Secret Empires: How the American Political Class Hides Corruption and Enriches Family and Friends

by Peter Schweizer

Overview

#1 New York Times Bestseller!

Peter Schweizer has been fighting corruption—and winning—for years. In Throw Them All Out, he exposed insider trading by members of Congress, leading to the passage of the STOCK Act. In Extortion, he uncovered how politicians use mafia-like tactics to enrich themselves. And in Clinton Cash, he revealed the Clintons’ massive money machine and sparked an FBI investigation.

Now he explains how a new corruption has taken hold, involving larger sums of money than ever before. Stuffing tens of thousands of dollars into a freezer has morphed into multibillion-dollar equity deals done in the dark corners of the world.

An American bank opening in China would be prohibited by US law from hiring a slew of family members of top Chinese politicians. However, a Chinese bank opening in America can hire anyone it wants. It can even invite the friends and families of American politicians to invest in can’t-lose deals.

President Donald Trump’s children have made front pages across the world for their dicey transactions. However, the media has barely looked into questionable deals made by those close to Barack Obama, Joe Biden, John Kerry, Mitch McConnell, and lesser-known politicians who have been in the game longer.

In many parts of the world, the children of powerful political figures go into business and profit handsomely, not necessarily because they are good at it, but because people want to curry favor with their influential parents. This is a relatively new phenomenon in the United States. But for relatives of some prominent political families, we may already be talking about hundreds of millions of dollars.

Deeply researched and packed with shocking revelations, Secret Empires identifies public servants who cannot be trusted and provides a path toward a more accountable government.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062569370
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/26/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	78,915
Product dimensions:	5.31(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.81(d)

About the Author

Peter Schweizer is the president of the Government Accountability Institute and the former William J. Casey Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He is a number one New York Times bestselling author whose books have been translated into eleven languages.

Table of Contents

1 Corruption by Proxy 1

2 American Princelings: Two Sons and a Roommate 21

3 Nuclear and Other Consequences 45

4 Bidens in Ukraine 55

5 McConnell and Chao: From China with Profits 75

6 The Princelings of K Street 91

7 The Princelings of Chicago 111

8 The Hyesan Youth Copper Mine of North Korea 125

9 Barack Obama's Best Friend 141

10 More Smashing and Grabbing 163

11 A Real Estate Mogul Goes to Washington 185

12 The Trump Princelings 199

Conclusion 221

Afterword: "A Total F**ing Whale," Among Other Things 227

Acknowledgments 237

Notes 239

Index 313

Editorial Reviews

Fascinating.” — Wall Street Journal

From the Publisher

Fascinating.

Wall Street Journal

Fascinating.

Wall Street Journal