It’s about a worldwide system that is so reliant on dark money that it neglects accountability. As far as banks are concerned… there’s a big difference between doing what’s legal/required and doing what’s ethical. Most big banks have been milking the middle class for years on top of questionable business practices. Sorry, but zero sympathy here.

I don’t understand the low stars for this podcast. It is one of the better ones I have listened to. The reporting is well explained and seems to have been verified prior to airing. The narration is excellent and there is nothing annoying or obnoxious or cheesy about anything in this podcast. It explains the horrible corruption that goes on daily with banks and our government on an international level and once again bank executives and various agencies within our government are not held accountable. It is without a doubt very much deserving of five stars.

This is the stuff every American needs to know.

News flash- you know why FinCEN has the files? Because the banks are REPORTING THE ACTIVITY! PS- suspicious activity reports are confidential, financial institutions aren’t allowed to disclose their existence, even if subpoenaed. So, they’re doing their jobs, reporting in initial reports, and then in continuation reports. Over, and over. Trust me, filing a SAR on the same person every 90 days for years is annoying, but we have to, because our job is to “observe and report.” Please don’t throw every bank and credit Union under the bus by saying we are allowing this to happen. Give me a break. Ps- money laundering and terrorist financing SARS are few and far between. Most SARs are filed on regular banking customers structuring cash transactions. You didn’t blow anything out of the water BuzzFeed, but hats off to you for making people believe you did.

More time should have been spent learning Banking requirements for such reporting and what Banks are really doing and required to do - before this podcast was put together. Never let the truth get in the way of a sensational story. The podcast was pretty sophomoric, with only a few interesting features.

So it’s five episodes and done, I guess. Totally worthwhile listen anyway.

This podcast “investigates” some of the most nefarious criminals in the world and yet somehow circles back to Trump iS A bAD RuSsIaN aGeNt every 10 minutes. Pathetic attempt to use “investigative journalism” as a mask for a painfully obvious, rather dull never-Trump performance.

The gravity and importance of the content is completely lost in the overwhelmingly annoying and distracting voice fry of the narrator and the guitar noise in the background. Maybe figure out what your point is and strive to convey it.

The level of inaccuracy here is dangerous, irresponsible and anyone involves should be ashamed. The idea that these journalists spent years working on this and still have such a deep misunderstanding of the nature of money laundering and the bank’s role is truly scary considering we rely on these people to get important information. It’s very disheartening how wrong they got this, and rather ironic considering how much time they spent congratulating themselves on what a big story this is. Such a missed opportunity to cover a very interesting and important topic.

Love the show but the guitar accents make it sound cheesy.

Negative reviews miss the forest for the trees. In the instances reported here, the banks did not take warranted action based on credible reports and were allowed to continue. Assets were *not* frozen, accounts *not* denied. Much like in 2008, those responsible were *not* punished. Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it...

thanks. i think you should do a podcast called “The Leopoldo Files” because this was a great job. i would love additional episodes in the FINcen series.

Like a bumble bee buzzing around your ear.

They must have slowed down the hosts voice, bc you can at least understand her now. It’s not a terrible podcast— but there should be a caveat that this is for folks NOT in the financial industry. That said? It is important for regular people to be able to hear and understand this—so I am not going to complain about it being "dumbed down." That serves a purpose. Maybe they should issue another version for folks in the industry

The whole first episode is an hour of self-congratulatory build-up for the future episodes. It’s super uninteresting, but I wanted to give it a chance to deliver. Over the next three episodes, the inane reporting continues to underwhelm.

Piling on to say if you're going to do a podcast about a subject, take 15 minutes to read a primer about the subject first. Then have at least one expert who actually knows the subject talk about the subject. This is laughable.

As another reviewer mentioned, the information provided is part of the story but does not include the safeguards in place to freeze assets where appropriate, close accounts, and refuse new bank accounts to individuals and businesses with suspected money-laundering activity or known ties to terrorist organizations. Completely irresponsible to tell people “dirty money” is flowing in and out of the banking system with the “help” of the banks.

I was excited to listen to this show because I used to work as a financial fraud investigator. However, as soon as I clicked on an episode, the host was talking so fast I could barely understand what she was saying. Why? It sounded as though the audio was sped up for some reason, which really detracts from enjoying the content of the show. Sadly, I won’t be listening. Just a note to either not talk so fast or don’t intentionally speed up the audio; it ruins the listeners experience. Hoping for improvements.

You have not included any information or interviews with someone experienced in BSA or AML. This is a pat on the back for buzzfeed doing half a story. If you want to know how SAR filings work and the ins and outs of Anti Money Laundering, interview someone with an extensive background in it. Contact someone from ACAMS and then you provide the public with a whole and accurate story.

Great topic...somehow manage to not address it at all in the first episode.

This is about Buzzfeed getting secret financial documents and having no idea what to do with it. I feel sick after listening to the first 2 episodes. Missed opportunity.

No background on BSA, AML or why FinCen exists in the first place. Off key guitars and raspy voiced interviews with an air of rebellious reporting....psh. Take a CFE course and end this podcast. The single interesting point was, if true, the fact they simultaneously received SARs that were also being examined as exhibits in a congressionally appointed investigation, which is so unlikely it’s laughable.

