bit tricky,

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Speaker 2: but Eric had a plan.

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Speaker 4: When you're trying to be a legitimate businessman, you have

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Speaker 4: to register your business, and so in Dubai it's no

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Speaker 4: different right they expect you to file the proper documents,

367
00:21:54,767 --> 00:21:59,167
Speaker 4: et cetera. So once I saw he was in Dubai,

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Speaker 4: I focused my efforts there. And if you look at

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Speaker 4: Palm Islands, right, there's two of them.

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Speaker 2: They're two man made islands jutting out from the coast

371
00:22:09,007 --> 00:22:12,407
Speaker 2: of both engineered in the shape of palm trees so

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Speaker 2: that each luxury property has its own waterfront.

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Speaker 4: And if you have the amount of money that you

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Speaker 4: know mister Kinahan has access to, and you know the

375
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Speaker 4: pictures and everything else you see, it made sense that

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Speaker 4: he was likely living on one of those islands.

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Speaker 2: So Eric he'd figured out where Daniel Kinahan was living

378
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Speaker 2: in Dubai, and he'd hired someone to go and deliver

379
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Speaker 2: the US court papers to his address. Now, the next

380
00:22:39,287 --> 00:23:01,847
Speaker 2: question was how would Daniel respond. So Daniel's figuring out

381
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Speaker 2: how to deal with this legal case against him, and

382
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Speaker 2: at the same time there are now signs that Dubai,

383
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Speaker 2: once a paradise for your criminals, has begun to crack down.

384
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Speaker 2: The first members of the supercartel are starting to fall.

385
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Speaker 2: Ridu Antargi one of the guests at Daniel Kinahan's wedding

386
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Speaker 2: and a notorious Dutch cocaine boss. He's arrested in Dubai

387
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Speaker 2: and charged with multiple murders, and the Emirate agrees to

388
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Speaker 2: send him back to the Netherlands to face trial. Another

389
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Speaker 2: wedding guest, the Chilean traffick are known as El Rico.

390
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Speaker 2: He's arrested in Latin America and extracited to the Netherlands.

391
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Speaker 2: Two Daniel Kinahan's still safe in Dubai, but the pressure

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Speaker 2: back in Ireland is starting to build. There's outrage in

393
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Speaker 2: the Irish Parliament. The day after Tyson Fury posts about

394
00:23:47,687 --> 00:23:52,487
Speaker 2: Kinahan arranging the Joshua fight. Leova redcar Ireland's TISUK, the

395
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Speaker 2: Prime Minister. He says he's taken aback by Kinahan's involvement,

396
00:23:56,447 --> 00:24:00,087
Speaker 2: citing his checkered past. He asks Iland's Foreign ministry to

397
00:24:00,127 --> 00:24:03,927
Speaker 2: talk to the UAE government about it urgently. Days later,

398
00:24:04,087 --> 00:24:06,967
Speaker 2: the Prince of Barren dumps Kinahan as an advisor, and

399
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Speaker 2: Bob Aarum announces that he's going to have or Tyson

400
00:24:09,807 --> 00:24:15,247
Speaker 2: furious negotiations from now on, not Daniel Kinahan. Daniel's now

401
00:24:15,247 --> 00:24:17,047
Speaker 2: on the back foot, and he makes a kind of

402
00:24:17,247 --> 00:24:21,607
Speaker 2: surprising decision. He launches a public relations campaign to save

403
00:24:21,647 --> 00:24:25,807
Speaker 2: his reputation as a legitimate businessman. A bizarre film appears

404
00:24:25,807 --> 00:24:29,247
Speaker 2: on the Internet called The Regency Discover the Truth.

405
00:24:30,207 --> 00:24:31,087
Speaker 6: And this isn't some.

406
00:24:31,167 --> 00:24:35,367
Speaker 2: Cobbled together home video. It's a professional project. It's a

407
00:24:35,447 --> 00:24:39,167
Speaker 2: dramatic reenactment of the assassination attempt against Daniel in twenty

408
00:24:39,207 --> 00:24:42,967
Speaker 2: sixteen in Dublin. It features a handsome actor playing him,

409
00:24:43,007 --> 00:24:45,327
Speaker 2: who's portrayed as the victim in the whole thing.

410
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Speaker 4: When Daniel Kinahan arrived at the Wayne.

