Hot Money: Agent of Chaos
Hot Money: Agent of Chaos

<p>In 2020, the Financial Times exposed a &euro;2 billion fraud at Wirecard, a high-flying German fintech. Many thought that was the end of the story. But for reporter Sam Jones, it was just the beginning.</p> <p>This season on Hot Money: Agent of Chaos, Jones investigates Wirecard&rsquo;s chief operating officer, who vanished just as Wirecard collapsed. And turned out to also be a Russian spy.</p> <p>From an Ibizan sting operation to an attempted takeover of the Austrian intelligence service, his reporting spirals into a world of warlords, espionage, and disinformation.</p> <p>All in an attempt to answer one question: Who is the real Jan Marsalek? And what does his secret life reveal about the powerful forces he serves?</p>

Here's an episode from Heavyweight, a new addition to the Pushkin slate of shows. Heavyweight, hosted by Jonathan Goldstein, creates space for difficult conversations and resolving long-standing regrets and unanswered questions. In this episode: A young man had just turned 14 when he took his father’s shotgun, skipped school, and robbed a bank for $40,000. Now, 33 years later, he wants to apologize to the people he harmed that day. Find Heavyweight wherever you get your podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Here's a preview of a new show from the Financial Times, Untold: Toxic Legacy. How can somewhere that looks so beautiful be so contaminated? Laura Hughes receives a tip that horses are dropping dead in Wales. As she investigates, she finds decades of academic studies researching the problem. She learns these aren’t isolated incidents. Something is spreading across the countryside. It’s undetectable to humans, nobody knows it’s there — until they fall ill. For more information on how to live safely with lead, please visit the LEAPP Alliance website.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Here's a preview of a podcast we think you'll enjoy. It's from the new season of Malcolm Gladwell's Revisionist History podcast, The Alabama Murders. Florence, Alabama. 1988. A preacher has an affair. A woman is murdered. One death cascades into more, stretching across decades and leaving no one untouched — victims, bystanders, perpetrators, and those just trying to help. Eventually, the consequences lead to the center of a hot national debate on who should be allowed to live, who should die, and how the state should kill them. On The Alabama Murders, Malcolm asks: why, in our efforts to alleviate suffering, do we so often make it worse? Find Revisionist History: The Alabama Murders wherever you get podcasts. To get early access to ad-free episodes and extra content, subscribe to Pushkin+ on the Revisionist History show page on Apple Podcasts or at pushkin.fm/plus.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Here’s a preview of a new Pushkin podcast, The Chinatown Sting. In the late 1980s, a group of women connected through the mahjong parlors in Manhattan’s Chinatown were caught in a massive undercover drug bust. But this bust was just the beginning of an even bigger case. Host Lidia Jean Kott and co-reporter Shuyu Wang interview sources who’ve never spoken on record before, including witnesses, defendants, and federal prosecutors, to reconstruct a case that still has repercussions today. In this episode, we meet Tina Wong, a young mother who found herself in the middle of the operation with two choices—go to prison, or risk her life to bring down the man at the helm. Listen to The Chinatown Sting wherever you get podcasts and binge the entire season, ad-free, with a Pushkin+ subscription—sign up on The Chinatown Sting Apple Podcasts show page or at pushkin.fm/plus.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
We're sharing a special episode from SpyCast, the official podcast of the International Spy Museum, featuring Hot Money's Sam Jones. SpyCast host Sasha Ingber sits down with Sam to learn how Jan Marsalek came to be one of the most wanted men in the world. Sam speaks to how the Financial Times first uncovered fraud at the fintech company, Wirecard, where Jan was the COO, who Jan was before his involvement with Russian spy networks, and how Sam found himself in the middle of an investigation into Jan's secret life. For more stories of how spies and secret agents reach our everyday lives, find SpyCast wherever you get your podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In our season finale, Sam discovers a different narrative about Marsalek’s life in Russia. And a tip from long ago resurfaces. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
A Marsalek-backed ring of operatives goes on trial in the UK for espionage. A treasure trove of text messages reveals their inner workings. Get ad-free access to the entire season of Hot Money: Agent of Chaos by subscribing to Pushkin+ on Apple Podcasts or Pushkin.fm. Access ad-free episodes, exclusive binges, full audiobooks, and bonus content for all Pushkin shows with Pushkin+. Subscribe on Apple: apple.co/pushkinSubscribe on Pushkin: pushkin.fm/plusSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Back in Vienna, Sam investigates another Marsalek plot. One that nearly toppled Austria’s intelligence agency. Get ad-free access to the entire season of Hot Money: Agent of Chaos by subscribing to Pushkin+ on Apple Podcasts or Pushkin.fm. Access ad-free episodes, exclusive binges, full audiobooks, and bonus content for all Pushkin shows with Pushkin+. Subscribe on Apple: apple.co/pushkinSubscribe on Pushkin: pushkin.fm/plusSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Hot Money will be back on July 15.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
