Dynamite Doug
Brazen
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You can listen to the full series, ad-free, by subscribing to the Brazen channel on the Apple Podcasts app. Just visit apple.co/dynamitedoug
For 50 years, Douglas Latchford was the world’s premier expert on Cambodian art, supplying priceless statues to Western museums and rich collectors. But his fame masked a dirty secret. Douglas had colluded with the Khmer Rouge, a genocidal regime, to loot Cambodia’s entire cultural heritage. As the country descended into bloodshed, Douglas stole almost everything. A network of art world cronies were on hand to help him sell these blood statues, including a senior curator at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. When a band of art sleuths get on their case, Douglas and his co-conspirators mount a rearguard action to save themselves. This is a story the art world doesn’t want told. Unlike the Elgin Marbles, and other brewing controversies over stolen art, our story isn’t ancient history. This tale is happening now.
www.dynamitedoug.com
Available episodes
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Aug 24, 2023
Spy Valley: An Engineer's Nuclear Betrayal
This week on Dynamite Doug, we’re sharing a special preview of Spy Valley: An Engineer's Nuclear Betrayal. This new series uncovers Silicon Valley’s origins as a laboratory for espionage.
At the dawn of the hi-tech age, Moscow’s spies opened up shop in San Francisco and Silicon Valley. In this podcast, you’ll get to know the group of FBI spy hunters who assembled to stop them—and solve the case of a lifetime.
Hosted by national security journalist Zach Dorfman, Spy Valley will walk you through a maze of technology theft, double agents, and unbelievable events that put an American engineer at the center of it all.
There are new episodes of Spy Valley out now. To keep listening, search for Spy Valley: An Engineer's Nuclear Betrayal, wherever you get your podcasts.
To listen ad-free and get early access to new episodes, subscribe to Brazen+ in the Apple Podcasts app, or visit brazen.fm/plus to subscribe on other platforms.
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May 18, 2023
Free Evan Gershkovich: How a US reporter was imprisoned in Putin's Russia
This is a special episode from Project Brazen. How did Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich end up wrongfully imprisoned in Russia, and what happens now?
On March 29, Russian authorities arrested Evan and accused him of spying on Russia on behalf of the US government. Evan was imprisoned in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, where he remains today. In this special podcast episode from Project Brazen, you’ll hear from those close to Evan — his friends, newsroom colleagues, even his former soccer coach — about his shocking arrest, efforts to bring him home, and how he became the journalist he is today.
Evan is the first American reporter to be charged with espionage in Russia since the Cold War. The charge, which The Journal vehemently denies, can carry a sentence of up to 20 years. To support the campaign for Evan’s release or send him a message of support, visit www.freegershkovich.com.
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May 4, 2023
Live Bonus: A Discussion on Cambodia’s Stolen Statues
In this bonus episode, we bring you an expert panel on Cambodian art restitution, live from New York. Back in February, Dynamite Doug marked its launch with a symposium tackling Cambodia’s stolen heritage and the Met’s problem with trafficked art head on. The panel included Sopheap Meas, a Cambodian archaeologist working on the return of art; famed Cambodian dancer Sophiline Cheam Shapiro; American lawyer Brad Gordon, appointed by Cambodia’s culture minister to work on art repatriation; Gary Vikan, former director of the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; and Jason Felch, author of “Chasing Aphrodite, the Hunt for Looted Antiquities at the World’s Richest Museum. The conversation was moderated by Tom Wright, co-founder of Project Brazen, with opening remarks from Ellen Wong, podcast host of Dynamite Doug.
To watch a live stream of the symposium in full, search for ‘Dynamite Doug’ on YouTube.
www.dynamitedoug.com
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Apr 26, 2023
Introducing Night of Show: Prince's Super Bowl Comeback Shakes the Music Industry
This week on Dynamite Doug, we’re sharing a preview of Night of Show, the latest podcast from Project Brazen. To listen to the rest of this episode, search for Night of Show, wherever you get your podcasts.
In Night of Show, accomplished concert promoter Adam Wilkes joins music industry legends as they share behind-the-scenes stories about the pressures superstar artists faced when staging some of their biggest performances. Most Prince fans forget he was once in the wilderness after his 1980s heyday. He’d walked away from his record contract and had released a slew of albums that didn’t chart. Then, with John and Paul as promoters, he stages a major comeback.