411
00:24:49,367 --> 00:24:52,007
Speaker 3: For Clash of the Clans, the first thing that he

412
00:24:52,127 --> 00:24:55,127
Speaker 3: noticed was that there were no Gada to police the event.

413
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Speaker 3: This was unnerving because Daniel was used to having his

414
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Speaker 3: every move shadowed by police.

415
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Speaker 2: Not only that, it's unlikely the film convinced anyone, but

416
00:25:06,167 --> 00:25:09,367
Speaker 2: it showed that Daniel Kinahan was starting to get nervous.

417
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Speaker 2: Back in Dublin, John O'Driscoll, the man in charge of

418
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Speaker 2: Island's response to the Kinahan's wave of violence. He's been

419
00:25:17,687 --> 00:25:20,127
Speaker 2: watching Daniels rise in boxing with frustration.

420
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Speaker 6: The sport of boxing which is very important, and I

421
00:25:25,087 --> 00:25:27,967
Speaker 6: knew it to be so, having policed in inner city

422
00:25:28,007 --> 00:25:32,847
Speaker 6: communities for many years, many kids were diverted from crime

423
00:25:33,007 --> 00:25:36,847
Speaker 6: through an involvement in the sport of boxing, and here

424
00:25:36,887 --> 00:25:42,527
Speaker 6: we saw the Kinahan organization potentially destroying that sport. They

425
00:25:42,567 --> 00:25:46,327
Speaker 6: were corrupting the sport and that was operating at a

426
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Speaker 6: global level.

427
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Speaker 2: John's been trying to come up with a plan, a

428
00:25:50,207 --> 00:25:53,127
Speaker 2: plan to take the Kinahans down. But even if they

429
00:25:53,167 --> 00:25:57,807
Speaker 2: build a bulletproof case, there's another problem. The Kinahans are

430
00:25:57,847 --> 00:26:02,167
Speaker 2: in Dubai, and Dubai has no formal extradition agreement with Ireland.

431
00:26:03,287 --> 00:26:05,527
Speaker 2: John he realizes something.

432
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Speaker 6: That no one entity, no one law enforcement entity, could

433
00:26:10,527 --> 00:26:15,807
Speaker 6: ever achieve any realistic success on its own entackling one

434
00:26:15,847 --> 00:26:17,687
Speaker 6: of these criminal enterprises.

435
00:26:19,127 --> 00:26:21,767
Speaker 2: So John starts flying around the world, meeting with other

436
00:26:21,807 --> 00:26:26,927
Speaker 2: law enforcement agencies, sharing information, discussing strategies. He knows that

437
00:26:27,007 --> 00:26:29,967
Speaker 2: back in twenty ten, police across Europe tried to stop

438
00:26:29,967 --> 00:26:32,847
Speaker 2: the kiinner Hans with Operation Shovel, but the case had

439
00:26:32,887 --> 00:26:37,407
Speaker 2: fallen apart, and John He's determined that will never happen again.

440
00:26:37,807 --> 00:26:42,327
Speaker 2: He needs a silver bullet. Then one morning he's talking

441
00:26:42,327 --> 00:26:45,727
Speaker 2: to a US official when they mentioned something that John

442
00:26:45,847 --> 00:26:49,727
Speaker 2: just hadn't thought about before. Something the US government has

443
00:26:49,807 --> 00:26:52,887
Speaker 2: used to go after people in countries like Russia, Iran,

444
00:26:53,167 --> 00:26:56,807
Speaker 2: and North Korea, countries in which Western governments can't just

445
00:26:56,847 --> 00:27:01,407
Speaker 2: go in and arrest people places like Dubai. What if

446
00:27:01,687 --> 00:27:04,887
Speaker 2: the official asked John, they put the Kiinner Hands under

447
00:27:04,887 --> 00:27:08,807
Speaker 2: economic sanctions the Irish police, they may not be able

448
00:27:08,807 --> 00:27:11,367
Speaker 2: to get close to the kin Hands in Dubai if

449
00:27:11,407 --> 00:27:14,487
Speaker 2: the US Treasury put them under sanctions, that would cut

450
00:27:14,567 --> 00:27:16,847
Speaker 2: them off from their money, the motive for being in

451
00:27:16,887 --> 00:27:18,007
Speaker 2: crime in the first place.