How does one become a spy? Sam speaks with a former Russian intelligence officer about how Marsalek might have been recruited. And to what ends. Get ad-free access to the entire season of Hot Money: Agent of Chaos by subscribing to Pushkin+ on Apple Podcasts or Pushkin.fm. Access ad-free episodes, exclusive binges, full audiobooks, and bonus content for all Pushkin shows with Pushkin+. Subscribe on Apple: apple.co/pushkinSubscribe on Pushkin: pushkin.fm/plusSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On the ground in Austria and Germany, Sam digs deep into Marsalek’s past. His odd habits. His strange house. The hypnotic effect he had on former colleagues. And how he is remembered by childhood friends. CORRECTION: In this episode, we reported Marsalek left home just before taking his final school exams at age 17. We’ve since learned he was 18 when he left home. Get ad-free access to the entire season of Hot Money: Agent of Chaos by subscribing to Pushkin+ on Apple Podcasts or Pushkin.fm. Access ad-free episodes, exclusive binges, full audiobooks, and bonus content for all Pushkin shows with Pushkin+. Subscribe on Apple: apple.co/pushkinSubscribe on Pushkin: pushkin.fm/plusSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Sam tracks down an old contact in Tunisia.  A former UN official living off grid. He reveals how he ended up involved in one of Jan Marsalek’s wildest schemes. CORRECTION: In this episode, we reported that Marsalek told Killian Kleinschmidt that he arrived in Syria in a Mig 8. That was an error. Killian only recalls Marsalek saying that he arrived in Syria in a helicopter, not specifically a Mig 8.  Get ad-free access to the entire season of Hot Money: Agent of Chaos by subscribing to Pushkin+ on Apple Podcasts or Pushkin.fm. Access ad-free episodes, exclusive binges, full audiobooks, and bonus content for all Pushkin shows with Pushkin+. Subscribe on Apple: apple.co/pushkinSubscribe on Pushkin: pushkin.fm/plusSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
As Sam arrives in Vienna, a political bomb explodes. A secretly recorded video exposes ties between the far right and Russia, plunging the Austrian government into crisis and revealing a world where people like Jan Marsalek can thrive. Get ad-free access to the entire season of Hot Money: Agent of Chaos by subscribing to Pushkin+ on Apple Podcasts or Pushkin.fm. Access ad-free episodes, exclusive binges, full audiobooks, and bonus content for all Pushkin shows with Pushkin+. Subscribe on Apple: apple.co/pushkinSubscribe on Pushkin: pushkin.fm/plusSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
A series of clandestine lunch meetings leads Sam’s editor to send him off to Vienna, in search of one man. Get ad-free access to the entire season of Hot Money: Agent of Chaos by subscribing to Pushkin+ on Apple Podcasts or Pushkin.fm. Access ad-free episodes, exclusive binges, full audiobooks, and bonus content for all Pushkin shows with Pushkin+. Subscribe on Apple: apple.co/pushkinSubscribe on Pushkin: pushkin.fm/plusSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
When reporter Sam Jones asks questions about disgraced financial executive Jan Marsalek, he discovers a world of warlords, espionage, and disinformation. Coming June 10 from Pushkin Industries and The Financial Times Get ad-free access to the entire season of Hot Money: Agent of Chaos by subscribing to Pushkin+ on Apple Podcasts or Pushkin.fm. Access ad-free episodes, exclusive binges, full audiobooks, and bonus content for all Pushkin shows with Pushkin+. Subscribe on Apple: apple.co/pushkinSubscribe on Pushkin: pushkin.fm/plusSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The new season of Deep Cover, a podcast about people who lead double lives, reveals a story of stolen valor and misplaced heroism. Sarah Cavanaugh was many things to the people who knew her: a decorated veteran, a Marine who saved her comrades, a young woman fighting cancer. Sarah was everything people wanted her to be—until she wasn’t. Turns out, no one knew the real Sarah. Not her comrades. Not her wife. No one. In Deep Cover: The Truth About Sarah, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Jake Halpern and acclaimed investigative journalist Jess McHugh unravel an epic six-year deception that upended the lives of countless people. Here’s a preview of episode 1. A mysterious letter arrives from Sarah. In it, she asks: What do you think of my crime? Listen to new episodes of Deep Cover on Mondays, available wherever you get your podcasts. Pushkin+ subscribers can hear more ad-free episodes from this season of Deep Cover, before they’re released to the public, right now. Learn more on the Deep Cover show page on Apple Podcasts or at pushkin.fm/plus.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Here's a preview of the podcast White Hot Hate: Agent Pale Horse. FBI undercover agent Scott Payne’s job was to infiltrate the most dangerous gangs of our times: outlaw bikers, drug cartels and the international neo-Nazi networks hellbent on inciting a race war. He was taking down these groups from within. And Scott was good at it — people confided in him their most audacious plans for mass violence and domestic terrorism. In the second season of CBC’s White Hot Hate, host Michelle Shephard gives you an unvarnished view of a life undercover. Because after a 28-year-long career pretending to be somebody else, Agent Payne is ready to tell his side of the story. This series was produced alongside a book co-written by Scott Payne and Michelle Shephard titled Code Name: Pale Horse: How I Went Undercover to Expose America's Nazis. More episodes of White Hot Hate: Agent Pale Horse are available at: https://link.mgln.ai/YVWdxWSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
