A charming young Czech promises staggering returns. An entire country’s oil industry is up for grabs. America’s top investors want in. Sounds too good to be true? Damn right it is.
This is a story of private jets, $20,000 dinners, and suitcases stuffed with cash. It’s also a tale about the collapse of communism, the free-for-all that followed, and the birth of the oligarchs. And it’s a story of plain-old human greed...of just how far the rich may go to get even richer. Viktor Kožený smooth-talked his super-wealthy Aspen neighbors and a Wall Street titan into investing huge sums of cash to snap up Azerbaijan’s state-owned oil company. Host Joe Nocera and investigative journalist Peter Elkind follow the trail, beginning in the Bahamas, where the charismatic financial genius has been lying low.
The Pirate of Prague is an Apple Original podcast, produced by Blanchard House. Follow and listen on Apple Podcasts.
apple.co/pirate
What listeners say
A curated, balanced selection of Apple Podcasts reviews.
Fantastic and interesting account of the story’s protagonist but, as others have noted in their reviews, the narrator is just the worst I have ever heard. His jokes fall flat and the way he presents the story is condescending to listeners, presuming we do not know the basics. Story is 5 stars, narration is 1 star. I imagine I’ll be saying NO to any future podcasts narrated by Joe Nocera…
TRFlack · Oct 2024
I absolutely loved the way the narrators spoke and interjected humor into this fascinating story. Great pacing and storytelling!
MustardSeed1990 · Jul 2024
Just learned about this podcast about 10 days ago, and binged it within the past 2 days. Loved the snark and humor, including all of the events presented in it and the mystery of Viktor, himself. I had never heard of Viktor before, so it was a mesmerizing real life story for me. Thanks Peter and Joe! You both rock!! I loved how you bounced off of each other. Once I learned that Joe Nocera was in it (I had already listened to Joe in The Shrink Next Door several years ago when it first came out), I knew it would be good. Loved the music and sounds that were included in this podcast—don’t change anything about it, regardless of what other reviewers wrote! Great job!
USA Mknitter · Jan 2024
Contrary to others, I actually didn’t mind the narration and binged the entire series over a couple of days. Definitely not a super - serious true crime like some other podcasts but the lighthearted nature was a nice break.
avc1pete48 · Jan 2024
This is a really great story but over-produced in a way that detracts from the storytelling. The “host” tries to be conversational but it sounds so scripted and hokey. Additionally, major, important story points are simply conveyed with no explanation or reasoning making one wonder “why” it happened. Would recommend it for the fascinating story but it was a chore to listen to because of the production.
TSKLAX · Jul 2024
Wow I was really enjoying this podcast until the narrator completely ruined it with joke after joke that just ruined the listening experience for me. The jokes completely detract from the story and are distracting. Multiple times he’ll go ‘stop, what did you say?’ And just replay something someone said from the interview… like when you’re engaged in something it totally takes away from the moment, I’ve never been so irritated with a podcast i just wanted to stop midway through and caused me to physically grimace from cringe.
RSolway · Dec 2023
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