452
00:27:19,207 --> 00:27:23,287
Speaker 6: From that day, it was part of our objective that

453
00:27:23,327 --> 00:27:29,087
Speaker 6: we would acquire sufficient information to provide to the US

454
00:27:29,127 --> 00:27:33,487
Speaker 6: Department of Treasury to encourage it to take on the

455
00:27:33,647 --> 00:27:37,127
Speaker 6: Kinnahans as a target, for them to be placed under

456
00:27:37,167 --> 00:27:38,407
Speaker 6: a list of priorities.

457
00:27:39,207 --> 00:27:41,847
Speaker 2: It was just an idea, but it was a radical one,

458
00:27:42,367 --> 00:27:46,407
Speaker 2: a new tool to target individuals connected to European organized crime.

459
00:27:47,047 --> 00:27:49,687
Speaker 2: John immediately gets to work. He needs to bring in

460
00:27:49,727 --> 00:27:53,687
Speaker 2: as many international partners into the operation as possible, but

461
00:27:53,767 --> 00:27:56,407
Speaker 2: to convince the US Treasury to take action, the joint

462
00:27:56,407 --> 00:28:00,527
Speaker 2: operation needs watertight evidence that the Kinnahans have evolved into

463
00:28:00,567 --> 00:28:01,447
Speaker 2: a global threat.

464
00:28:02,007 --> 00:28:05,127
Speaker 6: Throughout the process, I would have been privy to the

465
00:28:05,167 --> 00:28:10,007
Speaker 6: intelligence that we had gathered ourselves in Ireland, and then

466
00:28:10,287 --> 00:28:15,167
Speaker 6: other jurisdictions had gathered additional information, and bit by bit

467
00:28:15,247 --> 00:28:20,847
Speaker 6: dijigsaw was being put together in terms of establishing how

468
00:28:20,927 --> 00:28:23,927
Speaker 6: significant in fact the Kenahans were on the global stage.

469
00:28:24,607 --> 00:28:27,927
Speaker 2: Months and months passed, with countless meetings between law enforcement

470
00:28:27,967 --> 00:28:31,127
Speaker 2: agencies from different countries sharing the intelligence they've gathered on

471
00:28:31,127 --> 00:28:34,887
Speaker 2: the Kinnahans, and then the US side of the joint

472
00:28:34,887 --> 00:28:38,367
Speaker 2: operation they discovered something pretty big. At the time, it

473
00:28:38,407 --> 00:28:42,567
Speaker 2: was a closely guarded piece of highly sensitive information. John

474
00:28:42,607 --> 00:28:45,167
Speaker 2: tells me it was something about how the Kinahans and

475
00:28:45,207 --> 00:28:48,407
Speaker 2: other members of the Dubai supercartel had been laundering their money,

476
00:28:48,967 --> 00:28:50,967
Speaker 2: about the money brokers that we heard about earlier in

477
00:28:50,967 --> 00:28:51,687
Speaker 2: the episode.

478
00:28:52,567 --> 00:28:57,447
Speaker 6: As time emerged and as the eyes of US law

479
00:28:57,527 --> 00:29:02,327
Speaker 6: enforcement more generally were focused on the Kenhen's, it was

480
00:29:02,367 --> 00:29:06,647
Speaker 6: realized that the money laundering associated with that drugs empire

481
00:29:07,247 --> 00:29:13,327
Speaker 6: involved the Kenahan's utilize organizations that may potentially have links

482
00:29:13,367 --> 00:29:15,127
Speaker 6: to international terrorism.

483
00:29:15,967 --> 00:29:19,047
Speaker 2: As we're talking, as John's telling me this, I want

484
00:29:19,047 --> 00:29:22,407
Speaker 2: to know what he means which international terrorists? Is it

485
00:29:22,447 --> 00:29:25,767
Speaker 2: a group, is it a government? But when you say

486
00:29:25,887 --> 00:29:29,487
Speaker 2: terrorist related to activity, does that relate to any particular countries.

487
00:29:30,367 --> 00:29:33,047
Speaker 2: John doesn't really answer this, so I ask him directly

488
00:29:33,447 --> 00:29:36,167
Speaker 2: the thing I'm thinking, the thing you might be thinking too.

489
00:29:36,807 --> 00:29:38,127
Speaker 2: Is he talking about Iran.

