I speak with former federal prosecutor BRENDAN BALLOU about a number of things. His first book was PLUNDER: Private Equity’s Plan to Pillage America and we get an update. He’s founder and CEO of the Public Integrity Project, which sues those who seek to bribe government officials, as well as officials who seek to be bribed. We check in on that. Ballou was among those who prosecuted the attackers of January 6th so we talk about Trump’s corruption & pardoning practices. Finally, we dig into his  latest book, WHEN COMPANIES RUN THE COURTS: Forced Arbitration and America’s Secret Justice System. You can learn more at PublicIntegrityProject.org

With this episode, I’m reminded of when I did my first show on the sub-prime crisis. In PLUNDER, BRENDAN BALLOU, a federal prosecutor, explains how private equity has reshaped American business – from nursing homes to prisons, emergency rooms to apartment buildings – by raising prices, reducing quality, cutting jobs, and shifting resources from productive to unproductive parts of the economy. What’s worse, as of now PEs are legally shielded from liability for the consequences of their actions. You can learn more at plunderthebook.com.