Paying to Play: Dictators, Oligarchs, and American Politics

Mar 12, 2025

11:30am – 12:30pm CT

Casey Michel, Director of the Combating Kleptocracy Program at the Human Rights Foundation and author of Foreign Agents: How American Lobbyists and Lawmakers Threaten Democracy Around the World, discusses the rise and devastating impact of the U.S.’s foreign lobbying industry. Michel lays out the long history of foreign governments paying for access and puts today’s unprecedented levels of lobbying in historical context.

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photo of Casey Michel

Casey Michel

Human Rights Foundation

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