Foreign Relations & International Law

ChinaTalk: Orgies, U.S. Navy Corruption and The Fall of Fat Leonard

Jordan Schneider
Wednesday, March 23, 2022, 4:29 PM

Award-winning journalist Tom Wright (@tomwrightasia) joins me to discuss Fat Leonard’s relationship with the military and how it all came crashing down.

Published by The Lawfare Institute
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In the 2010s, US Navy officers took cash, prostitutes and more from a Malaysian defense contractor known as Fat Leonard. To tell a story that bears more than a hint of resemblance to the Jho Low 1MDB scandal, award-winning journalist Tom Wright (@tomwrightasia) joins me to discuss Fat Leonard’s relationship with the military and how it all came crashing down.

Tom is the host of the podcast series FAT LEONARD, and previously wrote a New York Times bestseller on Jho Low titled Billion Dollar Whale.

We discuss:

  • How Fat Leonard managed to earn millions through US Navy contracts
  • The fate of the Navy officers who got mixed up with him
  • The secret orgy recordings now in China’s possession
  • Which Chinese historical events deserve the Death of Stalin treatment

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Outro music: V - Swizz Beats by Lil Jon feat. Jho Low (unreleased)

Bonus: The song Tom mentions about Jho Low and Leonardo DiCaprio is Check My Steezo by Blind Scuba Divers, from the 22 Jump Street official soundtrack.

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Jordan Schneider is the host of the ChinaTalk podcast and newsletter. He previously worked at Kwai, Bridgewater and the Eurasia Group. His Chinese landscape paintings "show promise."

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