Essays & Op-Eds
What the Broligarchs Want From Trump
2024, The Atlantic
With the broligarchs–billionaire men from the high-tech and finance industries–granted sweeping powers over the federal government, what happens now? This article reviews what they’ve been up to & how their bizarre political agenda stems from comic books & sci-fi.
Keywords: broligarchs, federal government, Trump, comic books, sci-fi, anti-democratic
The American Con Man Who Pioneered Offshore Finance
2024, The Atlantic
How a now-obscure financier turned the Bahamas into a tax haven—and created a cornerstone of global plutocracy.
Keywords: Bahamas, offshore finance, colonialism, Wallace Groves
The Broligarchs Are Trying to Have Their Way
2024, The Atlantic
The antidemocratic politics of having it all, from the perspective of the ultra-rich seeking to influence the 2024 US Presidential election.
Keywords: 2024 election, Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, broligarch
Mob Justice
2023, The Atlantic
What do plutocrats and Supreme Court members get from being friends?
Keywords: elites, Supreme Court, corruption, mafia
Break the Chain Between Russian Oligarchs and Managers, and You Break Everything
2023, New York Times
How can we make sanctions on Russian oligarchs stick for a change? Sanction their wealth managers, severing the oligarchs’ connection to their offshore fortunes.
Keywords: oligarchs, elites, sanctions, wealth managers, Russia, offshore finance
Sanctioning Russia’s Oligarchs—with Shame
2022, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
This article examines stigmatization of rogue elites as a powerful tool of international sanctions regimes—one often overlooked or minimized by policy-makers, but with a strong track record of effectiveness.
Keywords: oligarchs, elites, sanctions, Russia, stigma, Goffman
The Power of Stigma: Shaming Russian Elites Has Helped Weaken Putin
2022, Foreign Affairs, with Alexander Cooley
While many Western commentators have been skeptical about the individual sanctions imposed on Russian oligarchs following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, we show that pariah status is a powerful motivator in international relations. We examine how this has weakened elite support for Putin.
Keywords: oligarchs, elites, sanctions, Russia, stigma
The Secret World of Offshore Banking Is Proving It Can Stand Up to Kleptocrats
2022, Washington Post
Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine produced an unexpected side effect: leading nations in the offshore financial system became willing to do the impossible by tearing down their own wall of secrecy. They can do it again.
Keywords: offshore finance, elites, Russia
Sanctions on Russia Are a Reminder that Shame Works on Oligarchs
2022, Washington Post
Stigmatization of Russian oligarchs involved in the 2022 invasion of Ukraine provoked more behavioral change in those elites than years of legal sanctions. When the oligarchs, and Putin himself, publicly and repeatedly say they care about their newfound pariah status, we should believe them—and make more use of stigma to achieve policy aims.
Keywords: oligarchs, stigma, elites
The Russian Elite Can’t Stand the Sanctions
2022, The Atlantic
Sanctions skeptics miss the powerful impact of stigma on elites: respect and inclusion have been the lifeblood of Russian oligarchs’ successful political influence operations in the West; stigmatizing them through exclusion and shame strips them of much of their malign power.
Keywords: oligarchs, sanctions, stigma, Russia
When Reputation Matters, Leaks Like the Pandora Papers Can Be Very Effective
2021, New York Times
The Pandora Papers leak of offshore financial data doesn’t just expose the “lifestyles of the rich and famous:” it’s a damning indictment of corruption at the highest levels of government and corporate leadership worldwide. But there is reason for hope in the rise of offshore whistleblowers.
Keywords: Pandora Papers, offshore finance, elites
Offshore Accounts Aren’t for Evading Taxes. They’re for Evading Laws Altogether.
2021, Washington Post
For the wealthiest people in the world, offshore finance provides a way to escape the rule of law—not just taxes, but any laws they find inconvenient. This is why the Pandora Papers includes so many cases of shell companies, trusts and foundations that are not being used for tax avoidance.
Keywords: offshore, Pandora Papers, elites, impunity