Through shell companies, millions and millions of euros in stolen money are laundered every day. The money is used to buy real estate in New York and London, yachts, or even entire football teams. Over the past few decades, an international system has been built to move money around, leaving national tax authorities powerless to do anything.

Investigative journalists Oliver Bullough, author of Everybody Loves Our Dollars, and Thomas Bollen, a Dutch financial economist, dive into the shadow world of shell companies, tax havens, crypto and empty high-end apartments. Money laundering has evolved into a global system in which criminals, financial institutions and governments find themselves surprisingly close to one another. How is it possible that, after decades of anti-money-laundering legislation, we still seem unable to get a grip on the system? What role do our governments, banks and the financial sector play? And can we break out of this cycle?