490
00:29:38,927 --> 00:29:43,327
Speaker 6: Well, that would be a conclusion that would be reached

491
00:29:43,927 --> 00:29:49,367
Speaker 6: primarily by the US authorities haven't been satisfied having received

492
00:29:49,407 --> 00:29:54,087
Speaker 6: initially information from the Irish law enforcement, UK law enforcement,

493
00:29:54,847 --> 00:30:00,287
Speaker 6: and they then pursuing that line of inquiry, would then

494
00:30:00,407 --> 00:30:06,367
Speaker 6: have concluded that, in fact, there is potential that there

495
00:30:06,447 --> 00:30:10,927
Speaker 6: is a financing of activity that can could be associations

496
00:30:10,967 --> 00:30:12,887
Speaker 6: with the Iranian station.

497
00:30:14,207 --> 00:30:17,007
Speaker 2: John's saying it in a guarded way, but here's what

498
00:30:17,047 --> 00:30:20,727
Speaker 2: it sounds like to me. It's the money, the money laundering,

499
00:30:21,127 --> 00:30:25,567
Speaker 2: that's the connection between the Kinahans, the supercartel and Iran.

500
00:30:27,247 --> 00:30:30,327
Speaker 2: An Udi Levy, the former head of the Mossad's Economic

501
00:30:30,367 --> 00:30:33,567
Speaker 2: warfare unit, He says the same thing. He tells me

502
00:30:33,687 --> 00:30:36,887
Speaker 2: that Iran's money laundering channels are regularly used by criminal

503
00:30:36,887 --> 00:30:40,207
Speaker 2: networks across the world as well as other sanctioned governments.

504
00:30:40,487 --> 00:30:44,807
Speaker 9: The sanction caused the Iranian to be very creative to

505
00:30:44,927 --> 00:30:47,607
Speaker 9: find I think today the number one in the world

506
00:30:47,687 --> 00:30:53,647
Speaker 9: out of circlements the sanction how to build very very

507
00:30:54,207 --> 00:31:00,967
Speaker 9: smart way to laundering money. They are giving a suggestion

508
00:31:01,127 --> 00:31:03,927
Speaker 9: to the Irusian and other countries and the North Korean

509
00:31:04,247 --> 00:31:08,127
Speaker 9: out to circlements the sanction, they became so expert they.

510
00:31:08,007 --> 00:31:09,207
Speaker 4: Know very well how to do it.

511
00:31:10,367 --> 00:31:12,967
Speaker 2: And as we know, it's not just sanctioned regimes that

512
00:31:13,047 --> 00:31:15,647
Speaker 2: need to find secret ways of moving money around the world.

513
00:31:16,487 --> 00:31:22,927
Speaker 9: No, the direct trafficking need the ideas and their way

514
00:31:23,007 --> 00:31:28,847
Speaker 9: out to build infrastructure that nobody identify. So and they

515
00:31:29,007 --> 00:31:32,967
Speaker 9: run and have today, I think the best infrastructure in

516
00:31:33,007 --> 00:31:35,767
Speaker 9: the world to transfer money from one point to the

517
00:31:35,767 --> 00:31:40,127
Speaker 9: other and that nobody will have identified. So not only

518
00:31:40,407 --> 00:31:43,207
Speaker 9: that they are using the direct trafficking, but they even

519
00:31:44,087 --> 00:31:50,487
Speaker 9: making the world, let's say more bad by allowed the

520
00:31:51,247 --> 00:31:55,647
Speaker 9: cartels and the direct trafficker to use their infrastructure to

521
00:31:55,727 --> 00:31:56,807
Speaker 9: transfer money.

522
00:31:57,847 --> 00:32:00,447
Speaker 2: I really haven't come across any evidence that the members

523
00:32:00,487 --> 00:32:04,247
Speaker 2: of the Supercartel are connected to Iran for ideological reasons.

524
00:32:04,887 --> 00:32:08,367
Speaker 2: It's likely it was just business, the money laundering. It

525
00:32:08,407 --> 00:32:12,327
Speaker 2: was a service, one that worked, but having access to

526
00:32:12,447 --> 00:32:15,687
Speaker 2: new and sophisticated ways to move money, it made the

527
00:32:15,807 --> 00:32:20,647
Speaker 2: rise of stateless drug traffickers like the Supercartel possible. And

528
00:32:20,727 --> 00:32:23,807
Speaker 2: this connection could it be the thing that explains how

529
00:32:23,807 --> 00:32:29,367
Speaker 2: the supercartel got involved in the assassination of Alimatamed Udi

530
00:32:29,527 --> 00:32:32,807
Speaker 2: says the Alimatomed assassination it fits with a pattern he's

531
00:32:32,807 --> 00:32:37,287
Speaker 2: seen of Iran using organized criminals to target their enemies abroad.

