In this episode we discuss “How to launder money” with Yaya Fanusie. Yaya is an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security where his research focuses on crypto, blockchain, and central bank digital currencies. Earlier in his career, he spent seven years as both an economic and counterterrorism analyst in the CIA, where he regularly briefed federal law enforcement, U.S. military personnel, and White House-level policy makers—including President George W. Bush whom he personally briefed on terrorism threats. In 2009, he spent three months in Afghanistan providing analytic support to senior military officials. After leaving government service, Yaya worked for a small consulting firm on a global financial asset recovery investigation of a kleptocratic regime. Later, he joined the think tank world and as Director of Analysis at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Center on Sanctions and Illicit Finance, Yaya led research on sanctions evasion and terrorist financing threats. As part of this work, in 2016 he began tracking the illicit use of crypto and wrote some of the first of public analysis on a terrorist crypto crowdfunding campaign. He later published a major study on efforts by Russia, Iran, Venezuela, and China to build national blockchain infrastructure. Yaya is also the Director of Policy for anti money laundering & Cyber Risk at the Crypto Council for Innovation, a global alliance advancing crypto innovation. He has testified before Congress multiple times on illicit financing issues and is a leading expert on China’s central bank digital currency. He has appeared in numerous media outlets, and is a frequent contributor to Lawfare and other sites. He is certified with the Association of Certified Financial Crime Specialists. Yaya also teaches an Introduction to Blockchain Technology course at Morgan State University in Baltimore, and received an MA in International Affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a BA in Economics from UC Berkeley. Yaya also wrote and hosts a fantastic fictional intelligence thriller podcast, the Jabbari Lincoln Files.
Listen on Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Google Podcasts, by RSS feed, on Youtube, or listen right here:
How to Launder Money – How to get on a Watchlist
If you liked this episode, don’t forget to subscribe on your podcast platform of choice. Please also consider supporting our work via a Patreon subscription (getting you access to early releases and other perks), or by tipping us on Ko-fi. While the topics we discuss here are often shrouded in secrecy and security classifications, we really hope you’ll tell your friends about us!
Books and media mentioned during the episode, and suggestions for further research on this topic:
- The Jabbari Lincoln Files podcast (Yaya Fanusie)
Additional reading suggestions can be found on our 2024 geopolitical reading list.
Purchases made using the links in this article earn referrals for Encyclopedia Geopolitica. As an independent publication, our writers are volunteers from within the professional geopolitical intelligence community, and referrals like this support future articles.
The hosts:
Lewis Sage-Passant is a researcher in the field of intelligence and espionage, and a former British Military Intelligence Officer. Lewis holds a PhD from Loughborough University in intelligence studies, and is an adjunct professor in intelligence at Sciences Po Paris. He has extensive experience working and living in the Middle East and Asia Pacific regions in a variety of geopolitical analysis and intelligence roles, supporting the energy industry, the financial sector, leading technology firms, and the pharmaceuticals sector. He has appeared in numerous media outlets, including the BBC, France24, CNBC, Harvard Business Review, The New Arab, El Mundo, GQ, and others, discussing intelligence, geopolitics, and security topics.
Aleksandra Szylkiewicz is a multilingual security and intelligence professional based in France, currently serving as Geopolitical Intelligence & Travel Security Manager at an international luxury fashion conglomerate. She is a graduate of Sciences Po Paris, where she completed a degree in International Relations/International Security, and has experience providing threat monitoring and geopolitical analysis to public and private entities across various sectors and regions, producing actionable intelligence and decision-making support. She has lived in Mexico and in various countries across Europe.
The production team:
Producer: Edwin Tran
Researcher: Alex Smith
Additional credit goes to several unnamed members of the Encyclopedia Geopolitica team, as well as our colleagues in the intelligence and security community who helped to make this podcast possible
If you liked this episode, don’t forget to sign up to our mailing list and subscribe on your podcast platform of choice. Please also consider supporting our work via Patreon. While the topics we discuss here are often shrouded in secrecy and security classifications, we really hope you’ll tell your friends about us!
Encyclopedia Geopolitica 