To those who believe his story, Paul is the crown prince of Romania, a direct descendant of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Tsar Alexander II of Russia. To those who don’t, he’s Paul Lambrino: a fantasist claiming heirship to a non-existent throne. This is the story of Paul’s fight to win a $1bn inheritance. It features private spy agencies, missing Caravaggios, and a billionaire with an eye for a deal. This piece, written by the FT’s Miles Johnson, is the first in our series, ‘The Great Escape’, featuring our most carefully crafted and deeply engrossing tales. It was originally printed in FT Weekend. To read more stories like this and to save 40% on a standard digital subscription to the Financial Times, go to: ft.com/princeoffer. Contributors: Miles Johnson, Mischa Frankl-Duval, Breen Turner, Laura Clarke, Cheryl Brumley, Matt VellaSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Introducing Against the Rules: Fans, a new season from journalist and bestselling author Michael Lewis. Michael Lewis bets high and low to find out how Americans, and their state governments, got addicted to a new form of legalized gambling. This season, we’ll meet bookies, lobbyists, lawyers and professional sharps. All in their own ways trying to figure out why fans might hitch their life savings to their favorite team’s performance. Listen to the series wherever you get your podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Hot Money team is hard at work on another season–so stay tuned.Until then, we'd love to hear about you and what you think about the show. We are running a short survey and anyone who takes part before August 29th will be entered into a prize draw for a pair of Bose QuietComfort 35 Wireless Headphones. Take the survey here: https://www.feedback.ft.com/c/r/pods?title=hot You can read our T&Cs for the prize draw here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In the beautiful mountain town of Idyllwild, a wealthy widow named Dia Abrams suddenly vanishes from her home. She leaves behind her idyllic ranch, estranged children and a messy legal battle. Two men in her life, her son and a man who claims to be her fiance, launch public campaigns to find her. But soon, their efforts – and stories – begin to unravel. Enjoy this preview from Where's Dia? A new podcast from Pushkin Industries and iHeartPodcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The disappearance and death of Mitrice Richardson remains Malibu, CA’s most baffling unsolved case. It’s been nearly 14 years since her remains were discovered in a remote canyon, and still, no one has been held accountable for her demise.  To this day, her death remains an unsolved mystery. The truth lies in the remote Malibu community where Mitrice was last seen. And now, finally, people are starting to talk. Enjoy this episode from Lost Hills: Dark Canyon. Available wherever you listen to podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Introducing Power for Sale, a new season of Untold from the Financial Times. In Untold: Power for Sale, host Valentina Pop and a team of FT correspondents from all over Europe investigate what happened in the Qatargate scandal, where EU lawmakers were accused of accepting payments from Qatar to whitewash its image.Subscribe and listen on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Introducing Deep Cover: The Nameless Man, a new podcast season from Pushkin Industries. This season tells the epic tale of two federal agents who investigate a rumor about a murder that supposedly took place 15 years prior. It is also the story of a family searching for answers about why their brother was killed. These two storylines collide in a courtroom in Philadelphia, where murder, memory, and morality go on trial.     See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Introducing Untold, a new podcast from the Financial Times's special investigations team. In its first series, The Retreat, host Madison Marriage examines the world of the Goenka network, which promotes a type of intensive meditation known as Vipassana. Thousands of people go on Goenka retreats every year; people rave about them. But some who go to these meditation retreats suffer. They might feel a deep sense of terror, or a break with reality – and afterwards, they’re not themselves anymore. Subscribe and listen on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Law enforcement cuts off the Kinahan cartel, and a little red notebook in the back of a car might finally reveal who killed the electrician in Almere. For more from the FT, sign up for the FT Edit App. To listen to Hot Money ad free, subscribe to Pushkin+.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Daniel Kinahan is more influential than ever, but law enforcement may finally be catching up.  For more from the FT, sign up for the FT Edit App. To listen to Hot Money ad free, subscribe to Pushkin+.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