532
00:32:38,207 --> 00:32:40,527
Speaker 9: I think Iran is not alone. I think today is

533
00:32:40,567 --> 00:32:45,927
Speaker 9: a new trend by some let's say intelligence forces, that

534
00:32:46,007 --> 00:32:52,767
Speaker 9: it's easier, sometimes cheaper to use drag dealers and criminals

535
00:32:53,607 --> 00:33:00,127
Speaker 9: to make assassination because if they call, you cannot blame Iran,

536
00:33:01,047 --> 00:33:03,567
Speaker 9: you can blame drug trafficking. It's something that related to

537
00:33:03,687 --> 00:33:08,007
Speaker 9: drug trafficking. They are preferred to go to criminal and

538
00:33:08,087 --> 00:33:12,167
Speaker 9: to drug dealers, to pay them money, to give them

539
00:33:12,287 --> 00:33:15,367
Speaker 9: guidance and to send them to the mission.

540
00:33:16,367 --> 00:33:19,287
Speaker 2: But I still have a big question. Is it possible

541
00:33:19,407 --> 00:33:22,367
Speaker 2: to find out who in Iran worked with the supercarteil

542
00:33:22,447 --> 00:33:25,407
Speaker 2: to assassinate Alimtomed to solve this murder?

543
00:33:26,687 --> 00:33:28,887
Speaker 9: Yes, but it will be a little bit difficult because

544
00:33:28,887 --> 00:33:31,967
Speaker 9: they're not stupid. In most of the cases, they're putting

545
00:33:32,047 --> 00:33:38,687
Speaker 9: a buffer between themselves and the last end. Let's say

546
00:33:38,727 --> 00:33:42,047
Speaker 9: something like that. Let's say the Iranian from Good Sports

547
00:33:42,087 --> 00:33:46,927
Speaker 9: Agent well will approach to someone that it will approach

548
00:33:46,967 --> 00:33:49,767
Speaker 9: to somebody else, and then it will approach to the

549
00:33:49,807 --> 00:33:52,967
Speaker 9: third party and will give him the mission.

550
00:33:53,727 --> 00:33:56,847
Speaker 2: To find someone buried deep in a shadowy, hidden world

551
00:33:56,847 --> 00:34:01,527
Speaker 2: where espionage and organized crime me it seems impossible, And

552
00:34:01,567 --> 00:34:04,367
Speaker 2: then I came across a case a top Iranian spy

553
00:34:04,767 --> 00:34:08,727
Speaker 2: arrested in Europe, found with a red notebook full of secrets,

554
00:34:09,287 --> 00:34:13,047
Speaker 2: and perhaps inside that notebook we can find the answer.

555
00:34:13,807 --> 00:34:22,807
Speaker 2: That's next time on our season finale of Hot Money.

556
00:34:31,367 --> 00:34:33,887
Speaker 2: Hot Money is a production of The Financial Times and

557
00:34:33,927 --> 00:34:37,807
Speaker 2: Pushkin Industries. It was written and reported by me Miles Johnson,

558
00:34:38,047 --> 00:34:40,447
Speaker 2: and if you've got any leads or information about this story,

559
00:34:40,527 --> 00:34:44,287
Speaker 2: you can email me at New narcosat FT dot com.

560
00:34:44,607 --> 00:34:47,927
Speaker 2: The series producer is Peggy Sutton. Edith Russello is the

561
00:34:47,967 --> 00:34:53,007
Speaker 2: associate producer. Fact checking is by Arthur Gompertz, Engineering by

562
00:34:53,047 --> 00:34:58,087
Speaker 2: Sarah Bruguerer, sound design from Jake Gorsky, Jeremy Warmsley wrote

563
00:34:58,087 --> 00:35:01,687
Speaker 2: the original music. Our editor is Sarah Nix, and the

564
00:35:01,727 --> 00:35:06,367
Speaker 2: executive producers are Jacob Goldstein and Cheryl Brumley. Special thanks

565
00:35:06,367 --> 00:35:10,247
Speaker 2: to Laura Clark, Alistair Mackie and Breen Turner do