Don’t want to wait for the next episode? You can listen to the full series, ad-free, by subscribing to Project Brazen’s channel on the Apple Podcasts app. Subscribe at: apple.co/night-of-show
nightofshow.com
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Apr 19, 2023
Bonus: Kenya Wants Its Missing Artifacts Back
If you’ve been listening to Dynamite Doug, you know it focuses on the looting of Cambodia’s art, and how so many priceless statues wound up in Western museums or with rich collectors. In this bonus episode of Dynamite Doug, Project Brazen reporter Neha Wadekar travels to Kenya to see how it is responding to the loss of its own cultural heritage to traders and colonizers.
More than 32,000 Kenyan cultural artifacts, ranging from drinking gourds to tribal belts and ceremonial shields, live in museums around the world, and are largely inaccessible to Kenyan people. Kenyan artists and technologists are working to digitally catalog these items and bring them to life through 3D printing and virtual reality — but critics say it’s no replacement for repatriation.
www.thelootmuseum.com
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Apr 5, 2023
Episode 6: “Curiosity Killed the Cat”
Emma faces up to what she’s done as Douglas is finally brought low, and Cambodia begins the gargantuan task of bringing its art back home. Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Museum fights a rearguard action to cling on to its collection…a struggle that’s still raging.
This is the final episode of Dynamite Doug. If you’d like to binge the full series, ad-free, subscribe to our channel on the Apple Podcasts app at: apple.co/dynamitedoug
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Mar 29, 2023
Episode 5: The Lion
A former Khmer Rouge child soldier, Toek Tik, codenamed “The Lion,” helps the Cambodian government identify looted statues. Eventually Sotheby’s agrees to return its piece. Douglas keeps on looting but he’s on the radar of investigators at the Department of Homeland Security. When a New York dealer is arrested, Douglas and Emma are the focus of a criminal investigation.
Want to listen without the ads? You can listen to the full series, ad-free, by subscribing to our channel on the Apple Podcasts app. Subscribe at: apple.co/dynamitedoug
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Mar 22, 2023
Episode 4: Art Sleuths
A British conservator comes across a pair of stone feet in a Cambodian jungle temple. His sleuthing leads him to deduce the feet belong to a statue in a U.S. museum and the trail leads to Douglas, the most serious scrutiny yet. Emma Bunker helps Douglas create fake documents to cover up his looting. But when a Cambodian statue goes on sale in Sotheby’s in New York, Douglas is tied up in a lawsuit and his name splashed in the newspapers for the first time.
Want to listen without the ads? You can listen to the full series, ad-free, by subscribing to our channel on the Apple Podcasts app. Subscribe at: apple.co/dynamitedoug
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Mar 15, 2023
Episode 3: Unrequited Love
As Cambodia opens to the world, the looting enters a new phase as a hoard of Western collectors descend on the nation. Douglas becomes rich, with a chauffeured Rolls Royce in London, and he grows close to the Denver-based academic, Emma Bunker. He’s soon using Emma’s scholarship as cover for his looting. Amid questions from the UN, Douglas starts to return statues to Cambodia, and is awarded a knighthood.
Want to listen without the ads? You can listen to the full series, ad-free, by subscribing to our channel on the Apple Podcasts app. Subscribe at: apple.co/dynamitedoug
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Mar 8, 2023
Episode 2: Blood Statues
When the genocidal Khmer Rouge takes over Cambodia, killing 2 million people, Douglas senses an opportunity. Amid the bloodshed, murderous generals rob the nation blind – hacking statues out of jungle temples – and Douglas is a willing buyer. A senior curator at the Metropolitan Museum in New York and a Denver-based academic are eager participants in Douglas’ schemes.
Want to listen without the ads? You can listen to the full series, ad-free, by subscribing to our channel on the Apple Podcasts app. Subscribe at: apple.co/dynamitedoug
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Feb 28, 2023
Episode 1: Greatest Art Heist
How Douglas Latchford, a nobody from colonial India, makes a name for himself dealing in Cambodian art. It’s the 1960s, and no one cares about Westerners stealing ancient statues from poor countries to sell in London and New York. But, as attitudes start to change, gossip mounts about Douglas.
Want to listen without the ads? You can listen to the full series, ad-free, by subscribing to our channel on the Apple Podcasts app. Subscribe at: apple.co/dynamitedoug
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Feb 27, 2023
Coming Soon, Dynamite Doug
How one man carried out the greatest art heist in history – the looting of Cambodia’s entire cultural heritage – with the aid of Western academics, dealers and curators. This is the story the art world doesn’t want told.
www.dynamitedoug.com
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