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The Jordan Harbinger Show

1204: Chris Dalby | The Criminal Infrastructure Beneath Modern Sports

The Jordan Harbinger Show

Jordan Harbinger

Social Sciences, Self-improvement, Entrepreneurship, Talk Radio, Business, Science, Education

4.8 • 12.1K Ratings

🗓️ 2 September 2025

⏱️ 67 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Young athletes are trafficked into European soccer prison camps while crime syndicates launder billions. Chris Dalby reveals the dark underbelly of sports.

Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/1204

What We Discuss with Chris Dalby:

  • Human trafficking is rampant in modern sports: Thousands of young athletes, particularly from Africa, are lured to Europe with false promises of professional contracts, only to end up exploited in "soccer prison camps" while families go into debt.
  • An illegal sports betting empire thrives: A $1.7 trillion annual industry controlled by organized crime syndicates, primarily Asian groups operating from countries like Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand through sophisticated networks.
  • Sneaky "spot fixing" corruption rigs games: Instead of fixing entire match results, players are paid to perform specific actions like getting yellow cards or missing shots, which are harder to detect but easier to execute.
  • Gambling sponsor fronts operate in plain sight: Crypto and gambling companies dominate sports sponsorships worldwide, often serving as money laundering fronts, with some sponsors being illegal in their own team's countries.
  • Solutions exist: Law enforcement can be trained to detect sports crime, integrity monitoring works (tennis has improved significantly), and awareness platforms help protect vulnerable young athletes from scams.
  • And much more...

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Transcript

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Welcome to the show. I'm Jordan Harbinger.

0:17.0

On the Jordan Harbinger show, we decode the stories, secrets, and skills of the world's most fascinating people and turn their wisdom into practical advice that you can use to impact your own life and those around you. Our mission is to help you become a better informed to more critical thinkers through long-formations with a variety of amazing folks, from spies to CEOs, athletes, authors, thinkers, performers, even the occasional former cult member, Fortune 500

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0:53.0

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0:58.1

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1:03.7

Today's episode is about a side of football, yeah, soccer, that I had no idea existed.

1:09.2

Human trafficking, match fixing, billion dollar gambling scams.

1:12.7

This is not the beautiful game you thought you knew.

1:14.9

Imagine being lured from Sierra Leone or Central Asia with the promise of a pro contract in Europe,

1:20.3

only to have your passport confiscated and end up locked in what is basically a prison camp.

1:25.3

Or picture players being pressured by Russian or Chinese syndicates

1:28.5

to throw matches, not even to lose, but to pick up a yellow card because somewhere offshore,

1:33.4

there's a bunch of money riding on that moment. We'll dig into how illegal betting has

1:37.5

ballooned into a $1.7 trillion shadow economy, how crypto and gambling sponsors plaster themselves across jerseys the

1:45.3

world over while laundering, staggering amounts of money, and how even events like the World

...

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