An undercover operation in New York reveals a connection with Tehran. For more from the FT, sign up for the FT Edit App. To listen to Hot Money ad free, subscribe to Pushkin+.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Back in the Netherlands, the high-tech unit of the Dutch police works to crack the murder case. For more from the FT, sign up for the FT Edit App. To listen to Hot Money ad free, subscribe to Pushkin+.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
No longer safe in Europe, the cartel bosses move to a city that is attracting criminals from around the globe. For more from the FT, sign up for the FT Edit App. To listen to Hot Money ad free, subscribe to Pushkin+.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
International law enforcement is after the Kinahan cartel, revealing just how big the operation has grown. For more from the FT, sign up for the FT Edit App. To listen to Hot Money ad free, subscribe to Pushkin+.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
An enterprising Dublin drug dealer makes the most of a revolution sweeping across Europe’s criminal economy. For more from the FT, sign up for the FT Edit App. To listen to Hot Money ad free, subscribe to Pushkin+.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
When a Dutch crime reporter makes an unbelievable discovery, a small-town murder case begins to look like an international assassination plot. For more from the FT, sign up for the FT Edit App. To listen to Hot Money ad free, subscribe to Pushkin+.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Hot Money is back with a new season that begins with a mysterious murder in a small town and leads to a cocaine super cartel and a secret proxy war between democracies and dictatorships.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In the season finale, Alex and Patricia discover how Visa and MasterCard became the reluctant rulers of porn. And they figure out what being ruled by credit card companies means for the porn industry today. If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts be sure to subscribe to our email list.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Alex and Patricia track down the family behind OnlyFans, the site that has transformed online porn by shifting power back to performers. But there is a whole other side to the OnlyFans story.  If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts be sure to sign up for our email list at Pushkin.fm.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
One of the biggest porn companies in the world was forced to radically change its practices. But another porn giant changed almost nothing. Patricia travels to the company's Prague headquarters to understand why.  If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts be sure to sign up for our email list at Pushkin.fm.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
A billionaire hedge fund manager reads a scathing column about a popular porn site. He sends an angry text to the CEO of MasterCard. Almost overnight, the biggest porn company in the world changes dramatically. If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts be sure to sign up for our email list at Pushkin.fm.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
How is it legal for porn sites to host millions of videos uploaded by users? The answer is in the story of an Ohio family in the early 1990s. In this episode: a family IT business, an FBI raid and a court case that set the precedent for porn – and for tech giants like Facebook and Twitter.  If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts be sure to sign up for our email list at Pushkin.fm.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
When Fabian Thylmann ran into trouble with the law, a former Goldman Sachs banker swooped in to buy his porn sites. But nobody knew who he was. He managed to keep his identity a secret for years --- until Patricia rumbled his game.  If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts be sure to sign up for our email list at Pushkin.fm.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
A decade ago, a computer programmer named Fabian Thylmann began to build one of the biggest porn empires in the world. How did Fabian do it? He was good with money in a business that was starved of finance. He convinced Wall Street to bankroll his vision to take control of the industry. If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts be sure to sign up for our email list at Pushkin.fm.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Stoya is a porn star who saw first-hand how a firehose of free porn online transformed the adult industry. She sends hosts Alex Barker and Patricia Nilsson a quest: Find out who is in charge, and get to the bottom of how the business of porn really works. If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts be sure to sign up for our email list at Pushkin.fm.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
When Financial Times reporter Patricia Nilsson started digging into the porn industry, she made a shocking discovery: Nobody knew who controlled the biggest porn company in the world. Now, Nilsson and her editor, Alex Barker, have figured out who the guy was, and much more. Their reporting reveals a shadowy power structure that includes billionaires, tech geniuses and the most powerful finance companies in the world. Coming June 7th. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.