Very Happy this is being exposed cause it's about we speak #TruthToPOWER. Thank You to all @BuzzFeed for making this POD happen also THANK YOU to all of these hard working journalists 🙏🏼

So, my cousin wanted me to use this app but they need to make SERIOUS changes

This might be a very interesting story, but you won’t know because the delivery is so painful. How you can spend an entire episode talking about what a big deal this story is, without building suspense or actually telling the story, is beyond me.

Thank goodness that true journalism hasn’t died!

Possibly the most important investigative reporting in the modern era. It touches everyone in some way and that’s horrifying. What’s also terrifying are these comments I’m reading about it being “boring”... ummmm...I’m sorry ...what in the heavenly ($.’! is boring about a secret worldwide journalistic effort to seek out the details of highly classified documents to complete reporting on what avenues and players have TOTALLY CORRUPTED THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL SYSTEM?!?!? This story is far from boring— unless you spend your leisure time consuming the fictional news detritus of sex cabals and other nonsense tales made for the logic- limited and intellectually sedentary. Well done Buzzfeed.

I like investigative journalism but this is super heavy on how they broke the story and it gets in the way of the reporting. I don’t want to listen to bros congratulate themselves on their methods over a nu-metal soundtrack, I want to hear about dirty banks and how they evade regulation. Even though the subject is interesting I don’t think I can deal with these guys for another episode.

Thank you great journalism.

Episode 1: A Buzzfeed “journalist” explains how he doesn’t understand the world he’s investigating. He manages to publish an article of widely-known information and considers it a big scoop. Buzzfeed has adapted their clickbait website to podcast form.

Almost none of this is actually about the FinCEN files but instead 30 minutes self flagellation about the process at the expense of informing the public about an incredibly important story. Stomach churning navel gazing.

Er red

If you are into finance, you’ll enjoy this

I couldn’t even get through the intro because of the egregious misinformation. It’s not easy/feasible to prove that a bank customer is involved in nefarious activity, which is why suspicious activity reports exist.

Good content

Yup. They should take a hint from the first lines of the first episodes. Terrible reporting on a serious topic.

More telling us they're going to tell us wild stories than actually telling us anything in two full episodes. Does everyone not know that banks are trash?!

This podcast is well put together and the content has me so anxious for every following episode. As someone who’s been in banking for a third of my life, it’s so incredible to finally see a spotlight shown on things like this! I’m not sure where the negative reviews are coming from, perhaps some HSBC employees or FinCEN? Ha!

I don’t expect the journalists involved to have an advanced understanding of anti-money laundering policy. However, I do expect them to at least discuss anti-money laundering policy with experts so they have an informed understanding before publishing largely sensationalized work. It appears they failed to do the latter. The outrage presented in the podcast is overhyped. Open up any anti-money laundering textbook and information regarding money laundering permeating business such as casinos, oil and gas and terrorism is outlined. Yes, the government is aware of this activity. They also prosecute this activity. More resources could be spent by both the banks and the government to control the activity. However, I feel the reporting alleges that nothing is being done. That is categorically false.

I enjoy the inside baseball point of view Ted Cruz brings to the show. I donated to his 2012 race and voted for him in 2016. Keep on fighting for America.

It’s an entertaining listen, but the podcast is definitely making this whole thing sound way more exciting than it really is.

Just a repeat of what we already know. Nothing new snd no new surprises.

This is sensationally bad. As someone who has worked in AML for years helping banks find suspicious activity and write SARs, it's clear these reporters are more interested in making sensational headlines and sparkling the public imagination than doing real reporting or learning facts. SARs get files all the time and often it's so a bank can claim to have filed it instead of overlooking behavior that is more odd than suspicious so they don't get fined. This means there's so much noise that gets filed it is almost useless. The reporters are looking at this noise and coming to all the wrong conclusions.

Mostly fluff. The entire first episode could have been summarized to less than 1 minute. A poorly edited show trying to milk whatever little content they have in order to make money off their TDS suffering base.

The first podcast, I learned more about one of the reporters tattoos than I did about any financial wrong-doing. A lot of hype and no substance.

The facts being presented here are inaccurate. Very misleading journalism. Clearly the authors do not understand (or chose not to) the requirements for what has gone on here.

So the topic is very interesting, but the first episode feels more dedicated to painting a picture of the journalists (Jason and Anthony) as rebels. It’s just tinged with that gross “too cool” vibe that permeates from Vice News. Hopefully the story itself shines in future episodes.

Is this satire? This isn’t...serious, right? . These are the same exact people in the audience at a Trump rally, from the left. Anyone who believes this are credulous dullards.

This podcast is riveting. It’s also terrifying. To know our government is aware of this isn’t shocking to anyone who follows politics (especially given the corrupt DOJ). However, it’s more shocking that we have this evidence and nothing is being done. If presidents can get away with allowing their team to partake in money laundering, what’s stopping the worst criminals in the world from doing the same? Great journalism, awesome narration. Looking forward to more and having some hope that Americans will listen and demand reform in all branches and political sides of government.

I thought, oh cool an interesting non political podcast. Wrong, it’s just another liberal slanted podcast. Too bad I can’t report 0 stars.